Victoria “Vicki” Joan Glenn (née Milliken), 72, passed away unexpectedly yet quietly on 18 October, 2021, in her home at Edmonds, Washington. Her former husband, Robert W. Glenn, predeceased her. Vicki was born to Joan (née Davies) and James Milliken on 26 March, 1949, at Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Her sister, Leonora “Lee” Adams (along with her husband, their two children, and grandchildren), and her two sons, Sean Robert and Ian James Glenn, survive her.
The fires of an abiding creativity marked her life. From an early age, she displayed a talent for drawing and painting, an eye for form and balance, and a sensitive passivity to the beauty that often broke in upon her awareness—beauty of both the natural world and of the interior, conceptual life. She had an ear for and appreciation of music, which she would pass on to her children. With the soul of an artist, she pursued the vocation of a craftsperson as her creativity took vivid expression in her particular gifts for the arts of sewing and tailoring. Her work as a designer of bridal gowns earned her skill a formidable and respected reputation, not only in the Pacific Northwest, where she founded and managed her company Victoria’s Bridal, but also across borders and continents.
Vicki lived in many places over the course of her journey of life. Although she would return to her native Pacific Northwest before the birth of her two children (a place she loved for the richness of its natural beauty, often noting her love of the clouds that textured the sky above), her life took her all over the world. To the hills of San Francisco, the foggy streets of London, and the tumultuous plains of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), among many others.
Above all, she is remembered for the grace and love she poured into the world around her. Vicki touched the lives of many with her abundant love, generosity, and wisdom. The breadth of her deep nurturing charism found expression in the lives of the many people to whom she was very truly a second mother. Her doors were always open to any who needed her help or her insights—right up to her last days. Her generosity seemed never to fail, even when the material resources at her disposal were limited or lacking. Amid her own walk with the specter of depression and melancholia, she never withheld her shoulder to receive the tears of any who were in distress, and the strength of her spirit she freely shared. To her two sons, Sean and Ian, she was a pillar of strength and the fountain of a deep and unconditional love; nothing was off-limits, no question too difficult or scandalous, no setback too vexing, and no failure too irredeemable.
A simple memorial will be held in the months to come.
—Br. Sean Robert Glenn, ssje
25 October, 2021
Seattle, Wa.
So sorry to lose her. This is a beautiful tribute to her.