(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
April 24, 2019 - 10:38 AM
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - British Columbia resident Gordon Bregoliss, a man considered instrumental in the creation of the City of Kamloops, has died at the age of 96.
Bregoliss spent 12 years in civic politics in the 1960s and 70s, first with the town of North Kamloops and then with the City of Kamloops, where he was the chairman of a key committee that spearheaded the amalgamation of the two communities in 1967.
Bregoliss also represented Kamloops in 1973 when the province ordered further amalgamation and placed eight other communities, including Brocklehurst, Heffley Creek and Rayleigh, inside city boundaries.
He was born in Revelstoke on May 11, 1922, but moved with his family to the Kamloops area just two weeks later and remained a resident of the southern Interior city for the rest of his life.
The Second World War veteran and lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus was honoured with the Freedom of the City in 1977.
Bregoliss died Monday at a seniors' facility in Kamloops and is survived by his wife, Bea, six children, 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Kamloops Coun. Bill Sarai says he met Bregoliss more than a decade ago and describes him as a person everyone strives to be.
"(He was) community minded, getting along with everybody, sharing ... experiences good and bad. Making everybody around you a better person. I, personally, am a better person by meeting Gordon," says Sarai.
Funeral services will be held Monday.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2019