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Whistler loses leader in community services

Cancer claims Jill Ackhurst on Dec. 27 Only three months ago Gillian Ackhurst and her husband Peter were counting down the days until their trip to Tanzania.

Cancer claims Jill Ackhurst on Dec. 27

Only three months ago Gillian Ackhurst and her husband Peter were counting down the days until their trip to Tanzania.

This wasn’t going to be an African holiday lounging on white beaches next to the Indian Ocean. Instead, they were going to help set up a home for street kids in Dar Es Salaam, where about 17,000 kids live on the streets.

The project was called "Vijaliwa."

But they would never make it to Tanzania to help those kids.

Jill’s chest infection, which was originally thought to be pneumonia, was diagnosed as cancer in early October, just days before the trip.

After battling the disease for three months, Jill Ackhurst died in her sleep on Saturday, Dec. 27 at Lions Gate Hospital. She was 57 years old.

"Jill’s motto was to live through the service of love," said one of her closest friends, Sue Lawther.

"She wanted to see the world at peace and she was going to do everything she possibly could (to see that.)"

Jill and Peter were planning to spend at least a month in Tanzania to help get this project off the ground and spread some hope in a place where there was little hope to go around.

This was just the tip of the iceberg in a life that was dedicated to community services. Jill was the chair of the Whistler Community Services Society, an active member of the Whistler Rotary Club, an adult educator with First Nations, in addition to various projects like "Vijaliwa."

Friend William Roberts, who was asked by Jill to fill in at the Whistler Village Church two years ago, calls her a pillar of the community.

"She was a person who knew how to put her faith into action, locally and globally," said Roberts.

"She was just hugely committed to the church as an institution, but beyond that I think she knew that true Christian faith was one that didn’t sit comfortably by while people suffer. It committed her to taking action."

Lawther, who met Jill at UBC in the ’60s where they were both studying home economics, remembers that when most people were concerned about frat parties, drinking beer and being flower children, Jill and Peter were different.

Upon graduation in 1968, the couple went overseas as volunteers to Africa, and then to Chile, and so began their adventures around the world together.

"She and Peter were totally focused on community service," said Lawther.

In the mid-70s when they returned to Canada the Ackhursts bought a lot in what was to become White Gold in Whistler. It was just a piece of land in the middle of nowhere at that time.

"We all thought they were absolutely bananas, but of course we came up every weekend and helped build the cabin," said Lawther.

That cabin eventually turned into a permanent home during the ’90s when the Ackhursts moved to Whistler, where they became very active in the local community.

Barry Maskell, president of the Whistler Rotary Club, said Rotary has lost a very valuable member in Jill.

"Anything we had to do in the club she was always one of the first to stick up her hand," he said,

Last year Jill was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship which is presented to Rotarians who make significant contributions to Rotary.

Maskell said that in the Rotary Club they speak of "service above self." This described Jill’s attitude he said.

Fellow Rotarian Gord Leidal said people in the community are still numb with the news because it all happened so quickly. Knowing the work Jill did for the community, Leidal said she deserved to be Whistler’s Citizen of the Year for 2003, not him.

"It’s a damn shame she wasn’t Citizen of the Year last year because she’s just so deserving," said Leidal.

In addition to the Rotary Club Jill was also chair of the board of directors of the Whistler Community Services Society, the organization that runs the Food Bank, the Employment Resource Centre and the Re-Use-It Centre.

"In her role as the chairperson, (she was) the one that really just kept us on track and moving forward on so many different initiatives," said WCSS Vice Chair Derek Gagné, who met Jill when he first joined the board two years ago.

"(She kept us) focused on our mission and our purpose to be helping residents in the community."

Roberts said it will take many people to fill the holes in the community she has left behind.

"She just had tremendous vision and courage and commitment to making a difference," he said.

The testament to Jill’s community commitment was in the recent four-part video that was sent to hospital before Christmas. With shots of the fellow Mountain Hosts, the Rotary Club, the Community Services Society at the Re-Use-It Centre and the Whistler Village Church, the video showed friends rallying together with songs, dances and cheer-leading skits, willing Jill to get better.

But in mid-December Jill made the decision to die with dignity and she stopped all further cancer treatment.

She is survived by her husband Peter, daughter Suli, son Michael and her father Gordon Bishop.

There will be a memorial service in North Vancouver on Friday, Jan. 2 at the Highlands United Church to celebrate her life. A second memorial service in Whistler will take place on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. at MY Place. Everyone is invited to attend and bring pictures or poems. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Cancer Society or the Canadares Street Children’s Project.