To say Phyllis Hursch-man is tickled pink by all the Golden Girl fuss being accorded her is a massive understatement. From start to finish, this past weekend's Sea Cavalcade is one she'll remember for a long time.
"I do want to thank all the people who made it so special for me. It was a real honour," Gibsons' latest Golden Girl enthused. "This could never have happened in Vancouver [her home for 44 years before moving to the Coast in 1998]. It's the community and the closeness here that is really lovely. I've never been sorry I moved here."
And that's a compliment returned by her adopted community. Since moving here, the 83-year-old senior has more than filled her days with good works.
She "plunks" on the piano at Christenson Village for folks not fortunate enough to share her good health.
"I plunk and they sing," she said.
Recently she's upped the tempo of the music particularly for the people living in the dementia cottages at the care home.
"They like it lively."
Not unlike Hurschman herself. Another of her volunteer duties is teaching line dancing at Harmony Hall (the seniors' centre in Gibsons). In fact she is so busy on the days when she is teaching and plunking that she doesn't even have time to visit old friends in the home.
Another of her loves is the Gibsons United Church where she heads up the In Touch group.
But Hurschman is quick to tell everyone that she's only part of the programs at Harmony Hall and Gibsons United.
"Nothing I do is by myself, everyone helps. I love the people," she said.
While Hurschman is a relatively new resident of the area, she's no stranger to Gibsons. She and her sports fisherman husband spent over 40 years on the water including many stops on the Sunshine Coast.
After years as a stay-at-home mom, Hurschman went on to a career at TD Bank until retirement.
Hurschman had always said that the only way she was going to leave the house where she lived in the city would be feet first. However, her daughter Robbie Munn's move to the Sunshine Coast changed her mind. The owner of Robbie's Pancake House, Munn is delighted to have her mother and her famous green thumb at hand.
And the feeling is mutual.
"It's a piece of heaven up there [the Bonniebrook Heights part of Elphin-stone]," Hurschman declared.
As is to be expected, Hurschman has some health issues mainly a challenge with hearing lately, but it doesn't seem to slow her down at all. She takes each day as it comes and refuses to live in the past.
"This is now and that was then - move forward," is her motto.
And the woman who makes life better for many people especially wants to thank those who made her weekend a joy. She sends reams of gratitude to Don Chapman for the wonderful boat cruise, the pipers who honoured her on July 24, Marilyn Nash, Eileen Poppel and the Sea Cavalcade people.
It's a sentiment richly returned by anyone who knows this upbeat marvel. Hurschman adds gold everywhere she goes.
