WINTER GAMES ATHLETES NAMED A contingent of five Mission athletes will compete
TAKING TO THE STAGE
Local actor performing with new dinner theatre company PAGE 22
PAGE 6
HELPING YOUTH
Mission homeless youth need community’s aid
PAGE 3
COUNTDOWN TO THE
GAMES
85¢+ GST
21 Friday, January 31, 2014
SERVING MISSION SINCE 1908
Mission’s Marion Sharpe was dedicated to the community and was involved with numerous organizations. She passed away on Jan. 15 just shy of her 98th birthday.
SUBMITTED
‘She helped educate a community’ Family and friends celebrated nearly 100 years of Marion Sharpe Alina KONEVSKI MISSION RECORD
Marion Frances Sharpe was always a woman of strong will, even as a teenager. The story goes that the day after she turned 21, when she was legally allowed to get married without anyone’s permission, she left for Vancouver to wed her sweetheart of five years, Paul Sharpe. Marion was a proud Protestant, and when Paul’s mother – a devout Catholic – met the pair on the wedding day and insisted that Marion convert so that the marriage could take place at a Catholic church, Marion stood firm. “Mom didn’t, and she
wouldn’t, and she never did change her religion,” recounts son Steve. “I think they got married, if I remember, in the office in the back of the Catholic church. That was as good as she was going to get.” Marion Sharpe passed away Jan. 15, two days shy of her 98th birthday. Some of the people she affected over her near century of life came out to celebrate her during a service on Wednesday – exactly 77 years to the day after Marion and Paul married. Born Jan. 17, 1916 in Burnaby in the middle of the First World War, the eldest of five children, Marion moved to
Mission in 1920. She graduated from Mission Central school, as five of her six children did years later, and eventually became a librarian at
a child Marion even made connections with Mission families with large private libraries so that she could get what she wanted even if
If you were a politician in this community . . . you would’ve certainly heard from mom. Mission Library. She was a woman who thrived on strong and lasting relationships with those around her. Always an avid reader, as
the local library didn’t have it. Later, through her decades of library service at the Mission public library, Marion selected books for children,
and watched them grow up to borrow books as adults. “She helped educate a community,” said Steve. Although she retired from the library in 1982, Marion continued to lead an active and involved life for another three decades. “She was very proud of her community and her community involvement,” said Steve. Marion was a charter member of the Historical Society, Friends of the Library, Lifetime Learning, Paths and Pathfinders, Hospice Society, Women’s Institute, Hospital Auxiliary, and the Old Age Pensioners. She believed in civic duty and was a regular letter-writer
MUD-TERRAIN T/A 33245 GLASGOW AVENUE, MISSION (Located next to commuter rail)
•M Maximized axiimized i d ttraction racti tion i a and nd dh handling andl dliing co dl control ntrol t l in deep dirt, mud and sand. n. • Incredible rock-climbing and slick-surface traction.
604.826.9119 We’ve Built our Reputation on 40 Years of Quality Service.
www.symons-exceltire.com
Light Truck/SUV
BFGoodrich
®
Mud-Terrain™ T/A
® KM
SEE US FOR A FULL SELECTION OF ALL-TERRAIN & LT. TRUCK TIRES. S.
to people in authority to tell them what’s what. “If you were a politician in this community, whether you were civic, or provincial, or federal, you would’ve certainly heard from mom. Many times,” said Steve. “I long with my sisters and brothers to have that same passion, and we learned that from our mother.” What mattered most to Marion were her friends and family. She leaves behind three sons and three daughters, 15 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren – and nearly a century of memories spread among those she knew in the community.
KM