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Trust fund supports Trousdell family and high school scholarship

The Trousdell family lost their loving husband and father last week, while the North Shore will now be without a one-of-a-kind teacher, great Lynn Valley neighbour and avid beekeeper.

The Trousdell family lost their loving husband and father last week, while the North Shore will now be without a one-of-a-kind teacher, great Lynn Valley neighbour and avid beekeeper. West Vancouver secondary teacher Gord Trousdell passed away Wednesday, at the age of 34, after a year-long battle with brain cancer.

Plainly and painfully aware that Trousdell was in his final days, the community rallied around his family to give back to this "amazing man" and "incredibly generous human being."

Trousdell's Lynn Valley neighbour, Jessica Stanley, set up a trust fund earlier this month that has since raised just over $28,000. Part of those donations will support Trousdell's wife Lilian and their kids, Tesla and Harry, ages 4 and 2 respectively. "When I look at (Trousdell's) wife and his children, they are losing their husband, their partner and their father and they still have to go on with their lives . . . I set up the fund to try and create some ease following Gord's death," said Stanley.

While Stanley has many memories of her neighbour's good deeds, she recalled one in particular: When Trousdell came over to tap the maple trees in her yard, and made maple syrup with her kids.

"Any time you needed help, he would come running," said Stanley of Trousdell, who received the 2013 Lynn Valley Good Neighbour Award. An urban agriculture and food sustainability champion, Trousdell built a garden in his backyard, where he also kept bees and chickens.

His enthusiasm for environmental sustainability spilled over into the classroom at West Vancouver secondary, where Trousdell taught physics and math. He pioneered an urban agriculture program, with beekeeping and gardening components, that received national media attention.

"Gord is a natural teacher and imparts knowledge in such a way that people want to learn from him," said Stanley. "Besides making learning fun and engaging, you also see his students felt like he really cared about them."

You don't have to look much further than the Students of Mr. Trousdell Facebook page to see Stanley's words ring true. There are hundreds of messages written by West Van students for their teacher, describing both his contagious energy and his affinity for wearing socks with sandals.

"If I were to draw the faces of the greatest teachers on some wall, I'd start with yours - because no aspect of your teaching was ever short of exceptional," wrote one student.

Penned another student: "You went above and beyond in every way possible . . . From the curling club, to taking us to the community garden, to creating a class about bees! . . . I will never be able to stop telling stories of 'that one time I took beekeeping in high school.' Thank you for the many memories."

Trousdell's education legacy will live on through a local high school scholarship in the sciences realm with an environmental sustainability focus. Partial funding for the scholarship will come from the Trousdell family support fund. To donate, go online at youcaring.com/memorial-fundraiser/trousdell-family-support-fund/285784.