Mary Glassford, the Cariboo Regional District Director for Area I from 1995 to 2008 and an Alderwoman on Quesnel City Council before that in 1990, passed away this week.
Al Richmond, himself a longtime CRD Director who worked with Mary, says she will definitely be missed…
“She was a caring, compassionate individual who always did her homework and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.  I viewed her as a valued colleague and a mentor.  Her support for UNBC and the college in Quesnel is unsurpassed by anybody.  She was always passionate and always working to make things better for the community and the people of Quesnel and the Cariboo as a whole.”
Besides being one of, if not the driving force, behind Quesnel getting the North Cariboo Community Campus, Glassford’s legacy also includes numerous other projects including being instrumental in the development of the Rec Centre, and helping residents in the Nazko area to get phone service
She was also involved in the relocation of the Quesnel Library to its current location on the first floor at City Hall.
Richmond fondly remembers when she told everyone that the library couldn’t go on the third floor of City Hall because of the weight of the books, which he says led to a lot of smirks around the Board table…
“So we went ahead with plans to look, and they did some design work what that would have looked like, it would have been a beautiful library up there.  But low and behold the structural aspect of it came back that Mary was right, that floor would not support the weight of the books and that’s why it is downstairs where it is today.”
Richmond says Mary always did her homework.
He says she also played a role in helping the Cariboo Chilcotin Regional Hospital District to get its finances in order…
“When we brought in pretaxation to eliminate the 1 1/2 million dollars we had in debt in the Hospital District, I proposed to do a pretaxation and not borrow anymore money. It was gong to take us about 12-15 years to get out of that debt.  She defended that program, and she worked with me to present that plan to various groups as to why we were going to do that and she was a staunch defender of it.  I credit her and her voice at the Board for, when the Board was wavering as it did a couple of times to move away from that program, that we stayed the course and today we are debt free.”
Richmond says it is because of that decision that they were able to move on and why today we’re seeing proposed improvements to both G.R. Baker and Cariboo Memorial Hospital.
Quesnel City Council also acknowledged Mary’s passing at last night’s meeting.
Councillor Ron Paull expressed condolences to the Glassford family, a sentiment that was echoed by the Mayor and the other Councillors.