My sister, Liz Richardson, who has died aged 64 of Alzheimer’s disease, was an organic farmer on the remote island of Cortes in Canada, to where she had emigrated from Britain in her early 20s.
Aside from developing the farm over many years, Liz also became a valuable member of the local community, helping to set up a voluntary medical response service for the island and later playing a key role in establishing a local ambulance service, of which she became head.
Born in Manchester, Liz was the second child of Anne (nee Shirley), a dental nurse, and Les Richardson, a school dentist. When she was four, our parents moved to Dorset, where two more brothers and me, the little sister, were born – and where Liz went to Beaminster school. After the family moved again, to Cornwall, in 1977, she continued her studies as a sixth former at Launceston College.
After finishing there, in the summer of 1979 she volunteered at a care home for teenagers, even though she was not much older than those she supported. The home was in Coventry, where the two-tone musical movement was emerging, and as a result Liz developed an enduring love of ska music.
Back home later that year she met Brent Howieson, a Canadian, while they were on an archaeological dig at Launceston Castle. Shortly afterwards they moved to Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver in Canada, where they established a small-scale farming and horticultural business, and married in 1981.
In 1986 they moved to Cortes, an out-of-the-way spot on the coast of British Columbia, to run Linnaea Farm, a larger enterprise where Liz helped to establish a popular permaculture and organic gardening training programme that attracted attenders from across North America.
At that point there was no consistent medical service on Cortes. But all that changed once Liz had helped first to campaign for, and then set up, a voluntary medical response service that began in 1988. A group of volunteers, including Liz, were trained to provide first aid and initial responder services, using their own vehicles and basic first aid kits.
Further lobbying by Liz and others led in 1992 to the creation of an ambulance service, again staffed by locals. After receiving full paramedic training and passing her examinations, Liz became a member of the team and, as the highest qualified paramedic, was given the job of running the service as its unit chief, working alongside her duties on the farm. Following 25 years with the team she received two British Columbia Ambulance Service awards for “outstanding service to medicine”.
Outside work, Liz was a gifted musician who sang beautifully and played the flute and penny whistle, performing at local venues. She also became involved with Cortes’s campaigning first nation band, Klahoose, providing support to them in their battle to secure forestry land rights on the island.
In 2012 Liz began to have difficulty with her memory and was diagnosed with an early onset variant of Alzheimer’s, which progressed rapidly.
She is survived by Brent, her siblings, Dominic, Pat, Matthew and me, and her mother.
