ALICE KIDD

Alice Kidd died in Lillooet, BC, on September 13, 2025, on the traditional unceded northern territory of the St'át'imc Nation. Born in Toronto on December 8, 1948, she was predeceased by parents, J. Roby Kidd and Margaret Easto Kidd; and husband, Doug Reimer. Mourned by siblings, Bruce (Phyllis), Ross (Puseletso), David (Leanne), and Dorothy (Else); nieces, Musonda, Katebe, Keneilwe, Oratile, Neo, and Miko; nephew, Cearan; and grand-niece, Kamilah; as well as her Camelsfoot chosen family, including Robin, Osha and Van Andruss, Eleanor Wright, Scott Davis, Bonnie Mae and Alannah New-Small. A "whiz at math," Alice sailed through schools in Toronto, Ottawa and Neuchatel, Switzerland; and took university programs in physics (Waterloo), law (Osgoode), sociology (York and Simon Fraser) and adult education (UBC). In the 1970s, influenced by bioregionalism and permaculture, she "ran away to the woods," helping create an intentional community in the interior of British Columbia. She stayed in the Lillooet area for rest of her life, first in the remote Camelsfoot commune, then the Yalakom Valley, and then Lillooet. Alice was a "scout" for the people she knew, venturing, testing and sharing, whether it was to raise or butcher goats, home school the commune's kids, plant and harvest fruit trees, build a free-standing hydroelectric system, establish a food co-op, or build community organizations with people deeply divided by economic circumstances and ideology (think loggers and environmentalists in a town where private industry and government laid off hundreds). She helped create a women's experimental health group so she and her female friends could learn from their experiences. At the Lillooet adult education centre and library, she helped people get the formal education they never received and find new and better jobs. Alice was always quick to intervene, sometimes impatiently so. She explored philosophy and gave practical advice in the Lillooet newspaper. She fought forest fires and taught fireproofing to everyone she knew. She read voraciously, and to the last day of her life, emailed a daily list of articles she thought we should read. A friend in Lillooet described her as "refreshingly reasonable." "Nothing in her life became her like the leaving it. (Macbeth)." Alice died with the assistance of MAID. Two accidents earlier in her life had so seriously damaged her spine that she became increasingly immobile and in pain. She made her last summer another episode of learning, sharing, and community building, reaching out, meeting and corresponding constantly. On August 2nd, she invited family and friends to her acreage for a "circle" of memory and reflection. 45 people from almost every episode of her life spoke about what they'd learned from her, the current state of the world and whether "you still have hope." It took six hours, and was extraordinarily enlightening and moving. If MAID offers another way to the inevitable end of human life, Alice's circle inspires reaching it with community, love and renewal. As for Alice, "the earth will have the last word." Celebrations of her life will be held in Toronto and Lillooet later in the year.