Mary McCarthy Parsons (right) with 2018 Inspiration Award winner Marie Doduck. (Linda C. Photo) — Mary McCarthy Parsons (right) with 2018 Inspiration Award winner Marie Doduck. *(Linda C. Photo)*

BROADCASTERS SUPPORT A VERY WORTHY CAUSE

Congratulations today to a very necessary and deserving charity and to a woman who helped found and spearhead it, Mary McCarthy Parsons.

Mary is the daughter of the late Grace McCarthy, former Vancouver businesswoman and tourism minister in the Socred government, who, among many other tourism attractions, opened our very first and vitally important film office, created our Cruise Ship Centre and lit up the Lions Gate Bridge. She was determined and inexhaustible in her efforts to promote Beautiful British Columbia.

Grace turned her enormous energy to the cause of sick children suffering from bowel and liver disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, founding the worthy CHILD Foundation in 1995. Over the years, the CHILD organization has raised more than 27 million dollars for awareness and research, hosted golf tourneys, dinner galas and spring fashion shows, built a research lab - the first of its kind in BC - and established two endowed research chairs, one at U.B.C. and one at Children’s Hospital.

Grace passed away on May 24, 2017, and daughter Mary took over the enormous job as president and chief executive officer. Those were big shoes to fill but she has done very well.

This hasn’t been a very happy year for Mary primarily with the death of her beloved husband, Barry Parsons. And the coronavirus, of course, hampered efforts to raise much-needed funds for the organization and the young suffering patients. The good news is that the CHILD Foundation has just received the 2020 B.C. Association of Broadcasters’ Humanitarian Award.

This means that CHILD will receive millions of dollars in free advertising and awareness across the province from the broadcaster’s organization throughout 2021. So for Mary and her crew of dedicated volunteers, the new year is looking a lot brighter! Congratulations to all involved …

Chief Kellet takes a 100th birthday salute.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHIEF!

And a very happy sunny day to Bud Kellett, the retired Vancouver Fire Department’s chief training officer. Bud joined the VFD on July 1, 1941, and retired on January 1, 1979 after 38 years on the job. Knowing that his birthday was coming up, VFD’s retired Tony Neratini decided to surprise the former chief on that special day.

So if you were around the area of the Chess Street Training grounds on Friday, February 12 you might have heard a lot of cheering, horn honking and beeping as all the VFV retirees turned up in their cars to do a huge driveby in a surprise salute to Chief Bud Kellett on his 100th birthday!

His huge smile said it all! Happy 100th, Chief Kellett…

Mel Zajac in his Order of British Columbia regalia.

ANOTHER AWARD FOR A TIRELESS FUNDRAISER

Kudos, too, to another Vancouverite and West End dweller, Mel Zajac.

Small in stature but big in heart, Mel has long been involved with various charities over the years, especially of founding the Men’s Golfing Classic out in Richmond.

It was fantastic! Legends like Bob Hope, Leslie Nielsen, Anthony B and Blue Bloods’ Tom Selleck all took part in the day-long golf tournament followed by a huge laid-back dinner, usually emceed by CKNW’s smooth Rick Honey. The guys would light up their cigars, top-up their brandies and the tales would begin - most of them unrepeatable, but it was great fun.

Mel and his late wife, Irene, suffered unbearable heartache when their two sons were killed in sports activities within eight months of each other. It was then that Mel decided to honour his sons and renamed his charitable works the Mel Jr. and Marty Zajac Foundation.

It was in 2004 that the Zajac Ranch for Children, a summer medical camp for kids with chronic and debilitating conditions, was founded on acreage in Mission. It has been a lifesaver for ailing children and their families over the years.

Because of his efforts in the past to help those in need, Mel was recently nominated by the Association of Fundraising Professionals to receive their Giving Heart Award as Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser for 2020.

Due to the Covid situation, the gala event was cancelled and organizers are not sure if they will carry nominations forward to next year’s event or not.

Regardless, anyone who knows mighty Mel, knows that he’s already a big winner.

WEST END AUTHOR MAKES AMAZON #1

And it’s been a great week for West End author Roger Killen. It’s just been confirmed that his book Get Inspired Talks Vol. 2 has become an Amazon bestseller in two categories - No 1 in Amazon’s New Releases and No. 2 in Success Self Help Books.

Roger wants to thank everyone for supporting the 13 speakers who spoke on the Get Inspired Talks stage in October and whose speeches were then repurposed into chapters in this collaborative book.

Kudos to Roger and his 13 contributors! ...

A FOND FAREWELL

Last month I mentioned that my good friend, Diane Robinson, was ailing in Lions Gate Hospital in North Van and suggested that her friends send her a get well card as she was going to undergo treatment at Lions Gate and Vancouver General.

Sadly her Stage 4 cancer was too advanced for medical science to overcome and she was moved to the welcoming and comforting North Shore Hospice. Diane passed away peacefully on January 23 surrounded by her family.

She was 73 years old.

I felt an overwhelming sense of grief and loss, and yet relieved that her suffering was over.

Diane was born in Montreal and came to Vancouver in the ’70s taking the business world by storm with her energy, enthusiasm and expertise. Her professional career included several senior management level positions in marketing, sales and communications with such businesses and organizations as Grouse Mountain, BC Special Olympics (she was the key to the success of the BC Special Olympic Games at U.B.C. in 1984), The Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver AM Tourism Society, The Canadian Club, the Grey Cup organizing team and lastly, the CEO of the Parkinson Society of B.C. for more than nine years.

She loved to cook and entertain friends and family and her favourite lunch was an egg salad sandwich with a slice of iced carrot cake for dessert, and a chilled martini, laden with olives, for the witching hour of 4 p.m.

She was a caring, classy woman who never lost her joie de vivre, her French flair for colour and design or her elegant sense of style. Her impeccable long, strong red nails were the envy of many.

As former Tourism Vancouver boss and prolific author, Rick Antonson, said: “She was a remarkable woman and an even more remarkable, generous and supportive friend.”

My deepest condolences to her family and to her legion of loyal and loving friends. We’ll all get together for a huge martini toast to her when this Covid time is past…

ANOTHER TOAST, BUT WITH SCOTCH

Probably do the same thing, only with Scotch, to say farewell to one of the leading journalists of his day, George Macfarlane, whose journalism career began with the Globe and Mail in Toronto, continued as city editor for the Toronto Telegram, and in 1965 moved to Vancouver as chief of The Globe’s first Western Canada Bureau, has passed away at the grand old age of 96.

His wife Barbara recalled two significant events of which her husband was especially proud. One was his coverage of Marilyn Bell’s September swim across Lake Ontario in 1954 and getting the photo and scoop of Marilyn just coming out of the water. The other included in-depth articles he wrote about the Civil Rights movement in the States in the 1960s, including a one-on-one interview with Martin Luther King Jr. That was the Black Lives Matter of its time.

When he was asked to return to Toronto, George decided to stay in Vancouver and in 1969 formed a public and media relations firm that bore his name and that of his partners, including Jim Peacock. George retired in 1992 and, with Barbara, opened and ran the Old Farm and Breakfast at Cowichan Bay. After suffering from severe pneumonia and heart failure, he passed away in Nanaimo Hospital at age 96 on Friday, January 29. Just a grand old fellow...

Peacock, now 89, lives in a retirement residence where the good news is that residence staff have all received their first Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine shot ... Amen to that, James!

Til next time, stay safe!