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Family launches ‘memory project’ for long-time local, WSAR founder Cliff Jennings

After dementia diagnosis, family is looking to gather memories from his 56 years in Whistler 
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The family of Cliff Jennings, who has lived with in Whistler continuously with his wife Vivien since 1965, is asking for the community to gather their memories and stories of him after he was recently diagnosed with dementia.

If you ever had the good fortune of sharing a chairlift with long-time local Cliff Jennings over the years, chances are you got an experience better than any lift ticket could buy. 

“He’d meet somebody on the chairlift and would take them for the rest of the day, if they were willing to hang out with him, and often they were because they had found this golden jewel of a person who knew all the history of Whistler, knew all the runs, would talk their ear off and also could ski well and possibly take them on harder terrain than they were prepared for,” said daughter Sara Jennings. “He was always wanting to show people Whistler.” 

In a town filled with transplants who love to debate how local they are, Jennings may just take the cake. A heli-ski guide and avid hiker who co-founded Whistler Search and Rescue, worked for decades at the municipal sewage treatment plant, served as the nascent fire department’s dispatcher when asthma prevented him from becoming a firefighter, and volunteered for innumerable local organizations, Jennings and his wife Vivien have lived in Whistler continuously since 1965. 

Until, that is, this month, when Jennings relocated to the Squamish long-term care facility, Hilltop House, after a dementia diagnosis just three short months ago. 

“It’s a very devastating disease when dementia hits you, and it hit him all of a sudden,” Vivien explained. “It didn’t creep up or anything; it really hit him with a bang.” 

Now, the family is launching a “memory project” to remind Jennings of the many lives he touched over his more than half a century in Whistler, calling on old friends and colleagues to send in photos, videos, letters and other keepsakes. 

“We were just trying to think of ideas to keep him connected to who he was and still is, knowing that his memory is going to decrease and his happiest memories are going to be in the past,” said Sara. “The biggest thing right now for him is he’s quite depressed, because there is nothing in his life that is positive right now. Especially with COVID, he doesn’t even get to have regular visits. Right now he’s just waiting to kind of waste away, whether it’s his mind or his physical abilities.” 

Research has shown that while patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia can often struggle with recent memories, reliving moments from their earlier lives through what’s called reminiscence therapy can help develop positive associations and reduce stress and agitation.  

But along with aiding Jennings on the tough road ahead, the family knows they too will benefit from the trip down memory lane. 

“It will be a document that we will use in the future as well. It’s a document of his life for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, eventually,” Sara said. 

It’s a fitting symmetry for a man who has always been more than willing to share the history of the town he loves, a history so closely intertwined with his own. 

“He’s rooted in the Whistler community. His history is wrapped up in Whistler, and the history of Whistler grew up around him,” said Sara. “So I want him not just to know what he’s done for us, but what he’s meant to Whistler and other people here.” 

Anyone with stories, photos or other memories to share can contact Sara at sarajennings@hotmail.com or 604-932-2664. The Jennings family is also encouraging friends to connect with the family if they wish to chat with Cliff over the phone at Hilltop House.