By Chris Pratt, President of Metchosin Foundation
Many years ago when Moralea and her husband John chose to make their home in Metchosin, attracted by the quiet lifestyle of the people and the rich endowment of forests, fields, and streams bordered by the sea, they saw that measures were needed to preserve that balance while living on the verges of a growing city.
They literally spent the rest of their lives bending to that task. John was first elected to Council while he was professionally engaged in providing internet service to First Nations communities throughout the Province including our neighbours at Scia’new (Beecher Bay). In parallel, Moralea reached out through her friendship with Pakki Chipps to the young people of Scia’new.
Moralea seized upon the suggestion that some agency was needed to voice the value of preserving our way of living, and in particular our green spaces; and so the idea of a Foundation was born. Moralea, (and here Jo Mitchell too must be named, for they were “cut out of the same cloth”), recruited lawyer Dan MacIsaac to draw up a legal constitution for the Metchosin Foundation, and then guide it through the labyrinth of legal verbiage to have it approved. That process took more than a couple of years; meanwhile a board was chosen and planning continued.
John died from cancer when he was far too young, and after a time it became Moralea’s turn to join Council, where she served as Treasurer, and Council adviser to the Environmental Committee.
And so, today stories have been pouring in about how Moralea helped someone with this problem or that, how she organized the monthly “Talk and Walk” series that have just now numbered a hundred! The BioBlitzes that have brought naturalists from near and far to recognize the flora and fauna that inhabit Metchosin, and her frequent articles in “The Muse” on natural history, to mention just some of her work. And to quote from just one such email, “Moralea had an indomitable spirit and an indefatigable commitment to making this community the best it could be.”
May she rest in Peace, while the Foundation takes up the Torch.