1977 – 2017

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Christopher Wayne Séguin on September 22, 2017. Christopher was born October 20, 1977 in Pinawa, Manitoba. Christopher is survived by his wife Melissa, sons Logan and Harrison, parents Deb & Joe, sister Jennifer, father Patrick and his wife Shirley, many uncles, aunts and cousins.
Chris spent his early years in Lac du Bonnet Manitoba, where he arrived as the youngest member to a fairly large extended family. His love for travel began with trips in his rumble seat on the back of his father’s bicycle while visiting with friends and family. Most of all he loved the farm. This would usually include a tractor ride or a spin on the dirt bike with Uncles Mark or Bruce.
Being of a mining family he moved to BC at an early age and soon became acquainted with many of BC’s mining communities. He began his pre-schooling in Granisle BC, elementary in Chetwynd, Greenwood and Kamloops to finish up his secondary education as a “Golden K” recipient of Kamloops Senior Secondary.
Christopher was very active in athletics and enjoyed basketball, rugby and football. His academic standing and football carried him over to Simon Fraser University (SFU) with a scholarship to play for the university’s varsity team, the Clan. He graduated with a BA (Honours) in linguistics and made the Dean’s list for his work related to the Fijian Culture.
At an early age in life Christopher set his sights on world travel. While a student at SFU he made several trips to Fiji, with his linguistics professor and students, to document the Fijian language. He found himself in Prague in following years learning about the Czech language. Other trips included Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Australia, China, and Central America to name a few. His travels gave him an appreciation of this world’s cultural diversity, the values of others and the strength gained by embracing the diversity of people. From this he learned what is truly important in life which was giving back to his community.
Christopher began his career with SFU as cultural liaison in the International Education department. Over the next twelve years, he established his expertise in a number of development positions at SFU, including statistician, development officer, and account manager. In July 2007 Christopher made the move back to his home town as Vice-President Advancement at Thompson Rivers University (TRU). Under his leadership, TRU set new fundraising records virtually every year of the last decade, generating millions of dollars for student awards, groundbreaking research and major buildings, notably the House of Learning, the renovation of Old Main for the Law Faculty, the Trades and Technology building and the soon to be constructed Nursing and Population Health building.
Christopher’s energies and passions went beyond the university with participation and support for the Kamloops community at large. Maintaining his athletic nature, Christopher completed various triathlons, 5-10 km runs for a cause and awareness, and his first Ironman competition in 2011 while continuing to put his energies into community involvement. Through his contributions in Rotary, Developing World Connections, TRUly United, the Kamloops Marathon and the North Kamloops Family Dinner, to name a few, he gave back to Kamloops with the many initiatives he championed and internationally with his climb of Kilimanjaro to raise funds for a school project in Sierra Leone for example. Christopher’s accomplishments as a community change maker were recognized in 2015, when he received the BC Community Achievement award.
Christopher was a very passionate bigger than life guy, a giving man with a huge heart, a wide smile and big laugh. We choose to remember Christopher for who he was, husband, father, brother, son, champion for causes, a passionate community leader and an accomplished VP of TRU who gave so much so others may succeed.
We welcome you to attend his Celebration of Life which will take place on Saturday, October 14, 2017 at the Calvary Temple, 1205 Rogers Way, at 1:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, honoring Christopher and his memory would be best expressed by donating to a trust fund for his children through any Kamloops CIBC branch.

Condolences may be expressed at www.kamloopsfuneralhome.com

• Date : 2017-09-22
• Location : Victoria, B.C.