December 12, 1926 – February 12, 2023

On the 12th February 2023 at 4:57pm, with her family close to her, Glenna Fay (Brunker) (Jones) Reid, took her final breath at the wonderful age of 96 at the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Hospice in Kamloops.

Glenna was the youngest of four daughters born to William Thomas “Bill” Brunker (1890-1963) and Annie Mabel “Mabel” (Simmons) Brunker (1893-1967) in Wainwright, Alberta. “WT” was owner of the first movie theatre in Wainwright and this is where Glenna and her sisters all started working and Glenna gained her considerable people skills. Glenna left Wainwright and moved to Vancouver, where she met her first husband, Morley Best Jones (1924-1967). They were married in 1947. They raised three children – William Randolph (1948), Richard Morley (1950) and Arla Susan (1952). Morley was in real estate in Vancouver and they had a very comfortable life there.

Unfortunately, life and luck changed and the family moved from Vancouver to Ladysmith in the mid-1950s, where Glenna helped Morley in running a hotel and beer parlor. Here, Glenna’s easy-going manner with people came in very handy, as the business flourished. After 3 years, they sold this hotel and bought another, a little further up the Island, in Cumberland. They renamed this one the “Glenmore” – a combination of their two names. Another few years and the family then moved to Abbotsford, where Morley had purchased a frozen locker plant and butcher shop. It is here Glenna learned to butcher beef, pigs, wild game, etc. In 1963 this business sold and the family moved to Princeton to a rooming house and taxi business. As she now drove cab for a living, Glenna’s skills just kept on expanding.

In 1966, Glenna and her sister, Marg, and the three kids drove the Alaska Highway to Watson Lake in the Yukon. Here Glenna learned the dry-cleaning business from her sister, Marg. When she returned from the Yukon with the two younger children, Glenna learned Morley had sold the business in Princeton and she was now the proud owner of a motel in Lac La Hache. It is here, in Lac La Hache, that Morley died in 1967 and Glenna, now a widow, moved to Kamloops with the family, where she reconnected with an old family friend – William Charles Reid (d 1998) while she was working at Tranquille as a nurse’s aide. At the time it was a school for mentally challenged children/adults. Bill stayed on as a cook at Tranquille but Glenna left her job to work as a hotel manager at the Leland Hotel in Kamloops, where her people skills were again put to good use on the front desk. Bill and Glenna continued their friendship, which turned to love, and were married in 1968 in Kamloops.

Bill was involved in the union movement and they soon found themselves in New Westminster while Bill pursued a career with the BCGEL (British Columbia Government Employees Union). Bill continued working his way up the union ladder. Union management eventually sent Bill to Ottawa to organize all the Provincial Government Employees under one banner – the newly formed NUPGE (National Union of Public and General Employees) and he became the Secretary Treasurer of NUPGE. Glenna worked at the Algonquin College while they were there and was able to travel to many different places with Sill as well. Her people skills became very apparent to all as she was soon meeting and greeting union brass and their wives from all over this country and abroad. Her easy going manner endeared her to all she met and she formed life-long friendships with many of them to the end.

When Bill retired in 1984, he and Glenna moved to Vancouver Island and found themselves happily ensconced in a little piece of heaven in Fanny Bay. They enjoyed their retirement years there, travelling across Canada as well as Snow birding for several years to Arizona with her sister Carleen and her husband.

The true love of her life, Bill, died in 1998 and Glenna, once again a widow, stayed at Fanny Bay another 16 years on her own. She had made many wonderful friends there and was very happy to be able to have her children, grandchildren and their families visit and show them the “Island”. Her neighbors, Barry and Noreen Stirling helped her, as she aged, to enable her to live at Fanny Bay as long as possible.

However, at the age of 88, her own home was just too much to handle and Glenna moved to Kamloops to live with her daughter, Sue, in 2014. While in Kamloops, she was presented with 5 new great grandchildren and many new friends and had been able to spend her last 8 years as she wanted to Glenna attended the Ponderosa Adult Day Care program at two different times and each time she enjoyed meeting the new people there as well as the wonderful caregivers. Glenna was very particular about her looks and had her hair done every week by Shauna (or sometimes Karen) at Hair Clips – a friendship that started when she first moved to Kamloops (and Shauna agreed she could do “old Lady Hair styles”) and lasted to the very last day. As Glenna’s mobility decreased, she found she could make friends that also came to her home – like Corrie who was the best ‘Foot Doctor” she could every want.

The last two years were quite a challenge for Glenna and all she wanted was to stay in the home she loved. We were able to accomplish this, thanks in a very large part, to the Nurse Next Door and especially mom’s very special caregiver, Donna. She taught mom how to play Backgammon and Dominos -these games could be played with her decreasing vision and she really enjoyed this time.

Glenna’s life was filled with ups and down, but she never folded. From theatre usher to wife, mother, bartender, butcher, taxi driver, motel owner, nurses’ side and hotel manager. Glenna faced every new challenge head on and with determination. These last few years were a struggle for mom as she developed Macular Degeneration that really hindered her knitting projects. She found the intricate patterns she was used to just too much to accomplish, but that did not stop her. In December of 2022 she was still able to donate 75 scarves to the Ponderosa Adult Day Care program and she just kept on knitting, like the Eveready Bunny.

Glenna, born December 12, 1926, outlived her three sisters, Wilma Geraldine Kauffman (1919-2007), Carleen Lenore Huntingford (1920-2006) and Marguerite Fern Cary Bose (1923-1998), She is survived by her three children, Randy (Dianne Neuman), Rick and Sue (Dennis Reedman), her two granddaughters and their families Devon (Jeremy Gowler and children Parker and Role and Brodie (Lawrence Hancharuk and children Kinsley, Landyn and Oaklyn) and Dianne’s son, Wayne Shaw. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews who will miss her dearly.

The family would like to express their deepest gratitude to Dr. Lennard Pretorius and Christine for always being there when we needed you, the care givers at Ponderosa Adult Day Care, the wonderful staff of Nurse Next Door, especially Donna; Corrie for your excellent care and concern for mom, and all the nurses and aides at Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Hospice – you give care and compassion to all at the most difficult time and you do it so selflessly. You are all so appreciated.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the BC Cancer Foundation or Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Hospice Association, in Glenna’s name.

You may express a message of condolence at First Memorial Funeral Services.

• Date : 2023-02-12
• Location : Kamloops