Listen to our Songs!

CHOIR MEMBER AND LONGTIME SOCIAL ACTIVIST SUCCUMBS TO CANCER 

ISOBEL KIBORN

Isobel, mother, grandmother, beloved friend of many, courageous and tireless activist died after a short hospitalization for cancer on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver. Born on January 25, 1939 in Cloverdale, she is survived by her children Marina and Scott, grandchildren Liam and Brendan (Patrick), William and Lindsay (Barb), sisters Wilma DeVito and Mabel Peever and sister in law Esther Holmes. She was pre-deceased by her parents John and Isobel Holmes, brother Ken and ex-husband Bill. Isobel was an early environmental activist who helped organize BC's first recycling project in the 1970s. She campaigned for women's rights, the rights of mental patients, workers, peace, and social justice. She was one of the founding members of the Vancouver Radical Therapy Collective and worked until her retirement as a supportive housing worker for the MPA. She was a leadership figure in her housing co-op and sang with her beloved Solidarity Notes choir on many picket lines and union fund raising events over the years. Isobel possessed the ability to appreciate all that is good and decent in the world (she stopped to smell the roses, watch the birds and drink the wine) and she tried to confront problems that she could help change. She died bravely and with style, just as she lived, and she leaves behind a large and loving group of family, and friends, all of whom will long remember the many ways she enriched our lives and left the world a better and fairer place. Isobel Kiborn, mother, grandmother, beloved friend, Rest in Peace. A memorial service will be held Saturday March 22, 2:00 p.m at the Unitarian Church in Vancouver at 49th and Oak.
Those who wish to may donate to the Isobel Kiborn Environmental Fund.
Make cheques to: VanCity 400390 Branch 9.
Published in the Vancouver Sun and/or The Province from 3/15/2008 - 3/16/2008.

A life dedicated to peace, women's issues and the environment

Social activist Isobel Kiborn, who shoved a dead bird in the face of former premier W.A.C. Bennett, died last month at the age of 69.Friends described her as the kind of person who drew others in with a positive, compassionate manner. She was a passionate activist for social justice, peace and the environment.
 "[She] was almost like a magnet, this gentle, gentle peaceful woman you just wanted to be with. You could learn from her just by being with her," said Gudrun Langolf, who first met Isobel Kiborn in the 1980s. She got to know her better when they both sang in the Solidarity Notes choir and knitted and crocheted together once a week in its Women In Stitches offshoot.
Her friend Kiborn, who was 69, died of cancer Feb. 26 after a brief spell in hospital. Her memorial is scheduled for next week.
Kiborn was an early B.C. environmentalist. Born and raised in Cloverdale, she helped organize the province's first recycling project in the 1970s. She married, had two children, and volunteered with the now defunct Surrey-White Rock chapter of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, or SPEC, and helped clean up an oil spill that fouled 42,000 feet of Crescent Beach in 1972.
Kiborn came to prominence when then premier W.A.C. Bennett came to the scene of the spill. Kiborn rushed over to the premier's car, shoved a dead bird in his face and said, "Smile at the birdie, Mr. Premier." The incident made the newspapers. "She was so surprised that she could be so angry that she would do something that was totally out of character for her," Langolf said.
Ans Steenman met Kiborn shortly after she emigrated from Holland to Vancouver in 1979. She liked Kiborn immediately, and later shared a communal house with Kiborn, who had divorced and moved to Vancouver.
Kiborn was an active member of the Vancouver Women's Health Collective. She later worked as a group home coordinator for the MPA, formerly the Mental Patients' Association and now known as the Motivation Power and Achievement Society. Steenman followed Kiborn's career lead, also getting a job with the MPA. Kiborn worked for the organization until she retired in 2004.
Kiborn lived in the Tidal Flats Co-op in Grandview-Woodland, where Steenman also resides. She and Kiborn sometimes acted as mediators with the MPA's union or at the co-op. "She was amazingly diplomatic yet assertive, which is a rare quality," Steenman said. "She cut through the B.S."
Kiborn's son Scott recalled an idyllic childhood in Cloverdale where he and his sister, Marina, worked on the family's hobby farm. They provided their own eggs, beef and vegetables and got milk from a neighbour.
Kiborn and her husband divorced in Scott's early teens. The children stayed in the family house, and their mother and father rotated their residency in the home to provide stability for the kids. Scott said his mother was relaxed when it came to alcohol, pot and sex as he got older. "She just let me do pretty much whatever I wanted to do unless it was a really bad idea," said her son, who's now an accomplished animator.
One of Kiborn's favourite songs was "On Children," which the Solidarity Notes choir sang to her at her request during her last days in St. Paul's palliative care unit. "They come through you but they are not from you and though they are with you, they belong not to you," the song goes. "You can give them your love but not your thoughts."
Langolf says her friend was deeply spiritual in a thoughtful and contemplative way. She accepted that she was terminally ill immediately. A few months ago, Kiborn suffered an annoying cough that had kept her from singing and then developed what she thought was a terrible flu. Steenman had been away and when she saw her friend on Feb. 10, she was shocked by how sick she was. Kiborn was admitted to hospital, Feb. 11. She was diagnosed Feb. 14 with cancer that ran through her body. She was given mere days to live.
A photo of the day the choir sang to her in the palliative care ward shows Kiborn smiling brightly among her friends. "It looked like she was going to live another 20 years," Steenman said. "It's been completely shocking."
But following 24-hour visits by friends, her children and four grandchildren, Kiborn passed away Feb. 26. "Isobel was a true activist, involved in women's, peace and environmental causes, leaving a better world for her grandchildren," said choir mate Susan Stout. "And all of it with a smile, a song and a dance."
A celebration of Isobel's life was held at the Unitarian Church, 949 West 49th Ave., March 22.
 In lieu of flowers, friends are donating money to an environmental organization. Cheques should be addressed to Vancity bank account number 400390, Branch 9.