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GOULD, Patricia M (nee Kirkpatrick)

Driftwood Obituary
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GOULD, Patricia M (nee Kirkpatrick)

Patricia M. Gould (nee Kirkpatrick)
May 16, 1925 – January 21, 2020

It is with a complicated mixture of joy and sadness we celebrate the life of our indomitable mother, Patricia Gould. After a fall on January 10 and subsequent hip surgery in Duncan, she died peacefully in Lady Minto Hospital in the early hours of the morning on January 21. Her children, Bill, Beth and Jayna, along with their spouses, her five grandchildren and four great grandchildren will miss her always. She is the last of 7 siblings, and her death marks the end of a family generation. Now her children and nieces and nephews will have to carry her legacy on – to be forever curious, always have a positive attitude, be grateful for everything, stop and smell ALL the roses, and above all else, be funny.

Pat’s life was full of adventures, from her early days as a singer and CBC television personality, her long marriage to Jay (the Hon. Justice J. G. Gould), globe trotting after his retirement, and her forays into painting and writing stories, many of which were published in newspapers and magazines across the country. In 2001, being newly widowed, Pat made the brave decision to move to Salt Spring, in part to be close to her old friend, June Perry, and her “favourite nephew,” Jerry Davidson. Shortly thereafter, she introduced Jerry to her new friend, Susan, and the rest is history. Jerry and Susan remained her biggest fans and closest supporters for the next 18 years, and to them we are eternally indebted. Pat embraced the Salt Spring community, and spent several years scouting out stories of unique island people to write for the Driftwood. Our mother lived to laugh and she relished the absurdities of just about everything. Coupled with her quick wit, she could entertain a roomful of people, and as long as she was the centre of attention, the party carried on.

Our family would like to thank the wonderful staff at Lady Minto Hospital, who cared for her over the years for issues big and small, and provided a kind, respectful and very human touch in her final days. We particularly want to thank Dr. Ian Gummeson for his steadfast support and wisdom and the nurses in the Salt Spring Health Unit who saw her on a weekly basis in the last few years. You are remarkable.

And finally, our gratitude goes to Pat’s longtime housemate and companion, Rebecca Shannon-Sharpe, who faithfully watched over her for almost 10 years. And to Kelly Petch, her dear friend, who brightened her life and touched her soul.

At Pat’s request, there will be no service to mark her passing. Instead, we will give her the 95th birthday party she was looking forward to in May, which will be the perfect way to celebrate this wonderful woman. Stay tuned. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation.

LORENTSEN, Louie (Laurits) Herman

Driftwood Obituary
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LORENTSEN, Louie (Laurits) Herman

Louie (Laurits) Herman Lorentsen
August 1921 – January 2020

Louie passed away peacefully at Lady Minto hospital on January 12 at the age of 98 years.

Louie was born in Norway and immigrated to Canada in 1929. He helped support his family during the depression by hauling coal. Later he worked as a seaman on the west coast and joined the Merchant Marine and then the Air Force during WWII. At that time, he met his life long partner of 75 years, Bunny.

In 1946 he joined the BC Forest Service where he worked in various coastal communities until his retirement after 35 years. Louie and Bunny retired to Saltspring Island in 1979 where they were lifelong members of the Rod and Gun Club, and active members of the Sons of Norway. Louie was known for his accordion playing throughout the island.

He was predeceased by his wife Bunny, and son, Larry and is survived by his children Louise, Lynne, Lenore, Lorne, several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
There will be an informal Celebration of Life between 2 and 4 pm on Saturday, April 11, 2020 in the Crofton Room at the Harbour House Hotel, Saltspring Island.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to a charity of your choice.

Louie will be sorely missed by his family, and his many friends.

Fields looking into Salt Spring site feasibility

Gail Sjuberg
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Fields looking into Salt Spring site feasibility

An old retail favourite could be returning to the island, if renovation costs for the desired building are not deemed prohibitive.

The director of store operations from Fields Canada informed the Driftwood Wednesday that his company is looking at the old Slegg Building Materials store at 804 Fulford-Ganges Rd. as a potential new location for the department store.

“We want to return to Salt Spring if we find the right building opportunity. We’re looking at that now,” said Nelson Neves. “We’re looking at the former Slegg building. It’s not for sure yet. The issue is that that building is not a typical retail space.”

Salt Spring had a Fields store from 1999 to 2009 at the Country Grocer complex, and the appetite for the store is part of what drew the company back to the island.

