Jane Burrows - Whistler Honoree
2019 IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer's
Among Paul Burrows’ fondest memories of his wife Jane are the times they spent on their travels, whether during the six months they spent driving across South Africa or their more than 60 cruises together over the years.
Jane, a native of Kirkland, Ontario, met Paul at the Dev Pub in Vancouver after completing a degree in Marketing and Research and travelling the world in 1965. She put down roots on the West Coast, earning her teaching degree at UBC. She then began a 47-year marriage to Paul in a raucous ceremony at the Medieval Inn in Gastown.
Jane was part of the first cohort of teachers to work at the Myrtle Philip School in Alta Lake, later Whistler, and she continued to work with the Howe Sound school district until her retirement in 1988. During this time, Paul ran for mayor and the pair founded Whistler’s first newspaper, the Whistler Question, from the basement of their small A-frame cabin in Alpine Meadows.
“She always spoke her mind and was very highly regarded,” Paul says. “She encouraged me and I encouraged her.”
Contributing to the emergence of the school system teaching young learners was one of Jane’s greatest accomplishments. “We didn’t have kids,” Paul says, “but Jane had 20 five-year-olds every year.”
Travel remained a passion for the couple throughout their life together. They lived large all around the world, including several cruises following Jane’s diagnosis of dementia. “She came along for the ride,” Paul says.
Paul and Jane moved to Salmon Arm in 2000 to start a new life in their retirement. In 2012, Jane was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a diagnosis she shared with her grandfather, her father, her mother and her brother. Paul and Jane had a long journey with the disease together, a time during which Paul began attending, and receiving strength from, an Alzheimer Society of B.C. Caregiver Support Group. Paul now considers himself a reluctant expert on dementia and continues to attend the support group, where he shares some of the lessons he has learned with other caregivers.
“Remind yourself that nobody goes through the dementia journey in the same way. Remind yourself that you’re responsible because you have the cognitive skills and they do not. Don’t be judgmental. Offer guidance and try not to break down – that’s the hardest one.”
Jane’s journey with Alzheimer’s disease ended in December 2018. Paul will join the community he and Jane helped build and walk in honour of Jane at the Whistler IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer’s. A celebration of Jane’s life of adventure will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 at Tantalus Lodge in Whistler Village.
Walk with Jane and Paul at the Whistler IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer's on Sunday, May 5. Together, we make memories matter.