Longtime New Westminster resident Bruce Chambers recently passed away, leaving behind his bride of 60 years and an extended family that loved and cherished him.
Chambers and his wife, Meryl, were profiled in a June article about their lengthy union. At the time, Chambers was fighting cancer, an illness that ultimately took his life on Nov. 4. He was 83.
"Bruce passed on with great dignity, surrounded by his loving family," Janet Yau, a family friend, wrote in an email about Chambers' passing. "He also leaves a huge legacy behind for his grandchildren."
Yau worked as a freelance writer in the 1980s when Chambers published the Activity Guide in New Westminster. She worked with Chambers while going to SFU and all the way through until his retirement.
"What started purely as a working relationship became a close family friendship," she wrote. "He treated me like another daughter, and my son Tysen, who's six year's old, regarded him as 'Grandpa Bruce,' as Tysen wasn't fortunate enough to have his real grandfathers around, as they both passed away before he was born."
Bruce was diagnosed with cancer in 2008, which he recovered from, but the cancer returned.
Chambers met Meryl when she was hitchhiking with a friend on Columbia Street in 1952. The ride would last a lifetime, producing six children (Jeanette, John, Tammy, Bruce, Cindy and Debbie) and eight grandchildren (Brandon, Conor, Kyle, Kate, Clinton, Teagan, Kirstin and Veronica).
Chambers was a truck driver for a number of years, but it was a tough way to provide for a growing family.
Eventually, he bought a printing press and turned to printing, where he had a successful career.
Chambers was close to his grandchildren and shared a special tradition with granddaughter Kate Chambers, who lives in Coquitlam but considered her grandparents' Sapperton house her second home.
Kate and her grandpa Bruce had a special star they could both see from their window.
"There's a star that we both can see. I'm in Coquitlam, he's here, and we (both) look at it every night," Kate said in June.
That star will likely shine on for the Chambers family.
