The volume of awards, certificates, commendations and photos with dignitaries and politicians being poured onto the desk was a little window into the influential life led by Lois Carson Boyce.
Sifting through the colourful collection at the Richmond News’ office, two of Carson Boyce’s proud daughters, Carol and Margaret Boyce, spoke highly of their mom – one of Richmond’s and Canada’s most decorated volunteers, who passed away peacefully Feb. 27, aged 99.
According to her daughters, Carson Boyce never had a bad word to say about anyone and sacrificed most of her free time throughout her life to helping others.
“I never heard her swearing once and never remember her drinking,” said Carol.
“She was all about ‘if you don’t have a good word to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.’”
As a child, Margaret remembers all the family picking up garbage off the street and off the beach, something she still does today.
“This was all because of her. That’s the way we were brought up.
“She was all about no pesticides and always organic. Integrity and family values were important for her. She would do without so that other people could have a better life; she volunteered her entire life to help other people.”
Indeed, Carson Boyce’s passion for caring for her community and beyond was out there for all to see for many years on the front of her car – a “NO NUKE” licence plate.
“She had that for many, many years; it typified mom,” added Margaret. “Everyone knew who it belonged to; she was really proud of her licence plate, which was actually stolen one time.”
Among her seemingly endless list of accolades, Carson Boyce was responsible for the birth of a political career in none other than Richmond’s own Harold Steves.
According to Steves — Richmond’s veteran city councillor and former NDP MLA — around 1959, there was “a lot of rezoning going on in Richmond and in the ‘60s, there was a bit of a building boom.
“So much so, that the city wanted to start dumping raw sewage into the south arm of the Fraser River.
“So Lois got a group of us gathered into her kitchen, in 1967 I think. She was concerned about this raw sewage going into the river.
“And in 1968, we officially formed the Richmond Anti-Pollution Association (RAPA), the first environmental group in Canada. Lois was the chair and I was the vice-chair.”
Steves, who was a science teacher at Blundell School at the time, said RAPA organized a campaign and got about 10,000 signatures, about a quarter of Richmond’s population at the time.
“We went to the city and demanded Richmond get a sewage plant. The city ignored it at the time,” Steves recalled.
“What we didn’t realize at the time was that, if we’d done it correctly, via a referendum, we would likely have got it.”
In December that same year, 1968, Steves, with the support of Carson Boyce, ran for city council under the RAPA banner.
“The local NDP weren’t too happy at the time. I got elected. I actually topped the poll. So was Lois responsible for me entering politics? She sure was!”
Of her personality, Steves said Carson Boyce wasn’t “what they would call an activist today. She was simply concerned about the dumping of sewage damaging the river.
“We were a very calm, conservative organization. We were conservationists, not environmentalists; they hadn’t been invented yet!”
As well as the pair founding RAPA, they were part of a group which organized B.C.’s first environmental demonstration at the Peace Arch border, against supertankers in 1968.
Over the decades, Carson Boyce’s volunteering took her to the likes of Russia and Stockholm, representing The United Church of Canada to battle global environmental issues.
Indeed, the list of organizations she either founded or put her shoulder to are too many to mention.
She was a proud member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and served in World War II, before dedicating about 50 years of her life to activism and volunteering in environmental, social and senior issues.
One of her proudest accomplishments was starting a cable TV show called Pressure Point, which became one of the longest running community TV shows in Canadian TV history.
Her most recent involvements were Richmond’s City Centre Community Association and Safe Communities Alliance, both which benefited local senior’s health care.
For her continued community service over the decades, Carson Boyce was awarded the prestigious Golden Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada.
And, being of proud, Scottish descent, she was an active member of the Sinclair Clan of Canada and performed in Scottish country dancing.
Fast forwarding to her achievements later in life, Carson Boyce was given the Richmond Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award in 1998, a Volunteer Richmond, Volunteers Are Stars Award in 2006 and an Ethel Tibbits award — in recognition for her contributions as a Richmond Pioneer — in 2010.
Her final gift to society was the donation of her body to the medical department at UBC for research. According to her daughters, Carson Boyce’s body was accepted because of her health and longevity.
A celebration of life has been planned for Carson Boyce on April 21 at 1 p.m. at South Arm United Church.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Richmond Food Bank.
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