Maureen Suzanne Knowles

June 16, 1953 - April 17, 2023
In Loving Memory ~
Maureen ("Moe") Suzanne Knowles, a loving mother and grandmother, passed away unexpectedly on April 17, 2023 as a result of a motor vehicle accident. She was 69 years old.
Moe was an adventurous free-spirited individual who loved to travel and was known for her warm and generous nature. She had a natural ability to make friends and touched the lives of everyone she met. She was always there to lend a listening ear, offer words of encouragement, and provide a shoulder to cry on.
Her family and friends will always remember her for her kind heart, infectious laugh, and unwavering love.
Moe was born in Seattle on June 16, 1953, and grew up in the lower mainland of British Columbia, along with her three sisters, Leslie, Connie, and Lorre. After high school, Moe went to the Yukon where she spent several years homesteading including living in a teepee on the Yukon River.
In 1979, she wrote a letter to the editor, Sadie Fry, of the local newspaper in McBride BC enquiring about the potential to relocate to and homestead in the area. Maureen grew a friendship with Sadie and eventually moved to a rural plot of land (the Hoodoo) on the Fraser River that Sadie allowed her, her partner Oliver, and her newborn son Jesse to live on. Moe spent 7 years out in the woods here in which time she had her second child, Kevin, and enjoyed gardening, raising goats and living off the land.
By 1989, when her third and last son, Nikolas, was born, Moe and family had moved to a plot of land on Hidden Lake, a little ways south of McBride and was actively involved in a small forestry contracting business with her husband.
After separating from her husband in 1990, Moe continued to raise her three children with her consistently adventurous spirit and positive attitude. Moe converted a school bus into a two story home and with this and various other jalopies, Moe took her children up and down the west coast of north America chasing warm weather, adventure, and freedom and making many friends along the way.
Moe eventually found a home base in the East Kootenays, first around Cranbrook, then Skookumchuk, and finally Kimberley, where she lived for the last 15 years of her life. In Kimberley, Moe made many friends with the tennis playing community and anyone else who saw her and her dogs biking or hiking around town.
Moe always kept close ties with her longest standing friends, Coralie Johnson and Bill Birchall but her adventurous spirit and wanderlust meant that she was never far from her next trip.
Once her kids were grown, Moe continued adventuring around the world alone and with friends she knew or friends she made along the way. Moe regularly made trips to bicycle across Europe (especially with her dear friend Pete Maas), or to drive and hike around the deserts of the US and Mexico.
On her last adventure, Moe was just returning from several weeks in the deserts of the Southern US when she died in a single vehicle accident at Mile 76 of SR 376 in Nevada. Moe lived a great and full life and died doing what she loved.
Moe loved her children dearly and was so proud of each of her "bubs." She is survived by her three sons Jesse (Natalie), Kevin (Jessie), Nikolas, and her beloved granddaughter Ayla. Moe will be deeply missed by her family and friends, but her legacy will live on through the memories she created as she lived a full and meaningful life.
A celebration of Moe's life will be held on Saturday, May 6th at 1pm in Skookumchuck and a fireside dinner will also be held at 1429 Gagne Rd, at 6pm on this same day. Friends and family are invited to attend and share their memories of Moe.
For more information, please contact Kevin at 520-909-7962 or kramsay1982@gmail.com.