BIRSEL, Olive – DIGBY
Olive Birsel, nee Patterson, died peacefully in London, surrounded by her children, on March 6 after a brief illness. She was 90. Olive was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 2, 1925, and studied at Roedean School before qualifying as a nurse. While travelling in Europe in the early 1950s, a family friend introduced Olive to Dr Nuri Birsel. They fell in love and married in London in 1954, settling there. The arrival of the first of their four children in 1955 cut short Olive's studies at the London School of Economics. In 1965, the family set off for a new life in Nova Scotia, moving first to Freeport on Long Island. The next year, they headed up the Neck to Digby, which would be home for the next four decades. For several years, Olive ran a shop selling jeans on Water Street, making some life-long friends among the young people who worked there or dropped in for a chat. A passionate gardener, Olive spent many happy days pottering about with plants at the house on Queen Street and at the summer cottage in Smith's Cove. Olive was a voracious reader and always had a book or newspaper to hand, and was for years an avid listener to CBC radio's evening current affairs shows. She and Dr Birsel also loved travel. They explored Europe by train, with Italy a favourite destination, and later enjoyed various sunny corners of Asia. Olive was also delighted to take her husband to the country of her birth after its transition to democracy in the 1990s. Family was always the most important thing in Olive's life and in 2005, a year after Dr Birsel died, she moved to England to be closer to the children. For several years, she was able to get back to Nova Scotia to enjoy the summers but later worried that she was too frail to make the trip. Though laid low by illness in early February, Olive remained lucid until the end, keen to hear news of friends in Nova Scotia and expecting a daily briefing on the world's top news stories. She is survived by a sister, Rosemary Falcon, of Johannesburg, South Africa, her four children - Sezen, Marcus, Robert and Kate - and three grandchildren: Emma, Alex and Julia. A memorial service will be held in Digby later in the year. Condolences may be sent to birselfamily@gmail.com