Former Parksville councilor and experienced civic leader Fred Demmon, 69, died March 29.
“He was a wonderful, community minded individual and he came to the table with previous municipal experience,” said Parksville mayor Chris Burger, whose first term on council overlapped Demmon’s final.
Demmon was a Parksville councillor from 1999-2005 and was a councillor in Golden from 1980 to ‘90 and mayor there from 1990 to ‘96.
He moved with his wife to Parksville partly due to health complications around diabetes that were already hard on him by 2003, Burger said, though he never talked about it.
“You could tell he was having a rough time but he’d just power through,” he said of Demmon who had already had a heart attack and lost a leg to the disease by that time.
Burger praised the former councillor for his focus on family and community and said he was a man of deep faith, which appeared to help him a lot.
Even after leaving office he continued influencing things for the better, Burger said, including pushing for a change in the city’s new tiered water rates, which were hard on people with medical conditions that use a lot of water.
Demmon owned an auto parts store, worked as a coroner and was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Kinsmen and Rotary.
He and his surviving wife Joan fostered over 500 children.
Burger pointed out Demmon’s memorial service was attended by himself and two former mayors including Sandy Herle and Julia McDonald, who he served under.
In lieu of flowers, people are asked to donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Demmon’s name (www.jdrfca.donordrive.com/participant/Kiefer), the Wheels for Wellness Society, or the Kidney Foundation.