Tribute

 Colleen Marle (nee Buse) passed away peacefully in hospital July 30 age 61, after a brave fight with a long illness.

The Powell River area where she grew up had been home to the Buse family for several generations. In particular her paternal grandfather was one of the early logging bosses in Stillwater by her account, at a time before the community was connected to Powell River by road. After high school graduation in 1976, she went to UBC in Vancouver where she majored in English with a minor in Phys Ed. Loving the university environment, she continued coursework and maintained herself by working as a library clerk at the UBC Sedgewick Library for four years. She was an exceptionally gifted and versatile student and completed courses in photography, creative and travel writing, culinary courses, and professional modelling. One of her longtime special interests was cycling. She spent much of her 30s travelling in Europe, usually by bicycle. A sun-lover she settled in Greece for a couple of years. Beginning around the same time, she pursued very advanced knowledge of wines of the world and eventually completed WSET Level II sommelier as well as advanced qualification in French, Italian, and Spanish wines. Always keen for further knowledge, she completed the Spanish wine scholar course only this year.

Eventually at about age 40 she returned to Powell River, married and settled down. She worked as a teaching assistant and learned to run long distances on a daily basis. Always somewhat restless, she moved to Victoria in 2008: she loved the city and its opportunities especially with the Victoria Conservatory of Music and the Starlight Pops community choirs. She was a strong supporter of the arts including cinema, opera, and music. She met and married her second husband Chris who survives her. She had lost touch with her family and wanted to reconnect but the final phase of her illness was too abrupt to do so. She had no children. She was widely known for her generosity, intelligence, bon vivant attitude, and strong sense of style and colour in appearance, home and garden. She brought a special energy to everything she did. She had many friends and will be much missed.