Tribute

May Henderson (née Vool) born April 29, 1944 in Hiuma, Estonia, passed away, on the morning of August 23rd, 2025 at her home on Salt Spring Island.

In 1944 while she was still only months old, May’s family moved from Estonia to Sweden to escape impending regime change, and then some five years later to Canada, landing in Halifax and then traveling across the country to Honeymoon Bay on Lake Cowichan, Vancouver Island. Through her life, May often remembered waking up on that first morning on the island, looking out at a beautiful scene of cows in a pasture.

Such closeness to nature, to pastures, forests, gardens and all the creatures therein, she treasured all her life.

She completed her primary and secondary schooling in the Lake Cowichan area, then on to Vancouver to attend UBC where she earned her BA with majors in English and Spanish.

May was a quietly brave and adventurous spirit. At 19 she hitchhiked solo from Vancouver to Mexico and back. At 29 she and her husband Bill lived with their daughters in a tipi on Salt Spring Island. Many times they travelled to places on the other side of the planet without even booking the first night’s accommodations in advance. They sailed around Vancouver Island in 1992 and up to Haida Gwaii in ‘93, where May piloted their schooner through perilous Hecate Strait in a very dangerous storm.

In the 80s and 90s May worked as a professional photographer and also as a technician in the photo lab of Pacific Press in Vancouver.

In 1993 she and her husband bought a beautiful old homestead on Salt Spring Island. Bringing a number of Rhododendrons with her, May took on the large garden there. She enjoyed learning basket weaving for a few years and then took on a garden plot in Rainbow Community gardens, then another plot there, and a year or so later added yet another in the Burgoyne Community garden.

Her last few years were focused almost entirely on her gardens, working alongside of and helping her gardening friends while always taking wonderful care of her family.

May is survived by her sister Cathy, husband Bill, daughters Saffron (grandsons Otis and Casey with father Chris Pritchett) and Camille, (granddaughter Ruby with father Chris Hockey). Our hearts still ache from losing her.

A small gathering took place at Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery where, surrounded by the love of close friends and family, May was buried on Sept 3, 2025.