School District 47 is mourning the sudden passing of trustee Jackie Timothy.
“During this sorrowful time, we would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to Kim, a School District Teacher, and her family,” school board chair Dale Lawson said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
Lawson says the community suffered an incredible loss.
“He was certainly a valued member of our team and he will be missed deeply,” Lawson said. “It was a surprise and our deepest sympathies go out to his family during this difficult time.”
Lawson says love, peace, joy, happiness, and respect for all was the foundation of everything he did.
“Jackie was always willing to share a story, his many experiences shaped not only who he was but also touched the lives of everyone he chose to spend time and share his life with. Jackie’s presence around our Board table, his commitment to education, and his kindness will be just a small part of his legacy. He will be missed deeply.”
Known for his work as a traditional storyteller with listeners of all cultures and ages, Timothy was also a cultural presenter and master carver from the Tla’amin Nation.
Sharing the ancestral name La-Sah with his brother, he descends from the Hereditary Chief lineage of his village and his grandparents identified him as a traditional storyteller.
He is also a residential school survivor.
When he was four years old he was taken to the Sechelt Indian Residential School.
Because he already identified strongly with his culture and retained his grandparents’ advice to “remember who you are and where you are from”, he endured and succeeded through very difficult times.
The stories handed down to him through generations of his Coast Salish heritage are largely unknown outside his culture.
