Beverley Kellett

Beverley Kellett had a lifelong love affair with the arts, believing in the power of painting, sculpture, and theatre and music to change the world.

When Beverley travelled to Italy with her daughter Teresa Comey, the pair stood in awe before the works of Michelangelo, an artist Beverley adored. Born in Winnipeg in 1930, Beverley lived in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Regina before later settling in North Vancouver where she worked as an administrative assistant at the Vancouver Catholic Charities.

Died on March 20, 2020
North Vancouver, BC

Age 89

An introvert, Beverley spent much of her free time painting still lifes, portraits and landscapes. In her 50s, she fulfilled a long-time dream when she enrolled in a North Vancouver college studio art program.

“She had two magnificent years of doing what she loved, painting and sculpting,” Teresa says.“She had two years of real joy in art.”

Beverley taught her children to paint, too, painting alongside them well into her 70s. She wanted her children to notice the details.

“Nothing was ever just green. My mom would say, ‘Can you see the red in the green?’ ” Teresa says. It was her quiet way of passing on to others the meaning in art, and the nuanced way she viewed the everyday.

This story was first published in MacLean’s as part of a collaborative project with Canadian journalism schools to document the lives of people who have died from COVID-19. To learn more about the project and to read the other obituaries, click here.