Farewell to Meryl Matthews

Posted on November 24, 2010 in City Issues // 0 Comments

A very fitting farewell for Meryl Matthews today as a about 100 people gathered in Kamloops United Church for her memorial service. Meryl died last week at 99 after a lifetime of community service.

While she was known for her love of rose gardening, she also made significant contributions to Kamloops via politics, serving both as an alderwoman and then as a school trustee. I served on the same school board as Meryl in the late 1970s. I was one of several new board members — Nelson Riis, Tom Balson, Neil Morrison and Dave Kendell — who had some ideas about new ways of doing things, and I think we flummoxed Meryl quite often. But she was fun to work with. She had an infectious grin, a good heart and a genuine affection for Kamloops.

Of that board, Tom, Neil, Dave and now Meryl have been lost to us.

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ArmchairMayor.ca is a forum about Kamloops and the world. It has more than one million views. Mel Rothenburger is the former Editor of The Daily News in Kamloops, B.C. (retiring in 2012), and past mayor of Kamloops (1999-2005). At ArmchairMayor.ca he is the publisher, editor, news editor, city editor, reporter, webmaster, and just about anything else you can think of. He is grateful for the contributions of several local columnists. This blog doesn't require a subscription but gratefully accepts donations to help defray costs.