Diana Pedersen

At this year’s annual general meeting of the Old Cemeteries Society, Wilf Bruch became the first recipient of our new Outstanding Volunteer Award, named in his honour (see pages 1-2). Wilf has served on the OCS Board for twenty-five years, including two terms as president. He was the driving force behind the Ross Bay Cemetery Memorial Gate Project, commemorating the cemetery’s 150th anniversary in 2023. Sunday, October 23, 2022, was a proud day for Wilf when he was able to announce that the sign for the new gate had arrived (see photo). Even the Bossi Angel looked on approvingly; one of Wilf’s many repair projects was the reassembly and reattachment of the angel’s broken right wing, amputated by a falling tree in 2022. As OCS project manager, Wilf regularly patrols the cemetery looking for evidence of vandalism, broken or leaning monuments, collapsed graves and other hazards, and potential projects for OCS cleaning bees.

Wilf was born in Kelowna but moved to Victoria as a child in 1950; now he disappears from the city for half the year, staying in touch with the OCS by email. After his retirement in 2002, he and his wife embraced the “Snowbird Life”; they have a park model trailer and winter family in Surprise, Arizona. Wilf reflects, “I have done many things in my life … worked in a plywood mill, restaurant, post office, on a farm for many years, worked for Sears for thirty years, but most of all, I renovated houses and managed properties. The renovations and maintenance of properties taught me the many skills that I use in the cemetery and in projects for the OCS.”

Wilf has been deeply involved in every major OCS restoration project of the last twenty-five years; he believes that the Row Marker Project has had the greatest impact. He has worked tirelessly to maintain the OCS website and to create a Ross Bay Cemetery Burial Records Database that is now online—a boon to genealogists. Wilf has given presentations to historical societies and provided advice and assistance—about grave cleaning, maintenance, and special projects—to other heritage cemeteries. He continues to learn and is always willing to share his knowledge and skills with the public and other volunteers.