In loving memory ~
Audrey Joyce Dircks passed away at Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, BC, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, surrounded by family and friends.
Audrey was born in Winnipeg April 12, 1943. She moved to Sarnia, Ontario as a child, and as a young adult she moved with her family to Edmonton, Alberta where she became a model, and was a runner-up in the Miss Edmonton Eskimo contest. Audrey moved to the Vancouver area shortly thereafter, where she taught ballroom dance and met Norbert Martin Dircks. They married in 1965, and 4 years later she was blessed with her daughter, Lisa Maria, and 2 ½ years later her son, Colin Christopher.
In 1976, her children were illegally taken by their father from Vancouver. Audrey's unwavering spirit fueled a decade-long heroic pursuit that culminated in a triumphant reunion with her children in 1988 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Audrey was loved dearly by her family, her children, and her close friends. She was happiest in the sun and on the beach, walking by the water, and most contentedly spent her later years in White Rock with a view of the sea. She loved to dance and was the first to laugh, a twinkle always in her eyes.
She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Dircks Carey of Lexington, Kentucky, son, Dr. Colin Dircks, his wife, Dr. Kristina Price, and her three Dircks grandsons: Jackson Talon, Greyson West, and Austin Beckett of Marietta, Georgia; three sisters and one brother, along with 13 nieces and nephews, and 24 great-nieces and nephews.
Audrey is joined in heaven by her father, Felix, stepmother Winnie, sister Beverly, brother Richard, and nephew Gary. May she rest in peace, smiling and laughing with them, her sparkle still glimpsed often here by the many whose days it brightened in this earthly realm.
A Private Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, April 26 in White Rock.
Messages of condolence for her family accepted at: audrey_d@shaw.ca