We are bidding adieu to three members of the BCHF board and thanking our outgoing president, who will be staying on to guide us as past president, and our past president, who becomes honorary president.
• Honorary president Gary Mitchell steps down after three years in that role. Gary retired in 2014 as the provincial archivist emeritus and was the BCHF president in 2014-15. We will miss his wise counsel.
• Secretary Doug Brigham leaves us after three years as our highly efficient secretary. In addition to compiling agendas and minutes, Doug played a key tech role in recording videos and making sure our virtual conferences ran smoothly. He also looked after our scholarship program.
• Callie Anderson departs following two years on the board, but will be staying on as a volunteer as our acting membership co-ordinator. During the past couple of years, Callie kept in close contact with our member societies and completely overhauled our membership list.
• After three years as president, Shannon Bettles is now our past president. Little did she know when she took on the position in 2019 that she would spend much of her term helping us navigate COVID-19. At the June 4 awards gala, the BCHF presented Shannon with the First to Pitch In, Last to Leave Award, which perfectly sums up her approach. Other words fellow board member used to describe her include hands-on, open-minded, patient, kind, strong, motivating, inspiring, and dedicated.
• Past president Jane Watt becomes our honorary president. In addition to her strong leadership role on the board for the last several years, Jane serves as managing editor of British Columbia History magazine, which the BCHF publishes.
