Marion Bremner humanitarian hero
HodgePodge by Charlie Hodge
It’s with personal heavy heart I join Kelowna in saying farewell to a true Kelowna icon – Marion Bremner.
A champion of community caring and true humanitarian hero, Marion resides right near the top of my book of heroes. Few have ever given so much to others with such willingness and purpose. It was a honour to be her friend.
Kelowna was first blessed with her presence in 1974 when she moved from Calgary to work in a bank.
She wasted no time becoming totally involved with our community as a business person, event organizer, club member and volunteer.
As a bank manager she joined the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and in 1978 was elected the first female director. In 1985 she was selected president – the first female to hold that title in Kelowna. That was only one of many ‘firsts’ the dynamic individual garnered.
Bremner decided local politics interested her and ran for mayor in 1984. She lost by 232 votes but remained determined to try again. In 1988 she ran for a councillor seat on city council and won. It was her first of four terms, serving 11 years. She retired from politics in 1999.
Meanwhile in 1990 she kick-started Habitat for Humanity Kelowna and eventually become the first female chair of Habitat Canada from 1992 until 1996. She continued to serve as a director and secretary for Habitat for Humanity International until 2001, a job that involved traveling to many countries around the world to help build homes. Her never-ending care for others found her taking on yet another cause in 2000 when she ran and managed Kelowna Meals on Wheels in 2002. It was a passion she continued relentlessly until 2022.
In 2012 her volunteerism and community caring resulted in being named winner of the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Award for community service. Marion was also given the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Business Leader of the Year award for 2021.
On March 31, 2022, Marion was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a fatal motor neuron disease characterized by progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain. ALS denies victims the ability to control muscles in their bodies. It is a cruel, painful disease, yet Marion seldom mentioned it to others and always did her best to be positive about her plight. In fact, she only retired from her work with Meals on Wheels because she could no longer physically do the job due to her ALS. Despite her suffering and pain, she often delivered meals personally when volunteers called in sick.
Marion finally found peace from her horrible fight with ALS on March 4 after a long two-year battle. A caring and focused individual right to the end, even on the edge of death Bremner always put others first. In one last act of service, before she passed, Marion donated her brain and spinal cord to further ALS research in hopes of helping others.
Cohort city councillor Ron Cannan served with Bremner on council and remembers her well for never ending work with non-profit organizations. “She had a servant’s heart. She spent more than 50 years as an entrepreneurial leader, and she wasn’t afraid of a challenge. She also paved the way and opened the doors for other women to follow. She was definitely a leader in so many ways,” Cannan applauds.
I remember Bremner best as a friend. We sat on a couple of committees together over the years, but my best memory was back in the late 80’s.
In 1986 and ’87, Kelowna was rocked by successive riots that occurred during the Regatta celebration. That led to Regatta’s cancellation, creating a considerable hole on the summertime calendar of events. In effort to revitalize the downtown and Kelowna during the summertime a volunteer committee was formed led by Marion, Vern Boelke, Norm Fix and others. We met several times swapping ideas and I or someone suggested we needed to get music and life back into the park. Marion liked the idea. I was managing, promoting or was friends with a variety of talented musicians and suggested I might be able to convince some to play for cheap (free) to see how the idea would take.
It was Marion who said, ‘Yes, let’s do that. I’m going to take that back to council and we’re going to put that through.”
If it hadn’t been for her leadership, it never would have happened.
That event became known as Kelowna Pride (the name had a different meaning then) the first few years before becoming Music in the Park – which is still popular today.
That was Marion Bremner – always trying to make things better for all.
A celebration of her life will be held at Willow Park Church on March 23 beginning at 1 p.m.
