Messages to the Gwen Barlee Memorial Fund
In memory of my dear niece Gwen. Missed so very much.
Aunt Carol
Deepest thank you for a courageous and determined advocate for
Our environment
I knew Gwen vaguely and worked on a couple of projects with her in Northern Vancouver Island. I respected her deeply. Sorry for your loss. (I grew up in Penticton and attended Bill's high school.)
We knew Gwen through, and appreciated her advocacy for the Lyme community. Many Thanks, Linda and Michael
We didn't know Gwen well. She came to the Kootenays to support us in our campaign against the Glacier -Howser IPP. She impressed us with her dedication and strategic thinking and we just simply liked her. May her important work continue.
Hoping this donation helps see her dreams come true.
I will continue to remember Gwen’s passion and dedication for the rest of my life. She was truly an inspiration and I am so happy that her life’s work will be able to continue through this fund!
With gratitude to Gwen Barlee
Thank you Gwen!
Thanks.
Gwen was an inspirition to me. I first met her in a Lyme
Disease Support Group. Her wisdom and quiet leadership helped me to find the strength to heal. I am now completely free of Lyme Disease. Her honesty and integrity and passion for protecting nature has led me to support Western Wilderness Committee. It is with gratitude I support this legacy for this beautiful great woman.
I’m proud to have had the honour to work Gwen. Determined to carry on her fight!
Thank you Gwen.
I've really enjoyed all the Information / Maps / Pictures that Gwen Barlee and her staff have shared with me and others during her years as National Policy Director.
In loving memory of Chloe O'Loughlin. The work continues, the love never dies.
It is a huge and extremely sad loss for family, friends, coworkers and the environment, but we shall carry on Gwen's wonderful endeavours and hard fought battles.
My deepest condolences for the loss of your loved one. I appreciate the dedicated hard work that Gwen provided in support of our beautiful earth.
Gwen was one of my personal heroes - a tireless champion for all things wild.
I had the honour of working with Gwen on a number of campaigns, as director of conservation with CPAWS-BC. Gwen taught me so much about how to be an effective campaigner, from strategy to media and government relations. We spent many hours driving to the South Okanagan and back, road trips made much more fun because of lively conversation. We will all be trying to channel Gwen's strengths and values as we carry on our work. She will be deeply missed.
I met Gwen through the United Way Public Policy Institute and we connected right away over bees and pesticide policy. She was a fierce warrior and I'll never forget her passion and commitment to the causes that were close to her heart. I hope even a small fraction of that passion lives within me now. We carry on doing work in her name for the benefit of this planet.
Gwen was a tremendous support to the students in my class as they researched and produced a short documentary about BC's endangered species a couple of years ago. She visited our school twice, facilitated their work in many different ways and even appeared in the film. It was a real privilege to get to know her and I have no doubt that her passion will continue to be an inspiration for a very long time!
I will miss Gwen. I always enjoyed our conversations about the environment and our hike together to the Goat River . I will be back to the Goat River soon working hard to get it protected .I will remember Gwen while I walk through its beautiful forest!
Gwen, thank you for your mentorship and friendship over the last couple years. You are sorely missed, and we will continue to carry out your work and vision for BC. Your legacy will live on through the many lives (humans and critters alike) you have protected through your fierce and unwavering commitment. It was a real honour to work along side you, learn from you, and stand by you.
A true force of and for nature.
I don't go a day without thinking about Gwen. Healing thoughts and warm memories are beamed to Kathleen and Diane.
We met Gwen through the Lyme Community. She guided us through the freedom of information maze for health information and supported ourselves and many others dealing with Lyme disease and co infections. Her dedication, knowledge, will to go forward no matter what the odds and love for people and all of nature is well known. Through Gwen we have become more aware of the necessity of speaking truth to power. Thank you Gwen. With love, Linda and Michael Steele
I met Gwen once in 2010 and was highly impressed by her dedication to the goals of the organization.
I am so sorry for your loss. Gwen made a huge and lasting contribution to making the world a better place. She was very generous with her help to me on an FOI project I was involved in. The hole she leaves in our hearts and this world will be so very hard to fill.
I am so sorry for your loss. Gwen's passing is a loss for the BC community and for all of the wildlife and wild places Gwen was fighting hard to protect, with unparalleled dedication, passion, and tenacity.
I am honoured to have gotten to know and collaborate with Gwen and other amazing ENGO folks on the campaign for species at risk legislation a few years ago.
I hope that you find comfort knowing she will be remembered so fondly by so many, and I hope the great work Gwen did will be carried forward by others.
In peace...
Gwen was such a relentless and strong advocate in BC's environment movement. This is a beautiful way to honour her legacy in the province.
I am sending you positive energy to get through this difficult period. I have met Gwen only a few times and wished I would have spend more time with her. But every time I met her I felt immediately connected and positive. She was a wonderful, inspiring person that cared deeply about people and nature. It is astounding to think about how many people she connected with and what a difference she made in our lives and for our province. Now she is bringing many of us together again, thinking about her, missing her and motivating each other to continue her important work, safeguarding the natural world.
Gwen was a complete professional, totally dedicated to the welfare of the planet and its living things, and one of the most caring people I ever met. I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to work with her.
Gwen was and still is a great inspiration to us all and wildlife. I have and continue to work with endangered species and she definitely paved a path for us to support conservation.
To Gwen's family. You grew and supported a wonderful activist and champion for wilderness - thank you. Gwen has left a legacy for us all to enjoy, share and continue to build.
Recognizing Gwen's deep commitment.
Gwen was a lovely person, and a powerful crusader. She will be missed by many including those creatures in the wild places who she fought so hard to protect and defend.
My fondness and respect for Gwen goes back at least two decades. Her humour, her strategic intelligence, her spirited determination and her will to win (and not just fight) I will always remember. I was lucky enough a year or so ago to run into her in the Vancouver airport where we had one of our always stimulating conversations. Her spirit outlives her.
Gwen was a colleague and a friend. I admired her passion for the environment, social justice, and politics. I adored her no-nonsense personality, her feisty intelligence, her humour, and her kindness. It is hard to believe that we won't share drinks and snacks at Burgoo anymore, banter about this politics and work and relationships and family. The world is a better place because of her time hear. And my life was made richer through her friendship. My deepest condolences to her family.
I have been so honoured to work with Gwen through the Wilderness Committee. She was a force of nature - a brilliant, thoughtful, strategic and fearless leader, and a tireless fighter. I especially appreciated that Gwen's understanding of environmental activism and sustainability was broad, and included a strong commitment to social justice and alliance building. She exemplified the kind of leadership that is so badly needed in these times.
Gwen helped me gain a better understanding of environmental issues and helped inform my writing about public affairs. I know others who gained her assistance as well. Gwen was knowledgeable, honest and fair but very determined. British Columbia is a poorer place without Gwen Barlee.
I am so sorry very for the loss of your beloved Gwen. She was a gem of a person, and a champion of all things wild and wonderful, all creatures great and small. We will miss her so much. "For Gwen. For the wild. Forever."
We have lost a powerful voice for all things wild, but we honour Gwen by amplifying her work of hope for all beings.
Gwen was a friend, a colleague, and an inspiration to me. We hit it off the first time I met her and for seven years I was lucky to work side by side and have her support, guidance, and of course, her competition, to help get me through every challenge. My memories of her and her leadership will forever guide me through life.
Gwen's passion and personality inspire me to care more deeply and walk more softly on our planet, but to carry a pocket armed with research as a big stick!