Lily, age 89 years, went to be with her heavenly father on December 29th, 2022. Anyone who knew her would have imagined her time on this earth would end in an epic way – maybe by being eaten by a bear?! Instead, she passed away peacefully with her daughter by her side at the Riverdale Personal Care Home in Rivers, MB.

Born July 5th, 1933 just outside of Ashern, MB to Winnifred and Martin Kenny, Lily was the middle of three sisters and a brother.

Lily was raised in the Ashern area, then moved to Ericksdale, then Winnipeg, and finally settling in for the long haul in Brandon, MB. She also lived in Prince George, BC.

She worked various jobs such as a Nanny/Housemaid, Waitress, Cancade Fire Restoration and owned her own housecleaning business.

Once in Brandon, while working at the Lysium Café downtown, she met Ernie Kilmury. They dated, fell in love, and were wed on June 7th, 1957.

They had three sons and one daughter that they raised in Brandon on Dennis Street until they built and developed their property just south east of Brandon.

There they enjoyed planting and growing their yard and building their house to what it is today from a stubble field. They had a large garden that they would harvest their vegetables from to store in their root cellar thus feeding the family for the year. They also enjoyed summers at their cabin in Pleasant Valley.

Lily and Ernie were very involved in McDiarmid Drive Alliance Church where Lily sang in the choir, taught Pioneer Girls and took part in all of the extra curricular activities the church had planned. Along with raising 4 kids, her and Ernie also fostered children, and took in various people needing a place to stay while in Brandon attending school, or working.

To say she was adventurous is an understatement. Lily enjoyed the outdoors to the extreme. In around 1986, she and Ernie moved to Tabor Mountain near Prince George BC to be closer to the mountains, nature and 2 of their sons, Ken and Mark. Lily loved her time in BC and did a TON of hiking and camping all through BC. There she also organized and ran the "Y-Walkers" group taking them on many adventures!! She also travelled to New York with her sister, Iceland with her cousin and sister, and Mexico for her Grand daughter's wedding, as well as touring many places here in Canada.

As a matter of fact, there is a tour company in BC where they use donkeys to pack and hike you to the top of a mountain and you stay up there for a full 7 days hiking and camping. This was a very strenuous tour, and you had to be cleared by a doctor stating you were physically capable of enduring the trek. She loved this and took in this adventure a few times. We believe she was 75 years old the last time she did it!

Once Ernie passed in 2006, and after a few years of nagging from her kids, she made the trek back to Manitoba to be near her daughter in Rivers. She found herself a lovely small cabin at Chimo resort and worked diligently to make that house and yard her own. She would hike the trails all around Rivers and blazed many new ones. She enjoyed canoeing and setting up her tent in the summer, often sleeping in it in her back yard with her cat rather than sleeping inside.

Lily also loved creating something out of nothing. She had an imagination that could put many to shame! She sewed, knit, whittled wood, wrote poems, sang, played guitar, harmonica and accordion, and always had a good book on the go!

To minimize driving (the smart car didn't handle the winter roads, as smart as it was) the decision was made to move into town. With that, she found a home to be moved, and took on, with a lot of help from her son Ken, moving it into a lot in Rivers.

While in Rivers, Lily attended the Rivers Community Church and her church family meant a great deal to her!
Through all of her final health issues, she maintained her quirky (off side at times) sense of humor! She would laugh and tell stories (although most couldn't be understood) and she always tried to make the best of her situation.

Lily is survived by her 3 sons and 1 daughter. She was the most amazing mom to Timothy (Bonny Rose), Kenneth (Mary), Mark, and Rachel (Todd). She was a Grandma to Deavon Kilmury and Skye Kilmury (Tim), Bradley and Nicole Kilmury (Ken), Hanan, Don and Sam Kilmury (Mark), and Laura (Tyler) Gill and Alexis (Trevor) Farmer (Rachel). She was a great grandmother to Kaylie, Brooklyn, Deavon Jr, and Isabella (Deavon), Phoenix Kilmury (Skye), Delaney Robinson (Nicole), Novah Gill (Laura and Tyler) and Gavin Farmer (Alexis and Trevor). She is also survived by her older sister, Tena Kilmury, along with her 3 kids, Danny Kilmury (Faye), Martha Martens (Ken), and Miriam Hammond.

Lily was predeceased by her mom and dad; Winnifred and Martin Kenny, her brother Martin Kenny, her sister Aneta Kenny (Bill Key), her daughter in law Soo Kilmury (Mark), her brother in law Harold Kilmury (Tena) her cousin Jane VanDerzee, and her cousin Sam Noordenbos.

We would like to thank the Doctors, Nurses, and Health Care Aids at the Riverdale Personal Care Home. A special thank you to Megan Lelonde for her friendship to Lily. You all made her time there as memorable as possible.

Private interment will take place at Rivers Cemetery. The Celebration of Lily's Life will be held at the Rivers Community Church on January 20, 2023 at 12:00 noon with a reception to follow. The service will be recorded and made available to view on Lily's memorial page at www.memorieschapel.com beginning Monday, January 23, 2023.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Lily may be made to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).