The community won’t be the same without him.
Wayne Hunter, an enthusiastic, community-minded resident of Seymour passed away in January after a brief battle with cancer. He was 62.
“A real community booster,” said Lorraine Harvey, who served with Hunter on the Seymour Community Association board. “His enthusiasm was infectious. He could see the need and fix a need. He would just start making phone calls and get going on stuff.”
Hunter’s unbridled enthusiasm and his ability to generate solutions encouraged others to line up behind him to spearhead a community project, she added.
Harvey said Hunter was instrumental in getting amenity funds from the Cedar Springs retirement development used at the Parkgate Community Centre to rebuild the kitchen as a commercial grade cooking facility. Hunter and his wife Marsia, who passed away in 2011, helped start the popular community lunch program for seniors at Parkgate and regularly volunteered as a chef at the lunch series.
District of North Vancouver Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn fondly remembered Hunter and his commitment to his community. “Wayne was almost a force of nature. If he decided something had to be done he got it done,” said MacKay-Dunn, who added Hunter also had a great sense of humour. Hunter is survived by his daughter Emily, son-in-law Abraham and three grandchildren.
Born in Ontario, Hunter studied at the University of Guelph and Carleton University and worked in the House of Commons before moving to Vancouver in the mid-1980s.
Out west he got the entrepreneurial bug, started some small businesses and also became deeply involved with a long list of community organizations and volunteer committees including: Parkgate Community Services Society, John Braithwaite Community Centre, Centennial Theatre Society and North Vancouver Recreation Commission and Seymour Community Association. He was also Seymour River co-ordinator for the Great Canadian Cleanup and participated in the updating of the DNV’s Official Community Plan as a member of the Citizens’ Roundtable.
In 2010, Hunter made newspaper headlines nationally as the co-founder and president of the Citizens for Responsible Billboard Advertising (CROA) that opposed the installation of electronic billboards in North Vancouver.
A year later Hunter and his wife launched Blue Smoke BBQ food truck and catering, which became a popular fixture at North Shore events like the Friday night market at Shipbuilders’ Square.
In 2014 he ran for councillor in North Vancouver district and garnered 4,512 votes. “He loved this community. He just loved it. And I think he was their most vocal champion,” said Harvey.
