Gary Whitefield Coward

GARY WHITEFIELD COWARD

Dec 07, 1940 - Mar. 25, 2023

"I have lived a beautiful life. I'm so lucky." Gary laid down his pencil, paintbrush, protest and projects, taking his last breath with beloved children Mara and Joshu at his side, on his own terms, naturally and with curiosity till the end. Close friends and family knew a charismatic person whose thoughts and actions were full of passion, generosity, fiery truth-telling and deep service to others. Gary's life sparkled with thousands of gifting moments: of intense conversation, financial support and original ideas. Throughout his life he used his own two hands to chop wood, build homes, illustrate justice and create beauty. Deep into his illness, he said: "I'm a joyous person, a piece of music, a view can fill me up with joy."

As an army brat, Gary was nomadic, living at 12 addresses over 13 years, excelling at school and athletics, once winning the Governor General's medal for Creative Expression. He headed the painting department at Sir George Williams University (Montreal, now Concordia), before bringing his family westward, working at Emily Carr and finally settling on Galiano Island, where he was a tireless activist for affordable housing, environmental protection and Indigenous land rights.

Gary lived with righteous anger at social and political injustices, both local and global, but never gave up on this sometimes perilous and disappointing world. He loved radical paradigm shifters like Buckminster Fuller (he built two geodesic domes), Karl Marx, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald. He imperfectly embraced Zen ideas of right thought/right action but also cared gently and with love, as a stay-at-home Dad with Mara and Joshu, later for his wife, Phyllis, in her illness, and finally for partner, Ursula.

He made friends easily because he was so easy to like and his mind was so interesting. This was the deepest insult of his Lewy Body dementia, that this bright and original intelligence so rapidly shattered. Even so, near the end he said, typically Gary: "There's something in the big box I'm still working out. That's a metaphor."

Our family extends special thanks to the many caregivers, nurses and doctors who compassionately tended to Gary in his last months at Parkview Tertiary Care, and especially Fran Wright, who taught us so much about the humanity of dying. His two children, Mara and Joshu, grandsons Elijah and Sean, siblings Neil, John Douglas and Barbara, and countless nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and collaborators are heart-broken that he is gone. But he gave us an instruction; he can't do it anymore, so it'll have to be us: "I really need to tell young people not to give up." Only death curtailed his optimism.

If you wish, consider a donation in Gary's name to one of his favourite causes: Galiano Conservancy Association's Millard Learning Centre (galiano conservancy.ca) or Unist'ot'en Land Defenders (unistoten.camp).