“It did well and the customers enjoyed having us. We just couldn’t come to a lease renewal with our previous landlord, so we had to leave the island,” Neves said.

See the Jan. 29 issue of the Driftwood for more on this story.

Islanders survive first snowfalls

Elizabeth Nolan
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Islanders survive first snowfalls

Salt Spring Islanders came through the first blast of winter with few complaints, as prudence, preparation and favourable conditions combined to keep drivers largely out of ditches through last week’s snows.

The island’s new road maintenance contractor Emcon Services kept on top of snow clearing with 24-hour operations through the week, while abiding by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s road priority schedule.

“From the information that I have gathered, we feel that our crews have performed quite well. I have had some stakeholder input, and the majority was positive. So, kudos to crew for the long hard days that they have put in and big thank you to the public for expressing their gratitude,” said Emcon’s regional road safety patroller, Andrew Gaetz. 

Salt Spring Fire Chief Arjuna George reported the department had very few weather-related calls.

“It was fantastic to see people prepared and not driving on the roads unnecessarily,” George said. “I think the advanced warning and weather forecasting along with time of day really helped — it did not catch people off guard unlike other previous winter storms. The snow was a drier snow and less slippery as well, but our road crews did an excellent job keeping up with the heavy snowfall. Good job, Salt Spring.”

Bob Elsea is a Dukes Road resident who was impressed with new contractor Emcon Services when he found his road was plowed on Wednesday morning. 

“It hasn’t happened within the first three days of a snowfall in five years,” he said. “Not only had it been plowed but the operator understood the principle of leaving the snow from one lane on that side and the snow from the other lane on the opposite side rather than leaving a four-foot-high pile in front of the driveways on one side of the road . . . You guys rock.”

The snow lasted throughout the week but bad conditions peaked in the middle. Last Wednesday was a snow day for all Gulf Islands students and many other people who chose to stay home safe and off the roads. Several businesses on Salt Spring also chose to remain shuttered, including the three financial institutions.

BC Ferries took pre-emptive measures and cancelled all major route sailings from 3 p.m. onward last Wednesday, as well as on the Tsawwassen-Southern Gulf Islands route. Evening sailings from Salt Spring’s Vesuvius and Fulford terminals were also cancelled ahead of the major winds. 

“It was a highly unusual situation to cancel all three routes to Salt Spring Island on Jan. 15. However, the storm was that severe that we cancelled for safety reasons. On that day, we cancelled a total of 97 sailings across 12 routes, including Bowen Island and Langdale, which are two routes that rarely see wind cancellations,” reported BC Ferries’ public affairs director Deborah Marshall. 

“When we experience these severe weather events, we speak directly to meteorologists at Environment Canada. They use three different models to predict the weather. When all three models align and are telling them the same thing, they have high confidence of the timing, severity and duration that a storm is going to hit. This was the case on Wednesday, Jan. 15 so we wanted to make the call as soon as possible to give customers time to make alternate arrangements.”

Marshall noted that in other cases with less certainty to the forecast, the ferry corporation may wait longer to make the call, as there can be a strong possibility that sailings can go ahead.

Winds were again gusting and more snow fell overnight from Friday through the early hours on Saturday, but warming had already started and conditions turned to rain by Saturday morning. 

For more on this story, see the Jan. 22, 2020 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Film festival announces opening night pick

Contributed Article
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Film festival announces opening night pick

Submitted by Salt Spring Film Festival Society 

A crowd-pleasing documentary on the challenges of restoring biodiversity headlines this year’s Salt Spring Film Festival. 

The Biggest Little Farm – which has already won audience awards and best documentary prizes at over a dozen film festivals – has been selected from among over 100 contenders to headline the opening night gala on Friday, Feb. 28 for the 21st annual celebration of excellence in documentary film.

“This has been a really great year for documentaries,” said festival manager James Cowan. “We had an unusual number of very strong films vying for the opening night spot.”

 Featuring 50 documentaries from around the world and visiting filmmakers from across the country, the film festival continues through the weekend of Feb. 29 to March 1 at Gulf Islands Secondary School. Full festival passes — which include the Opening Gala — are now available online, in person or by phone from the ArtSpring box office.

Shortlisted for the Oscars, The Biggest Little Farm follows two idealistic dreamers on an eight-year odyssey to bring harmony to both their lives and the land. When the barking of their beloved dog leads to eviction from their tiny apartment, filmmaker John Chester and his wife Molly make a dramatic decision that takes them out of Los Angeles and back to the land, naïvely endeavouring to build one of the most diverse farms of its kind in complete coexistence with nature.

