25 May 2013 S. Laurene Clark
Peacefully, in the early morning hours of Saturday May 15th, 2013, at home, after 17 indomitable years with cancer as her adversary. Born in 1954 to J.W.W. clark (last lighthouse keeper at Cape George, NS) and his wife Salome Dorothy, she was the tenth of twelve siblings: Bud, Bully (deceased), Robert, Don, Tom, Gerry, Wayne and Greg Clark, Fay McInnis, Willie Lundrigan (deceased), and Lynn Osmond. She raised two wonderful children, Chantal (graduate student at Simon Fraser University) and Joshua (theater and film student at UVic) Turpin. Her family and her global diaspora of friends will miss her. Laurene’s life migrated from the east coast of Canada to the west coast, touching uncounted lives along the way. From her early childhood at the Lighthouse, she moved to Montague, Prince Edward Island. After high school, she took her BA at the University of PEI, followed by a business degree from the University of Ottawa, becoming the Business Manager of the Canadian National Synchronized Swimming Team in the early 1980’s. From there she helped launch Kingston & The Islands Boat Line in Kingston, where Chantal was born, before moving to Vancouver, where Joshua was born, and where she owned Kerrisdale Bootery. The family soon returned to positions at Queen’s University in Kingston, where an early diagnosis galvanized Laurene into becoming one of Canada’s leading advocates for breast cancer prevention. She was president of the first World Conference on Breast Cancer in 1997, before heading all the way west to Victoria in 2000. Soon, Laurene was a driving force for the Island Breastrokers Dragon Boat team, also paddling on collaborative Canadian teams in South Africa, Israel and Australia. Laurene was also a key organizer of fund-raising efforts across the city, and she enjoyed every step of her busy life (MBD Consulting, Royal LePage Oak Bay real Estate), charging each day with an energy that left the rest of her friends exhausted. In just the past few months, she toured the Mediterranean and San Francisco, shone as a hostess at the IBS Auction, and was orchestrating a heritage designation for the lighthouse.