Heather’s long life ended peacefully in Vancouver on September 27, 2025 surrounded by her family. She was 94.

Born in 1931 in Nakusp, B.C., she was the last of her generation on both the Harris and Rose sides. Heather is mourned by her children Margaret (Fred Der), Beth (Drew Kerekes), Ian (Lavina Wong) and Alistair (Sheila Macdonald) grandchildren Liz (Sofia Rodriguez), Gillian, Meg, and Glen as well as many nieces and nephews. Heather was predeceased by her grandson Jack, nephew Joe and her siblings Hugh, Beth, and John.

Named for her mother, Heather Harris, she was known by all as Jane until adulthood. Her childhood was spent among the mountains of the Slocan and the Bridge River where her father, H.A. “Bud” Rose, a mining engineer, managed mines extracting gold, silver and nickel from the hard rock below.

By all reports, Heather’s childhood was idyllic until the family decided it was time she became a “lady” and she was sent south into the tender mercies of both her formidable aunt Jane and Crofton House school. In order to escape, Heather developed a life threatening case of pleurisy. Her plan worked and she returned to the mining community of Pioneer in time to both recover and matriculate in the top 10 per cent of B.C. graduates. From that point on, she would be a “lady” only when it suited her, not others.

Her father refused to allow her to follow him into engineering, reasoning that there never would - or could - be washrooms for women on a worksite. Nursing, however, was considered an appropriate occupation with sufficient toilet facilities. As Heather’s lungs remained delicate, she was sent to her aunt Helen, her father’s twin, in Arizona for university and nursing school.

Returning to Vancouver, Heather attended UBC, obtained her certificate in public health and joined the Vancouver public health department. Her boss invited her to a bridge party. The boss’s youngest brother, John Leighton, was also invited. Hearts were trump and in 1956 they married. Four children followed quickly in the days before reliable, legal birth control.

The Heather of the 1960s was intensely busy being an over-achieving wife and mother. For seven years she baked heart-shaped Valentine’s cookies, one for each child in each of her children’s home room, every cookie personalized by name. At Christmas, it was personalized gingerbread men. She made the Hallowe’en costumes. She knitted and sewed. She managed all family celebrations. She cared for sick relatives. She was on the board of the Child’s Own Theatre and the Playhouse. She read Betty Friedan and Simone de Beauvoir. She became a feminist.

In 1972, John was offered a CIDA contract as training officer with the national insurer in Uganda. John and Heather enthusiastically packed up the family and left for Kampala. She quickly found work in the maternal and child health unit at the Mulago Hospital. The work was intensely satisfying but ended when Idi Amin expelled Uganda’s south Asian citizens and Canada withdrew its aid programs.

On returning to Vancouver, Heather went back to work as a public health nurse, teaching prenatal and well-baby clinics, while also handling home visits and caring for the Downtown Eastside’s growing population of out-of-work, aging miners and other unemployed or unsupported residents. Then, compelled by her maternal grandfather’s politics, she became a union steward. Offered the chance to work full time for the newly created BC Nurses Union, Heather gladly jumped into the role of a labour relations officer. This was her true métier. For more than 20 years she organized workplaces, negotiated contracts, led a couple of strikes and advanced the interests of nurses throughout the province. She retired from the BCNU as vice-president.

In retirement Heather and John travelled widely but always returned to the Bridge River and their home at Gun Lake. After John died in 2018 Heather spent her final years in Vancouver, looking at the North Shore mountains and delighting in the accomplishments of her grandchildren over an evening glass of wine with her friend Diane Kohl.

A celebration of life will be held at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, in Vancouver, 2305 W. 7th Ave., on Sunday, March 22nd from 3pm to 5pm. Refreshments will be served. Heather would approve if singing broke out. She would know all the words. Heather’s commitment to charitable giving was wide-ranging and intense. A contribution to a charity of your choice in her memory would be very “Heather”ish.