Mr. Ray Iwaasa, 97 of Qualicum Beach passed away peacefully on April 1, 2026 as the family gathered to accompany and support in Oceanside region. Ray, the third son of a farm family of nine children, five girls and four boys, was born in Raymond, Alberta on January 13, 1929. His mother was Ito Yashima from Hiroshima City and father Henry Kojun Iwaasa, Eastern Hiroshima countryside. His parents, siblings, spouse Beverly Boyd (2001) and a grandson, Ryan Phillips, all predeceased him. His siblings were Sachie, Toru, Yasuko, Kuniko, Jeaune, Sumiko, Henry Nolan and Hanae, who Ray had managed to visit in Lethbridge before she passed away February 14, 2026.

Beverly was the mother of all three boys he and she raised together. He is survived by Robert Elliot (Diane) of Calgary, Raymond Stone (Louise) of Montreal, Jonathan Boyd (Sandy) of Spruce Grove and close friend Susan Grandfield of Qualicum Beach, the love of his life. He also survived by three granddaughters and spouses and five great grandchildren as well as Susan’s two children and her granddaughter. All hailing from Alberta, they all loved their grandpa so much. Aspen (Chris), Grayden and Maddie, Kendyll Anne (Cody) and Ethan, Kelly (Katlyn), Kellin Jonathan and Kaycee, (and Susan’s son Graham, daughter Joan and her daughter Josephine).

Ray attended the rural Mammoth then the Raymond Public and High schools as well as Brigham Young University in Utah, studied commerce and in sports loved to play tennis. He farmed with his brother Henry Nolan in early 1950’s then moved to Edmonton where he became a Melton Real Estate employee, one of the first property managers in region. He also created his own land development firm contributing notably to the growth of the south-eastern river bank area of Edmonton and City of Leduc.

Eventually he opted for a more hands on with people career firstly as a social worker for the City of Edmonton, then as probation officer for Alberta Solicitor General’s ministry and administrator for other provincial departments. Established in Edmonton, Ray with wife Beverly Boyd of Espanola, Ont. and Kaleden, BC, had a vibrant family life and community and church engagements. This lifestyle eventually evolved into building a new house on a small farm west of Edmonton and Stony Plain.

Ray and Bev’s family were instilled with practices and knowledge connected to both larger urban areas and farm culture-communities. Later in life in 1970’s they separated but remained friends for decades also with the ex’s new partners; Bev was now with Louis Morin (Alberta). And since the 1980’s Ray now enjoyed a close relationship with Susan (UK-Alberta-BC).

Ray enjoyed an early retirement and continued grain farming part time and this enabled him to travel in off seasons to Europe (UK, France, German speaking countries and regions including Alsace-Lorraine, Japan, Republic of China, USA, BC, Yukon, Ottawa area, Quebec and The Maritimes including Newfoundland. Also on Vancouver Island he fulfilled a long time dream working on a herring fishing boat for a season or two.

He was an instrumental advisor to the province wide, grass roots’ conceived and native managed, Aboriginal Disabilities Society of Alberta (ADSA) which had ties with and also inspired a similar body in BC. ADSA became an innovative reference for others including the federal and provincial governments. Social justice actions like helping educate the public while seeking redress for the multiple discriminations, forced displacements, expropriations, etc., which the Japanese Canadians endured during WWII and other dynamic actions for the elimination of racism towards any group - including respect of peoples’ languages – and certainly protecting the environment, were values Ray espoused deeply and also taught by example. He was on the boards and a long time volunteer at Edmonton and Courtenay Native Friendship Centers. For decades he participated in various indigenous bodies and traditional ceremonies with many groups and nations.

These varied from the Ainu in Japan to the Plains’ Cree (Nehiyawak) In Alberta’s Bear Hills or Maskwacis to the Kaienkehaka Traditional Council of Kahnawake near Montreal (the litteral Eastern Door to The 5 Nations’ Iroquois Confederacy. Kaienkehaka meaning People of the Land of the Flint, and not Mohawk, a name imposed on them by other nations, as was Eskimo for The Inuit) The Blackfeet in Alberta truly honored him with the name Apesina or Wolverine Man. Here too, Ray knew that Blackfoot was another imposed name on the Siksikaitsitapi peoples and he helped all parties learn and communicate with one another in more harmony. He loved Metis culture and had close friends like Gilbert Anderson a former colleague fine Michel Nation leader near Edmonton, also a renowned fiddler with his wife Kaye Steinhauer at piano (played more than once at Ray’s popular barn dances). He also lived amongst and volunteered energetically and in different ways with groups linked to the Nuu-chah-nulth nations in Ahousaht and Esperanza areas on Vancouver Island.

Given his own Japanese father’s and uncles’ immigration and initial settling to Cumberland, BC, a early coal mining town with many Asian contributors to the economy, he followed Henry Kojun’s first North American footsteps living there for some years. He assisted the local museum plus this small city’s management teams and citizens in spearheading a volunteer advisory committee for No. 1 Japanese Town (1891-1942) – a historical walking tour. Together these parties collaborated to create The Coal Creek Historic Park and Walking Tour – its info signs, cherry trees and Japanese Harmony Bridge. Situated in a local forest where the Japanese immigrants were initially confined.

Planned and other forms of commemorating Ray’s life are still in discussion and planning stage by family and friends as he was very humble, discreet and flexible in this final journey, preferring simplicity and respect for all. So please feel free to leave any memory, thought, tribute, etc. on this website. You are also invited by family to reach out to those members with whom you may desire more exchanges about Ray via mail or other means. Finally, note that he loved nature, all animals, especially horses, environmental and social justice actions and different organizations, too many to mention. In lieu of costly gestures of sympathy intended for Ray or family, please consider supporting a cause of a group of your choosing. Thank you.