Dedicated and tireless are words that have been coming up a lot as people remember Celia Fisher.
Fisher, who died Oct. 26 at the age of 81, lived most of her life on the Sunshine Coast and had a profound impact through her work as a teacher’s aide, school trustee in the 1960s and ’70s, union local president, Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) director from 1999 to 2005, volunteer, and board member for various community groups.
She helped establish the Gibsons Public Library, pushed hard to build support for new recreation facilities, and raised funds for playing fields at Brothers Park and for a waterfront park in Gibsons Harbour.
“Celia was a formidable community leader who led by example as a tireless advocate. She served the Sunshine Coast, which she loved, in so many ways,” said local MLA Nicholas Simons. “She will be missed by us all.”
Gibsons Mayor Wayne Rowe told Coast Reporter this week that Fisher was instrumental in encouraging his own political career. “I was personally saddened to hear of Celia’s passing. Although she did not reside in the Town of Gibsons, her heart was very much with the town. Her interest in the town was such that she persisted in persuading me to seek election as mayor in my first term,” Rowe said.
Fisher was also a keen believer in the idea of closer cooperation between local governments, and backed the idea of amalgamating Elphinstone, Gibsons and West Howe Sound, which was defeated in a 2006 referendum.
“Whenever we were met with input on matters pertinent to the town, Celia would not hesitate to remind those outside the town boundaries that it was the residents of Gibsons who had to pay our bills and that the opportunity to join in a larger municipality was declined in a referendum a few years ago,” Rowe said. “During her time as a director at the regional district, Celia was a tireless advocate on behalf of the south coast. Her strength and insights will be missed.”
After announcing she would not seek reelection as SCRD director for Area E in 2005, Fisher called that year’s successful recreation referendum a high point of her term in office.
“Celia had a strong drive to make sure the Gibsons area had viable recreation facilities and got their fair share of that budget,” said SCRD chair Garry Nohr. “Celia phoned me a couple of times each year to discuss with me where she felt the SCRD could be more proactive in reaching out to the community on recreation. I will miss those calls.”
Just this summer, Fisher urged the SCRD to have the volunteers behind efforts to get the facilities built recognized alongside others who are already acknowledged by plaques at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre.
In a letter to directors in May, she said the Mt. Elphinstone Recreation Centre Society and the Gibsons and Area Community Centre Society “did yeoman work in developing plans, budgets and a plan of action to ensure a successful referendum and establishment of a facility that would meet the needs of the community.”
Fisher was honoured more than once for her dedication to the community. She was a Sea Cavalcade Golden Girl in 2008 and received a Celebration of Excellence Award from the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society and the Volunteer Centre in 2012. “She never shied away from making her contribution to our community,” said master of ceremonies Naomi Fleschhut at this year’s awards event, which was held just two days after Fisher’s death.
Fisher also received a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013, which she said she accepted “on behalf of all the other volunteers I’ve worked with over the years who put in all their time and energy.”
As well as helping shape some of the Sunshine Coast’s recent history, Fisher had a role in preserving the area’s earlier history as a board member at the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives and as a participant in the museum’s oral history project in the early 2000s. Here’s how she remembered arriving in Roberts Creek by Union Steamship with her family in the early ’40s.
“It was a rude awakening for somebody who had been in the city of New Westminster – there were no sidewalks … it was this rough dirt road … and when we got to the little house at the top of the hill … somebody said they had to go to the bathroom – and that’s when we first realized there’s no bathroom in this house, and as darkness came on it was, well where’s the light switch? No hot water, just cold running water. It was so different from what I was used to … I really liked living in the Creek once I got over those initial changes and quickly became a country girl. It was a close-knit community.”
Fisher is survived by her husband Bud and children Diane, Kathy, Guy, Glen and Carolyn, as well as 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Diane Penonzek said her mother’s community endeavours revolved around young people, and she thinks Fisher’s words of condolence to the family of a long-time friend, that “she had her family tucked under one arm and her community under the other,” could have easily applied to herself.
The family is not planning a public service, and has suggested donations in Celia’s memory to KidSport Sunshine Coast, the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives, or a charity of your choice.
– With files from Coast Reporter archives
