Sylvia Anne Allen (née Macdonell) passed away peacefully on October 8, 2021, at the age of 82.
Sylvia was born on May 5, 1939 at RIH in Kamloops. She was the 4th & youngest child of John and Angela Macdonell. Sylvia leaves behind her 5 children; Norm (Jackie), Barb, Michael (Paula), Dawn (Bruce) & Tracy as well as 9 grandchildren; Ashley, Matthew, Spencer, Andrew, Jacob, James, Madison, Daniel & Jonathan; 2 sisters, Joan & Gail and numerous nieces and nephews from both the Macdonell and Allen families. Sylvia is predeceased by her husband Dave, grandson Zachary, foster daughter Selena & brother John.
When the Allen family moved to Kamloops in 1976, Sylvia landed a position as Teacher’s Assistant and worked with special needs children at Fitzwater School for many years. She enriched many lives with her patience, caring and love as well as made life-long friends. Her commitment to the special needs community was exemplary by opening up her home for foster and respite care.
n the early morning hours of Easter Sunday, April 9th, 2023, Bill Martin peacefully passed away at Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Hospice Home.
Born at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, Bill was the eldest son of John and Daphne Martin. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, daughters, Michaela (Brian) and Anna (Andy), granddaughter, Parker, brother Paul (Shirley) sister-in-law, Aviva, and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother, Bob and grandson, JJ Rio.
Growing up in the then undeveloped hills of upper Columbia Street, he roamed the sagebrush, bunchgrass, and ponderosa pines of Power's Addition, land his grandfather owned and later donated much of to the City of Kamloops. John and Daphne built their home and welcomed many family and friends there over the years. Bill grew up in this warm, loving, and supportive environment.
Graduating from Kam High in 1958, Bill travelled an extensive route overland from Kamloops to Brazil and back. A pioneer in the travelling world with many interesting stories, his slide show of his travels was legendary among his family and friends. Travelling remained a love of his throughout his life; he was interested in culture, land and especially, food.
After completing a BA at UBC, he attended a Folk School in Denmark, where he learned to speak Danish and was inspired to start a career in Early Childhood Education. Bill met Marilyn at UBC. They had a long distance relationship for 4 years while they completed education in different ends of the country, before Marilyn joined Bill to travel in Europe. They were married on a very snowy Christmas Eve in 1968 at St. Francis in the woods near Nelson, BC.
Following completion of a master's degree in Early Childhood Education (UBC) and interested in the 'family grouping' of one-room school houses, Bill taught in two such schools in the Cariboo. He then returned to Kamloops and developed the Early Childhood Education Program at Cariboo College, now TRU.
He was known as the 'Gentle Giant' in the field of Early Childhood Education.
Bill had an active life in Kamloops for over 40 years, teaching, raising his family, being a wonderful friend to many, and an engaged community member.
Bill grew up hunting ducks and fishing trout with his dad and kept the tradition alive by taking his own family to the 'nightflight' out in the Nicola Valley and lakes around Kamloops. He and Marilyn loved to swim, cross-country ski, cycle, hike, and camp, instilling in their daughters a love of nature.
Marilyn and Bill were married for 55 years. Theirs was a true love story - an almost unattainable partnership that left others in awe of their beautiful union.
A kind, fun, and ever-supportive dad to his girls, he was also well-loved by many nieces and nephews. In his circle of family and friends he was known for his kind and quiet presence, often actively listening, and then asking deep and thoughtful questions. If you listened carefully, there were many subtleties, nuances, and life lessons in Bill's very dry sense of humour. Inherently and eternally optimistic, curious and romantic, Bill will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
As a friend of the family recently said, "the world doesn't have enough Bill Martins'".
