REBECCA MARY BRAGG

REBECCA MARY BRAGG An early AIDS activist and former Toronto Star reporter, Becky died suddenly in Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada, December 16, 2016, at age 66. The eldest of three children born to Margaret Ryan Bragg and Bill Bragg of St. Mary's, Ontario, she was predeceased by her beloved sister Cathy in 2014. She is survived by her brother John (Debra) of Avon Park, Florida, sisters Jo-Anne McGee (Larry) of Bradford and Suzanne Bragg of Los Angeles, California. Remembered also by her step-mother Grace Bragg, nieces, nephews and their families. Rebecca -- often known as Becky -- lived a life of independence, adventure, and service. She funded her education at the University of Toronto with scholarships and part-time work, achieving an English Honours BA from Victoria College and a Creative Writing MA from the University of Windsor, mentored by the novelist Joyce Carol Oates. In the 1980s, she launched and won a pay-equity lawsuit on behalf of women copywriters at Simpsons Toronto. She was then recruited by June Callwood to help establish Casey House, Canada's first stand- alone AIDS hospice, at a time when AIDS patients were still treated as pariahs. Becky chaired the fundraising committee, which raised half a million dollars. She was also the sole occupant of the big old building on Huntley Street that eventually opened as Casey House in 1988. Before and during the renovations, she lived there alone, accompanied by Chelsea, the guard dog. Decades later she still spoke fondly of Chelsea, the first of several dogs in her life. From 1984 - 1988, she freelanced in fashion and travel. She joined the Toronto Star in 1988 as Travel Writer, specializing in extended reports from obscure, non-tourist destinations. In 1993, she moved to the newsroom, and among other assignments covered Canada's long- running tainted-blood scandal and the Justice Krever Inquiry into the Canadian blood system. In 1998, she joined the Star's City Hall bureau (where her father Bill had been bureau chief until 1985). She left the Star in 2000 and travelled to Uzbekistan to research a novel about the spread of the Russian Revolution into Central Asia. When she returned to Canada, she moved to Grand Bend, Ontario, to work on the book. On her way to Uzbekistan again in 2005, civil unrest forced a detour, and she chose Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas. She stayed five years, writing and volunteering at the Darjeeling Goodwill Animal Shelter. She returned to Grand Bend in 2010 to care for her sister Cathy, who was ill with cancer. Following Cathy's death in 2014, Rebecca worked on challenging the way health care is delivered in Ontario. In 2015 she was diagnosed with polycythemia vera, a blood cancer. She made one more trip to Uzbekistan, and upon returning announced in November 2016 that the book was finished. A month later, she collapsed while walking to the store in Grand Bend; a blood clot had travelled from her leg to her lungs, resulting in her death. Her book about Red Army soldiers and the harem women and girls of the last Emir of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, remains on her computer, awaiting a publisher. Two commemorations of Rebecca's remarkable life will be held: on May 4, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at the "519" Community Centre, 519 Church Street, in Toronto and on August 18, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. at Hoffman & Sons Funeral Home in Dashwood, Ontario. Cremation has occurred, and a short graveside interment service will follow. Donations in her memory may be made to the Darjeeling Goodwill Animal Shelter through their website or sent directly to: Ms Furmit Lepcha, Darjeeling Animal Shelter, Kothi Goan, Harsing Hatta, Le Bong, Darjeeling, West Bengal 734 101. India, telephone: 91 95472 70076.