It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Marguerite Therese Clarkson (Malet-Veale) after a lengthy battle with breast cancer, at Bastion Place in Salmon Arm on January 28, 2009.
Marguerite was born in Burnaby in 1941 and moved to Gibsons as a teenager. After attending UBC, she lived in several communities in Northern British Columbia before settling in Terrace, where she resided between 1977 and 2005. Marguerite worked as a teacher, newspaper reporter, radio broadcaster, civil servant, and medical receptionist. She was a dedicated feminist and advocate for social justice. She was a founding member of the Fraser Lake and Terrace Women’s Centers, volunteered with the Terrace Anti-Poverty Group, and frequently campaigned for the New Democratic Party. Marguerite was elected to municipal council in Fraser Lake and Terrace, and was appointed to the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine and the Northern Interior Board of Health. In the late 1970s, she became the first woman to head a labour council in British Columbia when she was elected President of the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council.
Marguerite loved to read, sew, and knit, and was a great fan of British drama. She was beautiful, witty and eccentric, and will be remembered fondly by her children Angus Sibbald (Tamara Landstreet), Kirsten (Peter Weber), Christopher (Ruth), and Linnea (Tony Wyder) Clarkson, grandchildren Gryphon and Duncan Sibbald, sisters Saundra Barnes and Noni Thompson (Dan), and brothers Clayton Veale (Virginia Behl), Eric Veale (Dona Bradley), and Tex Edmonds.
The family would like to thank the wonderful administrators and staff at Interior Health and at the Transition Unit at Bastion Place for their kindness, compassion, and dedication.
A celebration of life ceremony was held at the Mt. Ida Cemetery in Salmon Arm on January 30, 2009. Special thanks to Vince Fischer and Teresa Andrews for their assistance with the arrangements and ceremony. Memorial donations may be made to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, 300 - 1090 West Pender St., Vancouver, BC V6E 2N7.
Arrangements entrusted to FISCHER’S FUNERAL SERVICES & CREMATORIUM LTD., Salmon Arm (250) 833-1129, E-mail condolences to fischers@sunwave.net.