Barry Stewart
Hope Standard
Family and friends came together to remember a recently lost loved one, raising funds in her name, to help find a cure for the disease that shadowed her for the last quarter of her life.
Linda McNicol, a long-time employee at the CIBC branch in Hope, passed away in June and about 30 relatives and close friends gathered in Abbotsford on Oct. 6, to remember her in the annual CIBC Run for the Cure.
“Our team was named ‘Family and Friends in Memory of Linda’ and we raised just over $7,700,” said her daughter, Jaclyn, speaking from Fort St. John, where she is a first-year secondary school teacher.
Her brother, Scott, also lives in Fort St. John and flew down with Jaclyn to take part in the walk. Their dad, Martin is a Hope resident and he joined them for the event.
“Mom worked at the bank for over 25 years and she had been fighting cancer since 2003, so 16 years,” said Jaclyn. “Our fundraising came from all over B.C. and parts of Alberta. The Hope branch also collected donations in her name.”
The route consisted of two loops around Mill Lake, with streets being closed off where there was no trail to follow.
“We had Dad, our aunts, uncles and Mom’s close friends with us and we walked together, for the most part,” said Jaclyn. “We had lunch together, afterwards. Ladies that used to work with Mom did a walk around Hope for her on the same day.”
The annual run has raised over $455 million since 1992, according to the run’s national website, with proceeds going to breast cancer research.
“I used to do the walk with Mom in Abbotsford, when she worked at CIBC,” said Jaclyn. “Probably about four or five times. It rained a lot on those days — but I’d say Mom blessed us with sunshine on this one.”
