It was two years ago today when retired Chilliwack City Councillor Dorothy Kostrzewa died on January 11th at the age of 84. My parents knew the Chungs since the 1940s when her family had a large vegetable farm near Cottonwood Corners. Dorothy used to baby-sit me on occasion in the early 1950s. My mother cultivated a half-acre garden of boysenberries, pears, plumbs and currents and she used to sell all the excess fruit to Mr. Chung. I later delivered the Chilliwack Progress newspaper to her and her husband Richard when they lived in the Westview Sub-Division area off Bernard Avenue. I continued to ‘rub shoulders’ with Dorothy through Chilliwack’s community recreation programming when she held tennis clinics at the Portage Avenue Park and also came to the Chilliwack Junior and Senior High Schools for a variety of sports clinics. (I was prompted to write this post when I sorted through some old photos and came across on of my friend Gary Charles delivering a tennis volley after receiving some tips from Dorothy.) One of my fondest remembrances was when I, along with a delegation of senior CSC managers, appeared before Chilliwack’s Mayor and Council to present a plan for purchasing the BC Corrections Community Correctional Centre and converting it to a Federal operation. Each member of the delegation was introduced to Mayor and Council – when I was introduced Mayor Clint Hames explained that I was ‘one of Chilliwack’s sons’ and that he had known me for many years. Dorothy took great delight in one-upping Clint by pointing out that she knew me since I was born and even used to change my diapers, bath me and feed me pablum. My face reddened and Dorothy beamed a mischievous smile. For any current or past resident of Chilliwack, Dorothy made a positive impact on the community and every citizen too. A truly amazing woman with a servants heart, boundless energy, humility - always the encourager. In the early 1970s she became the first Chinese-Canadian elected to political office. Among a great many other awards Dorothy received the Order of Chilliwack, Sportsman of the Year, Woman of the Year and was granted an Honorary Doctor Of Law degree from UFV for outstanding community service. Chilliwackians can thank Dorothy for her efforts in establishing the city’s museum, library, cultural centre and more. She had a positive influence on everyone whose paths crossed hers. Dorothy Kostrzewa, a thoroughly remarkable woman. I will always remember her warm smile, kind words and her indefatigable zest for life. She always had a smile…and always pursued reasons to smile. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Kostrzewa
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 18:42:45 +0000
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