Many community members are mourning the death of former school trustee and proud New West resident Lisa Graham.
Graham, who was born and raised in New Westminster, served four terms on the New Westminster school board. She passed away June 18.
“Saddened at the passing of friend Lisa Graham. Lisa had a huge heart, she loved her family, her community, she wore her heart on her sleeve, always ready to help, a gentle spirit,” tweeted former councillor and school trustee Casey Cook. “A New West school trustee, she always fought tenaciously for kids with disabilities and the disadvantaged.”
A mom of two, daughter Julie and son David, who is on the autism spectrum, Graham’s advocacy for children with special needs led her into the local political realm, where she won seats on the New Westminster school board in the 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011 civic elections.
“The stuff she did when she was a trustee, people do not know how hard she worked for children with disabilities to get them the resources they needed. She was relentless in what she did for kids with disabilities,” Cook later told the Record. “That was not show.”
Through the years, the 12-year school trustee served and volunteered on many committees and boards, including the school district's education and social responsibility committee, the B.C. School Trustees Association’s student citizenship award committee and the city's family court committee.
"Strengthening district partnerships, improving governance structures and giving back to the community that educated myself, my husband and our children has always been a pivotal reason for my candidacy," she wrote in a 2011 election profile in the Record. "As a three-term trustee and school-involved parent, I have consistently worked to address front-line school and community issues, and my advocacy on behalf of special needs children, their peers and their teachers was recognized with a Queen's Jubilee Medal.”
Graham and her husband David, who passed away in June 2015 of pancreatic cancer, met when they were nine years old. The couple, who grew up in the same Massey Heights neighbourhood, later raised their children in Graham’s family-built home.
An avid supporter of New Westminster traditions like May Day, Graham was a founder and vice-president of the New Westminster May Day Community Association, which formed with the hope of encouraging the school district to continue organizing May Day. When that didn’t happen, the group embarked on plans to take over May Day in future years.
“We will be working hard to make May Day an event that engages the whole community in a meaningful and relevant way,” she told the Record this spring.
Coun. Patrick Johnstone was among the New West residents who acknowledged Graham’s death on social media.
“Sad to hear that proud #NewWest resident, community leader, and former SD40 Trustee Lisa Graham has died. She was passionate about this City, its traditions, and about helping youth,” he tweeted. “She made a mark on her community and will be missed. Condolences to her family and friends.”
