We're sad to announce that our beloved wife and mother, Mabelle, passed away peacefully on Thursday July 22nd, 2010.

"Pura Vida" or Pure Life is the best way we can describe her spirit. She was an amazing person and we were lucky to be in her presence as her husband, daughters, son-in-law, grandson and extended family and friends. Faith was her guide, family her anchor and travel was her passion. She passed away peacefully on Thursday surrounded by family and friends and had no regrets on life.  She was an angel sent to us by God to enrich and sweeten our lives and teach us things that without her would never have been possible.

We've included the eulogy below in full that will be read at her funeral for all of you to enjoy. One thing about Mabelle was thing she knew how to enjoy life. That was her biggest lesson to all of us.
Donations can be made to the BC Cancer Agency in her name. A small private funeral will be held in her honour on Friday July 30th at 1pm at St. Augustine's Church in Vancouver for close friends and relatives.
Eulogy for Mabelle Elena Chaple.

Here’s a quote from George Bernard Shaw:
“Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

Mabelle’s torch indeed burned bright. She celebrated everything about life, and this is her gift to us. She had so many gifts really; she was so funny, warm, loyal, religious. She was an awesome friend to so many. It took so little to befriend her, or make her laugh. In Spanish we’d say: “Pura Vida” or “pure life”. That was Mabelle, she soaked up every last bit of life’s nectar before she left us for greener pastures.

She was a mother, devoted wife, a good friend to so many, grandmother and lastly a godmother. She was more interesting than most of us will ever be. Known as “Nenona” to her friends and family in Uruguay, she left as a young adult to travel the world. She ended up in San Franciso where she met her devoted and entrepreneurial husband Jim. She loved him and their two daughters Michelle and Nicole very much but saved her best love to spoil her new grandson, Diego.

She was a world traveler, there’s probably no one in this room who has traveled as much as her. Despite being a jet setter, beautiful and stylish, she never forgot where she came from and had immense love for her roots in Uruguay. This was what was so great about her; no matter what she had accumulated in life, she was always so humble and never stopped working hard. She never called in sick and when she became sick, she never felt sorry for herself.  That just wasn’t her style. She would joke with the nurses while undergoing chemo, and until her last day was joking around. When asked in the hospital where she was, she replied: “The Ritz Carlton”.  God Bless her for her humour. She enjoyed life so much and was always able to have a laugh. It was in this way that she taught us how to live, and this was her gift to us in teaching us how to die.

There’s no one else like her and we will miss her. She was the best person, our favorite person and we’ll think of her every day. The best thing for us to do now is to look out for each other as friends and family, enjoy what life has to offer, and have a laugh. She would have wanted it that way.