Elizabeth “Liz” Louise Willick, a recently retired writer and photographer for the Oxbow Herald in Oxbow, Sask. has died from cancer at age 63, Oxbow Herald‘s Sylvia MacBean told J-Source.

An excerpt from an obituary written by her friend Gary Robins:

“Liz’s various activities as a journalist were an ongoing part of her life, from her early days as a reporter with The Varsity at the University of Toronto, and Canadian University Press, to her work as a freelance writer for various magazines and newspapers to her time most recently, as an ace reporter/photographer for the Oxbow Herald.

“In what turned out to be one of her final community engagements before this final recurrance of her cancer, Liz visited the Grade 3 class at the Oxbow elementary school in December to talk about how to be a journalist. Drawing on her mother’s wisdom and her own experience, Liz told the kids, “If you want to be a good writer, then first of all you have to be a good reader!” Liz engaged the kids by having them each write a story on The day the newspaper lady came to visit our class. The session was a hit, the kids lined up for autographs before they would let Liz go from the classroom.

“Journalism and photography are a natural complement, two skills that Liz cultivated during her short time at university and continued through the years, photographing special events around Oxbow as she settled into prairie life. Over the past year and a bit, it was a perfect pairing for her work on staff with the Oxbow Herald. She loved that job and her work with the paper, even when the story was about garbage.”