Barbara Jean Mitchell (“Jean”) was born October 15, 1947 in Etobicoke, Ontario. She passed away with friends and family by her side on the day of March 3, 2026. She was the youngest of four and the last of her generation.

Jean travelled the world in her youth, studied nursing, worked for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and volunteered throughout her life. She moved to British Columbia in 1970 and lived here until her passing. She was a contributing, compassionate friend and colleague wherever she went and worked. She was a wonderful, loving, self-sacrificing and caring mother who devoted her time, attention, wealth and energy to her son David, by whom she is survived.

Jean enjoyed tennis, was a prolific reader of murder mysteries, loved going to Jim's Cafe and the New West Public Library here in New Westminster where she lived for over 50 years, and had amazing reflexes for a 1990s video game known as Klax, which she played daily for, as she put it, “brain exercise”. She was also adept at the more well-known game Tetris.

Jean was excellent at kicking up a fuss over tenants’ rights. She had a true passion for justice. If she had to do it all over again, she said she would have gone into forensics. She was a master organizer.

At the end, her dry sense of humour coupled with her lifelong wisdom was ceaseless – “I’m moving on to other things, but I don’t know what those are yet.”

Her son writes this following her passing -

Right to the very end, and being an only child, I'm still trying to understand the depth of compassion that one can have towards another. There was not a single moment in my entire life where she pulled back the willingness and ability to be present and supportive towards me. Not one. Jean wanted to be a nurse in her youth but the universe had other plans and I became the main beneficiary of her love, concern, kindness, energy, time, attention, on it goes.

When Jean inherited from her deceased parents in 1987, she made a choice with the money she acquired. The choice she made was to be a full-time mother. She didn't invest in real estate or stocks. She invested it in me. For 5 years she devoted her entire time, money, and attention...to me. To be taken care of completely. It didn't stop there. I lived with her rent-free for years into adulthood, not a word about it, which gave me room to explore all sorts of avenues that became integral to my inner and spiritual growth. She bestowed upon me the wealth of having time. I have been time-rich because of her. She did all of that lovingly from start to finish. Who does that?

She had a strength that was quite the opposite of her physical appearance. She'd been called "tiny" more than once, but in spirit she's loud and large. She would not back down from a fight especially if it was one involving justice. I watched her and remember her doing that when I was a child – a protector and provider role that she embodied for me and really anyone that she saw in need. Her compassion for others set a standard that I will forever admire.

Rest in peace...mother and friend.