ROB HAYNES received the Mayor’s Award of Excellence for Civic Volunteers in his native Vancouver in 2016, the same year he was honoured with a Star on Granville Street’s Walk of Fame – both for his outstanding contribution and service in the city’s entertainment communities.
Since retiring from his work as a producer of special events and consumer shows in Vancouver and abroad (London, UK and Palm Beach, Florida), Rob has served as Chair on the Vancouver Civic Theatres, and as President of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame volunteer boards.
The former actor got an early start on stage as a child in the 1960s at the Kitsilano Show Boat. He went on to perform in CBC musicals (1970s) and make guest appearances on Alaska-bound Princess Cruises before launching his own talent agency. Later, in the ’80s, he started an event production company, which eventually led him to global projects in a VP role for DMGT (Daily Mail & General Trust) London and then Florida.
Rob came full circle when he and his long-time partner, Wayne, returned to Vancouver and the theatre and entertainment communities he loves, in a board leadership role.
“Once it’s in your blood, it’s always in your blood,” he says, on his way out the door to conduct another historical tour of Vancouver’s iconic Orpheum theatre.
REVEREND STEPHEN GARRETT, formerly a corporate banker and later a social worker and Warrior Sage leader, says he found his true “calling” about six years ago, when all his earlier personal and professional experience culminated in the end-of-life, death-and-dying work he has been doing since.
Montreal-born and Toronto-educated, Stephen left the banking world when his sister suddenly died in 1988. He expanded his education to complete an MA, and then spent 12 years as a social worker on the Sunshine Coast and in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.
Eventually, after also teaching relationship and conflict resolution strategies, the Maple Ridge resident says he “stumbled” into death and dying.
“I want to help people die well,” says the recently ordained minister and author of four books. He’s also the Executive Director of the non-profit consumer advocacy Memorial Society of BC, for which he has compiled a “Ready-to-go Binder” that aims to put everything in one place for those left behind.
Stephen has been hosting monthly Death Cafés, an informal forum for discussion about the inevitable, at Brock House. “I feel that I’ve arrived, with this work,” he says, “as I’m slipping into elderhood myself.”
Verena Foxx is a Vancouver writer/educator. If you have a story to share, contact her at: verena.foxx@gmail.com
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