White Rock city councillor Helen Fathers dies after long-term illness

Longtime White Rock city councillor Helen Fathers has passed away after fighting a long-termillness.

"I can't explain how not only saddened by the event, but just how empty it makes me feel," White Rock Mayor Darrell Walker told CBC Radio.

Fathers, who was in her early 50s,was serving her fourth term with the city, after first being elected in 2008. She died on Feb. 7.

"She was the heart and soul of our community, she was the history of why things happened, she kind of was a mom to us, she took us under her wing, " Walker said.

A council meeting was held the same day Fathers died, and Walker said the tone was sombre.

"There wasn't a lot of joking that usually goes on and we're a small council and we're very, very close, it wasn't quite the same as it would have been or should have been," he said.

Fathers had been on the council for nearly a decade before Walker was elected, in 2018.

"Helen was there for us and helped us through some very, very difficult times, simply because we didn't know what we didn't know."

Along with being a city councillor since 2008, she was also the operations manager of the White Rock Farmers Market and director of the B.C. Association of Farmers Markets.

Walker said that the market was Fathers' "baby" and you could always find her there when it ran Sundays over the summer months.

"You'd always go up there and find her someplace in the market dealing with an issue," he said, addingshe always had time to give people a hug and ask how they were doing.

Fathersis originally from Nottingham, England, and has been a White Rock resident for more than 30 years. Sheis survived by her husband Rob, daughter Ellie, and mother Margaret in White Rock, and her father Bernard and brother Rod in England.

No details have been provided regarding her memorial, but the city has asked residents wishing to express condolences tocontact the clerk's office.Walker says it's going to take the community a long time to get through this.

"She was like a mom in so darn many ways, and it's a devastating loss to have somebody like that out of your life, you almost expect her to always be there and yet now she's not," said Walker.