Lucila Sharma

About her early years as a child, the late 1930s in the Philippines, Lucila once said “We were not allowed to get dirty or soil our clothes. Inay [which is ‘mother’ in Tagalog] kept a very clean house; every Saturday she would sand the entire veranda, using these leaves that perform like sandpaper which kept naked wood white and smooth. The living room floor was made of wide planks of varnished wood. The kitchen floor was made of bamboo slats. The house, made of wood with a corrugated iron roof, was built on posts lifting it eight-feet from the ground. …Climbing the stairs was a small balcony with a big rocker, the full length of the veranda had a planter lined with Inay’s potted plants. You opened the door to a large living room which transformed into the bedroom at night when Inay would lay down a big woven palm mat. Come morning, it was rolled up and placed in a corner, and it was the living room again.

“Our life was very simple and very peaceful.

“…Across from us was an open field filled with wild bushes, wild shrubs, and all sorts of trees. I remember the tamarind tree, picking ripe pods from it, eating the flesh, and saving the seeds for playing ‘sungka.’ Gene, [my younger brother], because he was a boy, was allowed to play there with other kids…. The few times I could go [into that field] were heavenly. I remember the sun shining brightly, the gentle breeze from the rustling trees, dragonflies, and butterflies fluttering, their gossamer wings displaying luminous colours. To this day, I treasure those memories … once upon a time, I was a … happy child.”

Lucila Sharma née Abril was born in the Philippines on a Saturday, July 29, 1933. Her story above, tells her story. Too soon, that field would be exchanged for survival, during the terrors of World War II, witnessing not butterflies but the brutality of her country’s occupiers. In the aftermath of the war she defied the suffocating conventions for women of her era and fought for ever higher education; which she used to forge a brave new life in a daunting New World. There she found some cruelty—but mostly she found kindness and opportunity in Canada’s hands; and she faithfully helped family who dreamed of their own new world to do the same. She was reserved. Internal. She was much more a saver than a spender [unless it was for jewellery!]. She was a Carmelite nun. She was a meticulous teacher for decades; remained an overachieving student all her life. But always she longed for what was ‘simple and peaceful’, for a ‘heavenly field’ teaming with life and colour.

Which is why, until her body stopped obeying her, if you didn’t find her teaching or studying, you’d have found her lost in and gleefully absorbed by the endless demands of her garden. Nurturing her rustling trees, pruning wild bushes, seeding luminous colours, her busier than the squirrels, lucky birds and bugs that made their home in it. She loved giving all that life a chance to thrive in peace. When not working, Lucila recited her rosary; read broadly, enjoyed Sunday mass and Bridgerton; and she loved and trusted GOD with her life, her whole life, and with the lives of her loved ones.

Very early on Sunday, June 23, 2024, on one of those perfectly temperate mornings when the air itself is like a gift sent from the Rockies, Lucila’s life concluded as she passed away.

The many who shared life with her miss her profoundly. But we have faith she’s been given a Heavenly field, that she’s decided to plant a garden there, and when not tirelessly working towards its care, is found dancing among those butterflies and their gossamer wings.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Luke's Catholic Church (Corner of Northland and Northmount Dr NW) on Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 11:00 am. Reception to follow. For those unable to attend in person, a recording will be available below.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Lucila Sharma, please visit our floral store.