It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Elisabeth Gruys-Casimir on March 19, 2020.
Elisabeth Casimir was raised in Eindhoven, The Netherlands and moved to the University of Groningen to study biology. After her marriage to Peter Gruys they moved to a hobby farm in the small farming town of Kesteren. Here she really took to farming, raising various livestock and growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. In 1982, Peter and Elisabeth decided to emigrate to Fourth Creek, Alberta, Canada to turn their hobby of four beehives into a commercial beekeeping operation with 800 hives.
They came to love the community and made many lifelong friends. During the long winters, they regularly spent several months in Rome, Italy, where Peter did consultancy work for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Elisabeth explored the city. Elisabeth also taught beekeeping courses in Peru and together with Peter assisted beekeepers in Malawi and Morocco.
When it was time to retire in 1997, they once again picked up their belongings and moved to the Gers in SW France, where they built a house surrounded by a magnificent garden. Elisabeth spent most of her free time tending to her flower and vegetable gardens. After Peter’s passing in 2018, she spent one more year in Fontaine Chaude, but had recently moved to a small bungalow in a senior complex with a small garden.
Due to the current situation cremation took place in private.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date.