 Trading city living for 200 acres of barren farmland in the foothills of Ventura County, the Chesters chronicle eight exhausting years of dogged perseverance as they attempt to create the organic utopia they seek. When the farm’s depleted soil and drought-stricken ecosystem finally begins to re-awaken, so does the Chesters’ hope for the future, as they unlock the biodiversity that provides a vital blueprint for healthier living and a sustainable planet.

Refusing to give up on their ambitious dream despite repeated setbacks, they plant 10,000 fruit trees and over 200 different crops that attract wildlife of every kind, and capture it all in spectacular high-definition cinematography. This uplifting, informative and optimistic film is an unforgettable testament to the complexity of nature and an invitation for us all to heed Mother Nature’s call.

The Salt Spring Film Festival Opening Night Gala is at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28, at Gulf Islands Secondary School; doors open at 5:30 p.m. 

More information is available at www.saltspringfilmfestival.com.

Kenyan school celebrated

Driftwood Staff
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Kenyan school celebrated

People can learn about a Salt Spring woman’s passion and vision at an event celebrating the Our Lady of Grace Children’s Home and School anniversary on Saturday, Jan. 25.

From 1 to 4 p.m. at Meaden Hall, the registered Canadian charity called Action for God’s Love and project founder Rita Balachandran will share the story of the home for orphaned children she established near the town of Marimba in Kenya in 2007, serving only nine girls when it opened.

“Today enrolment has grown to over 150 girls annually and since its inception over 1,000 girls have received an education from kindergarten to Grade 12,” states press material from AFGL. “Aged from two to 16 years, these girls come to the children’s home from very vulnerable situations such as human trafficking, prostitution and female genital mutilation.” 

Four of five trustees on the AFGL board live on Salt Spring Island.  

Currently the charity is embarking on a capital project to replace the current classroom, which has a dirt floor, metal walls and no electricity, with one stall block to serve as a kindergarten, computer lab and library. 

For more information, contact Erika Ponsford at admin@actionforgodslove.org or at 250-653-9925. To make a donation or volunteer, people can visit the website at www.actionforgodslove.org.  

Basketball boys take second at Howe tourney

Gail Sjuberg
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Basketball boys take second at Howe tourney

The Gulf Islands Secondary School boys basketball team were only a few points away from winning this year’s Nairn Howe tournament, which took place over the weekend. 

Instead they had to be happy with second place, which was quite exciting for the young team. They finished their final game against Royal Bay losing by only nine points after crawling back from a big deficit in the first half. By the end of the game, they were within shooting distance of the goal, but were unable to make up those final points. 

“We dug ourselves a hole in the first half and it was pretty difficult to get out of it,” said coach Myles Wilson. “We tried. If you’d have seen the first half you’d wonder how we clawed back, but we did. That’s the way it goes, though. They were hot and we weren’t.”

While the boys were unable to duplicate their 2019 accomplishment, they played well throughout the tournament. Their season has been quite good for a relatively new squad, said Wilson. He added that even when the boys lose a game, it’s not by much. 

“They have been competitive. The biggest thing from our coaching standpoint is that we have to be more consistent,” he said. “We lost consistency and it cost us the game. Too many turnovers and unforced errors hurt us.”

As hosts of the tournament, GISS had to pull together a “B” team after one of the teams dropped out of the weekend at the last minute. The second team was made up of alumni, current players and some juniors, and served to play in losing brackets just to ensure visiting teams had someone to play against. The secondary team’s performances did not count in any standings, and just allowed for visiting teams to play more games. The official GISS team was also down one game, since their competitors from Nanaimo were snowed in on Saturday morning. 

Home tournaments are a nice change of pace for the boys, who play most of their games on the road. It gave the players’ friends and parents the chance to watch and show support. 

Wilson said that the high scorers in the final game were Matthew Schure and Reuben Wright. Nathan Lavallee took home the Nairn Howe award for GISS, which goes to the player exhibiting the most sportsmanship and dedication. 

For more on this story, see the Jan. 22, 2020 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Viewpoint: Reading, a truly family affair

Driftwood Staff
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Viewpoint: Reading, a truly family affair

By MARTHA TAYLOR

 I firmly believe that reading to our kids, beginning when they were only several months old, instilled a life-long love of reading in our now-adult children.

It helped them excel at school, and reading together helped us bond as a family. 

