| The Rev. Shirley Stockdill (left), Brenda Straker (center) and Doreen Stephens (right) |
Three diocesan staff members have announced their retirement. Brenda Straker, receptionist, will retire at the end of June. A parishioner and parish council member at St. David's, Delta, she has been the initial contact to numerous people who have called or visited the downtown Synod Office, as well as handling Parish Mail and several other duties.
The Rev. Shirley Stockdill will retire at the end of August. She did her curacy under then rector Michael Ingham at St. Francis-in-the-Wood, following study at Nashotah House in Wisconsin. Following work for Oxfam in Toronto, she returned to the diocese in 2000 to work as diocesan Stewardship Development Officer. She plans to be active in interim and supply work following her retirement.
Doreen Stephens announced her retirement at year-end after 20 years as Archivist for this Diocese and for the ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and the Yukon. She was the first woman to be chosen as warden at St. Augustine's, Marpole, her parish since childhood. She succeeded Garth Walker as archivist, who still volunteers at the Archives.