Lilian Rose Horney was born on the 12th of December, 1920, to Maud Phoebe Kurz and Henry John C. Horney. When she was only 6 months old, her father Henry – a disabled survivor of mustard gas and a veteran of the First World War – tragically took his own life.
After immigrating to Canada with her only son, Eric Sydney Rice, and her second husband Frank Debek, Lilian settled in Toronto, Ontario. Her and her husband ran a motel in Chatham known as The Colonial Motel.
After her son, Eric, decided to remain in Vancouver, British Columbia, Lilian and Frank joined him and left Ontario behind. The couple lived in Abbotsford for many years, before Frank’s tragic death after a long battle with bone cancer. Her only son, Eric, also passed away in his home in Surrey.
Lilian later remarried to Anthony (Tony) Everette, her landlord, but Tony later passed as well. Lilian was widowed for a third time around age 80.
She lived until the age of 97, passing away in a eldercare facility in Abbotsford in 2017.