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Mary Morrice Krajczar

Nurse, church elder, YouTube persona, family woman. Born on Jan. 24, 1934, in Peterhead, Scotland; died on Oct. 6, 2014, in Williams Lake, B.C., from an infection, aged 80.

Mary had an indomitable spirit. Her courage was perhaps best demonstrated when she told her Scottish minister father, William Morrice, that she was either going to become a travelling nurse on a motorbike, or emigrate to Canada.

He replied, "No daughter of mine is going to ride a motorcycle!" So she crossed the ocean, a move she always felt was her destiny. She had been raised in the seaside fishing town of Peterhead, Scotland, and loved to walk along the water's edge, especially in stormy weather.

She sailed to Canada in 1960 and found work as a nurse, first at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital and then at Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. There she met Erno Krajczar, who had fled Hungary after participating in the 1956 revolution.

She loved to tell the story of how they met, which was on a blind double date. They were to meet on a street corner in Victoria, and Erno and his buddy drove around the block to check out their dates. After a couple of loops Erno pulled up beside the young women and, before he got out of the car, told his friend, "The skinny one is for me." Erno and Mary were married six months later.

Erno worked for the B.C. Forest Service and over the years Mary followed him to small communities across the province. When she was pregnant with their son, Karoly, they were living in Sicamous in a small trailer. A quintessential optimist, she said the cramped space was actually an advantage – she suffered from severe morning sickness and only had to lean out of bed to be sick in the toilet.

As a girl, Mary's education was often interrupted because she was ill with lung infections. Her older brothers, Willie and Charlie, each earned doctorates in philosophy and she sometimes felt overshadowed by their success. After several lung operations as a teenager, she went to Edinburgh, where she graduated as a registered nurse in 1957 and as a midwife in 1959.

Almost 30 years later, she went back to school, long distance, and got her B.Sc. in nursing from the University of Victoria, after which she began teaching patients about diabetes. She also continued to work as a nurse, as she had done most of her married life.

She and Ernie had settled in 1972 in Williams Lake, where she served as an elder in the Presbyterian House Church Ministry, which reached out to residents in isolated areas in the Cariboo. To friends and family she was known for her shortbread and scones, her intricate quilts, and her smile – especially when she was with Ernie, her son and daughter, Heather, and grandchildren.

In later years, Mary was again plagued by health problems. But she always found something positive to focus on, or some unsuspecting person who needed to be "straightened out." (She did not suffer fools – and was pretty good at bossing people about.) When she could no longer see to read, she ordered audio books. When she could no longer go for walks, she did exercises with her walker. And when she no longer had much appetite, there was always Baker's Chocolate!

From 2010 to 2012, she shared her love of sweets in four videos that were posted to YouTube, and she proved to be a natural in front of the camera. The video dubbed "Mary's Scottish shortbread" has had more than 34,000 views and many people left comments thanking her for her awesome recipes. But most of the viewers remarked upon her amazing character, which shines through in each video.

Virginia Aulin is Mary's daughter-in-law.

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