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2026 WFA Kamloops honouree

Ken Ezzard - Kamloops Honouree

2026 IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer's 

“When Marilyn knew she was having problems, she didn’t want anyone to know she might have dementia,” says Ken Ezzard, talking about his wife Marilyn, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2015.
 
Receiving a diagnosis of dementia can be overwhelming, an experience filled with uncertainty and difficult emotions. Stigma often accompanies a diagnosis, and for Marilyn and Ken, those feelings were especially profound. Having met in a psychiatric nursing class in Manitoba in the 1960s, the couple’s first real exposure to dementia was when they worked for three years at what was then known as the Brandon Mental Hospital.
 
“We would have up to 60 patients on the ward without adequate staff,” Ken says. “There was no specialized care for people living with dementia — everyone was lumped together. It was not a nice situation.”
 
Ken and Marilyn moved to Kamloops in 1966 to work at the Tranquille Sanitorium. Ken left the nursing profession shortly after and sought a career in the insurance business. Marilyn continued to work in nursing and became the first psychiatric nurse hired at Royal Inland Hospital. They raised two children in Kamloops and now have seven grandchildren.
 
“Marilyn has always done her best at everything she takes on – from raising our children to her career,” Ken says. “She’s a great lady.”
 
Marilyn eventually stepped away from her nursing career to spend more time with her children and help Ken with his growing insurance business. From 1973 on, she ran the office and took care of all their accounting needs. After selling their insurance agency in 1993, Ken and Marilyn maintained their own independent company that they still run today.

“I first noticed changes in Marilyn in 2012,” Ken says. “One day she looked up at me from her desk and told me she couldn’t do the accounting anymore. She couldn’t balance the books; she couldn’t remember the top to the bottom.”

Marilyn’s symptoms progressed for two years before she received a formal diagnosis. Still affected by her early work experience as a psychiatric nurse in the 60’s, she didn’t want to talk about the changes she was experiencing with anyone – but Ken knew they needed more support.

“I always knew the Alzheimer Society of BC and Yukon existed, but I reached out when I started noticing Marilyn’s symptoms,” Ken says. “After she was diagnosed, I started attending monthly support group meetings and education sessions with a friend whose wife was experiencing similar problems.”

With support from the organization, family and friends, Ken and Marilyn continued to live their life as best they could. Ken loves to golf, and for years he brought Marilyn along so they could ride the course together in the golf cart. The couple loved to travel to Mesa, Arizona and continued their annual visits until 2019.

“Marilyn loved to walk around the neighbourhood in Mesa and when she’d get lost, the other residents always helped her find her way home,” Ken says. “I tried to do all the things we did before without putting her in positions that caused stress. I tried to maintain as much of a normal life as possible.”

Marilyn’s symptoms progressed in 2019. She began to get lost more frequently on daily walks and Ken found he had to keep a closer eye on her.

“I hired several respite workers to spend time with her so I could have some time away, but she always fought it,” Ken says. “She didn’t want anyone else to know about her diagnosis.”

Eventually Ken found a care worker with whom Marilyn had a genuine connection, but as her symptoms worsened, Ken knew she needed more care than they could provide. With no long-term homes available in Kamloops, Ken reluctantly accepted a spot in Vernon – a 90-minute drive away. Marilyn lived there for eight months until a room became available in Kamloops.

“I said I’d do whatever we needed to, to get her here.,” Ken says. “Fortunately, a spot opened up two weeks later. It’s been a tough road, but she’s okay there.”

Ken and Marilyn are well supported by their children and by their community, who know Marilyn lives with the disease and have never treated her differently because of it.
 
“All the guys I play golf with know what’s going on with Marilyn,” Ken says. “There’s a high school 300 yards from our house and one day when Marilyn got lost, two teenagers brought her home. We’re very lucky.”

Despite the support they’ve received from their community, Marilyn has never felt comfortable talking about her diagnosis.

“Back in the ‘60s, we made a promise to each other that we would not put either one of us in institutionalized care and that also made our journey a bit more difficult to navigate,” Ken says. “Thankfully, long-term care is nothing like was back then. The training, expectations of patient treatment, education, ratio of nurses to patients... a lot has changed.”

Ken is grateful for the work the Alzheimer Society of BC and Yukon has done to fight stigma. He hopes that as time goes on, people won’t immediately associate the disease with end-of-life.

“The best advice I can give is to not make a secret of it,” Ken says. “Marilyn fought it the whole way through. What a difference it would have made if she could have said, ‘Yes, I have Alzheimer’s disease, but I’m still here.’”

Join Ken on Sunday, May 31 for the Kamloops IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer's. 

2026 WFA Kamloops honouree-1