May 18, 1942 – Apr 15, 2026
Don suffered a cardiac arrest at home on April 15, managing to avoid the sense of disbelief he would have felt at turning 84 this spring.
While Don was a private man, he would probably be happy for people to know a few things about his life.
Don grew up in North Vancouver where his parents owned D.J. Webb’s Drug Store in an iconic building on Lonsdale Avenue. He earned top honours in his graduating year at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design) and used the award funds to go to Japan, where he taught English for a couple of years and cultivated an appreciation for Japanese culture, art and food that endured throughout his life. Living abroad also sparked his love of travel.
As a younger man Don made a living in community planning (was senior draftsman with the Comox Valley Regional District) and then landscaping, but he eventually settled on doing house painting and small renovations, ultimately as Don Webb Paintworks on Salt Spring, where he worked on many beautiful homes and properties. While Don had come and gone from the island at various times since 1976, he returned and remained following a second period of his life spent in the Comox Valley after his wife Wendy died in 2001.
Don played the piano in his younger years, loved jazz music (and his and Wendy’s tuxedo cat Jazz), and his artistic nature influenced his fine taste in decor. He was a master of assembling lovely appy plates and serving pasta with his killer Bolognese sauce, always with red wine, and finding perfect birthday and Christmas cards for those in his small circle. In recent years, cinnamon twists and double lattes from Barb’s got his weekdays off to a good start. Thank you to everyone on Salt Spring and beyond who had a positive connection with our gentle friend. You know who you are.
In the last 18 years, Don revisited his passion for photography. Two of his pieces were selected for an exhibit at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and he had solo shows at the former Café Talia on Salt Spring and the New Photographers Gallery in Sidney.
Rather than a formal memorial event, an exhibit of Don’s photos will be held in the Salt Spring Public Library Community Program Room in August.