Memories of all the great books we shared with our kids was the main reason why, after relocating to Salt Spring Island in the spring of 2017, signing up to be a One-to-One reading tutor with the Salt Spring Literacy Society was a no-brainer and one of the first things I did.

Each week, I have the pleasure of having three elementary school kids, whom their teachers feel would benefit from added reading practice and the additional attention of an interested adult, read books to me for 30 minutes. As volunteers, we’re encouraged to make the time we have together easygoing and fun. A portion of the time might even include a short word game or two.

Recently, one of the kids I usually work with was away, so the teacher picked another student to come in his place. It just so happened that the substitute student was one I’d worked with the previous year. To my surprise and delight, she’d brought a “chapter book” with her, which is something she wouldn’t have had the courage to tackle previously. How far she’d come in such a short time!

Her chosen book was one in the “Wishbone” series — books that place a mischievous Jack Russell Terrier as the central character in classic stories, such as “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Dog” and “Moby Dog.” She beamed as she read several pages during our time together and we talked about what was happening in the book.

The experience sparked a text exchange between myself and our 30-year-old daughter in Calgary. “Do you remember Wishbone books? I just read one with one of the kids I’m tutoring.” “Oh heck yes I do! I loooooooved Wishbone! Which one did you read?” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” “Ooo spooky!” Our texts went on a little while longer, but the glow of the simple connection we’d made, and the memories they’d stirred, brought us both a bit of sunshine on our otherwise gloomy winter day.

Why not celebrate Family Literacy Week — from Jan. 26 to Feb. 2 — by curling up with someone you love and reading one or more books? You can find family literacy resources on the Family Literacy Week part of the Decoda Literacy Solutions website. 

It’s also a great time to consider volunteering for one of the amazing adult or children’s programs offered by the Salt Spring Literacy Society. For more information, go to www.saltspringliteracy.org. 

Happy reading! 

The writer is a one-to-One reading program tutor and Salt Spring Literacy Society board member.

Editorial: Stellar grade

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Stellar grade

A forecast of moderate snowfall issued last week sent the usual waves of terror through Salt Spring Islanders and prompted some predictable questions. 

How many centimetres would fall? How long would the snow last? And, perhaps most critically, how bad would the roads be and how long would it take for people to be able to reach Ganges, Fulford or a ferry terminal of choice by vehicle, bus or on foot?

The snowfall was the first test for the new local roads maintenance contractor, Emcon Services, and by all accounts the company passed with flying colours.

Emcon easily impressed one long-time Dukes Road resident — Bob Elsea — who has been justifiably incensed in recent years at the lack of attention given to his road during snowfalls when Mainroad South Island Contracting had the maintenance contract here. 

More road maintenance equipment was also visible on the roads both during and before the snowfall. As a result, what was not so visible during and after the storm was the usual litter of vehicles in island ditches.  

Islanders can thank an Emcon rep in person — or ask other road maintenance questions — on Friday, Jan. 31, when Andrew Gaetz is a guest at the ASK Salt Spring session in the Thrifty Foods community room from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Last week’s Driftwood also contained an interview with Gaetz, who is the company’s quality assurance manager and road safety patroller. 

As Salt Spring Fire Chief Arjuna George pointed out, lots of advance warning and the timing of the major snowfall were also factors in keeping the mayhem to a minimum, so the credit needs to be shared. Island residents heeded the weather forecasts and stayed home in droves, and numerous businesses and institutions did not open on Wednesday so that workers were not compelled to try getting to their workplaces. 

We will also repeat chief George’s summary of how islanders and Emcon dealt with the storm: “Good job, Salt Spring.”

PARDIWALA, Captain Rohinton (Ron) Adi

Driftwood Obituary
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PARDIWALA, Captain Rohinton (Ron) Adi

Captain Rohinton (Ron) Adi Pardiwala
April 2, 1953 – January 15, 2020

Captain Rohinton (Ron) Adi Pardiwala, of Salt Spring Island, BC, died peacefully on Wednesday January 15, 2020 surrounded by his family.

Rohinton was the loving husband of Pinkie Pardiwala and father of Tina, Zubin, Nikita and Kobe Pardiwala.

Capt. Pardiwala was born in Calcutta, India on April 2, 1953. He spent his entire career sailing all the seas of this world. His infectious laugh and gentle demeanor will live on in the hearts of his family and friends.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday January 25, 2020 from 12:00 to 17:00, at the Salt Spring Golf & Country Club.

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