Sylvia Hackney

Sylvia Hackney

Sylvia Norah Grace Hackney peacefully departed this life on December 15, 2025, at the age of 99 ½.

She was born to Lt Col Osborne Victor Maude-Roxby MC MBE and Sibell N G (Acland) Maude-Roxby and lived a life full of wonder for the outdoors and for all living things. Her parents met during their service in the first world war, afterward were married in England and immigrated to Canada where they began an orchard in Kelowna. Sylvia’s father worked with the BC Forest Service and often took Sylvia with him to explore back trails, an activity she loved and continued throughout her life.

As a young woman, Sylvia and her friends swam, rode their horses, and often sang around campfires where she accompanied them on her harmonica. She attended Strathcona Lodge Girls’ School at Shawnigan Lake then Normal School in Vancouver (a provincial institute for teacher training), after which she rode her bicycle from Vancouver to Merritt entirely on her own, sleeping under the stars.

During her teaching assignment in Rossland, she noticed an attractive blue-eyed man playing piano during a young adult activity. Before long, she and Frederick Molyneux Hackney were engaged and in 1951 they were married in Kelowna, surrounded by family and friends.

Sylvia and Fred, a Canada Customs officer, raised four children – Sibell, Gail, David, and Joel – often taking them for hikes and drives. Sylvia completed several art courses by correspondence, and, during summers, completed her Bachelor of Education at University of British Columbia.

In 1965, Fred received a promotion to Superintendent of Customs for the Yukon.  Within a very short time they were packed up and on their 2700 km journey north to Whitehorse, arriving January 1, 1966, where the temperatures were in the minus 60s Fahrenheit.

Fred headed the Customs office in Whitehorse, responsible for ports to Alaska and international travel by air. Sylvia taught school children first at Selkirk Street Elementary and later Takhini and Jack Hulland Elementary Schools, where she shared her abundant knowledge with skill and enthusiasm. Yukon students may remember with fondness her spontaneous call of a winter’s morning to put down their books, go to the window, and paint the sunrise.

She never stopped being a teacher. From 1972 onward, Sylvia devoted part of every day to helping David regain skills he had lost following a plane crash near the White Pass summit. With his body healing, it was his mother who continued to restore and build his ability to speak, reason, read, and calculate numbers. Together they enjoyed many rounds of Scrabble, Cribbage, and old-time music.

The mother-and-son team created the Yukon’s first sheep farm near Takhini Hot Springs. They fenced and cleared land to plant hay on an expansive property stretching from Takhini River Road to the Takhini River. Son, Joel, built the home they lived in while they raised their flock of sheep for meat and wool. One especially severe winter, the entire flock was wiped out by wolves in a single night. Unfazed, they began again.

Sylvia traveled globally. In 1950 she sailed through the Panama Canal to England where she was presented to the Queen. In her lifetime, she travelled twice more to England to visit relatives, also to Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Greece, the Philippines, and across Canada to enjoy history and natural beauty.

Sylvia filled her life with children, animals, birds and flowers, drawing, painting and music. She sang her way along many a dusty or frozen trail in the great Canadian outdoors. In later years, Sibell often drove her around the Carcross loop or to Haines Junction or to Swan Haven to delight her wanderlust. Her bright, cheery attitude and her passion for beauty and adventure are her legacy to posterity.

She will be sadly missed by her children Sibell (Stephen) Gail, David, and Joel (Heather) and by her 13 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.

The family will celebrate privately in a location she loved.