Angela Hinchliffe

Angela was the only child born to Lottie and Jack Nicholson on May 22, 1938. She and her family lived in the small maritime mining town of Springhill, Nova Scotia. From lobster just down the road in Parrsboro on the Bay of Fundy, to summers spent running and playing on the beach with her cousins and dear friend Virginia at her family’s cottage on the Northumberland Strait , Angela was a true Bluenoser.

After graduating from Acadia University in 1958, Angela worked for the Halifax Children’s Aid Society.  She met her husband, Douglas Hinchliffe, an officer with the Royal Canadian Navy: they married in 1959.  Angela’s children, Ian and Susan, were born in Halifax in 1960 and 1963 respectively. In 1964, the family was posted to Victoria, BC.

In 1968, the family left military life and settled in Swan River, hence the beginning of Angela’s adventures on the prairies.  Angela started working for the local paper “The Star and Times” in the early 1970s, becoming the first female editor. Angela met the challenges of her position with an objective eye for reporting, all the while standing her ground, using her fiery personality, sharp intelligence, and wonderful sense of humour to attempt to win people over.

As a voracious reader, Angela was a dedicated worker in expanding and improving the town’s library. She sat on the board, wrote, and applied for grants to generate funds, and always had a stack of library books which she seemed to read simultaneously.

Angela supported her children’s interests in many ways such as travelling as a chaperone when the band toured Europe. Then she went on to support her grandchildren. Rarely missing a milestone of their development, she zigzagged across Canada to attend Nationals in basketball and flag football always working to understand each sport so she could cheer louder than all the other Nanas.

From making her famous Nana jam, singing in choirs, to working closely with Douglas in establishing the Community Foundation,  Angela engrossed herself to life in a wonderful prairie town.  She loved to ski, garden, play bridge, entertain, and spend time with her family and friends; maintaining relationships from the Maritimes to Victoria to all points in between. Her deep love for animals was evident as she collected street animals, each one given a loving home.

Angela had a fundamental impact on people. She was a community builder, role-model, mentor, entertainer, political sparring partner, fashionista, and general supporter to those who needed a friend. Angela courageously faced a diagnosis of terminal cancer with her loved ones at her side.  Her family includes her husband Douglas Hinchliffe, son Ian (Tatjana) Hinchliffe of Halifax, daughter Susan (Lance) McQueen of Saskatoon; grandchildren Mary Catherine (Rylan), Elizabeth, Christian and, most recently, the joy of her life, great-grandson, baby Grae.

In keeping with Angela's wishes,

cremation has taken place and a

service will take place at a later date