Douglas James Creba

Doug passed away February 24 following a year of living valiantly with brain cancer.

From a young age, Doug seized life with both hands and loved adventure. Throughout his life he had many work experiences: as a junior forest ranger in Ontario, haying in Saskatchewan, orchardist in Naramata, deckhand on a salmon troller fishing the west coast of Vancouver Island, ore sampler at Granduc Copper mine in Stewart BC, heavy duty mechanic apprentice at John Deere, social housing support worker, property manager and administrative assistant for NDP MLAs.

Born in Toronto, Doug grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. After high school, he hitchhiked across Canada in 1970 and lived in Nanaimo until 1972. He graduated from the University of Guelph with a diploma in horticulture from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1974. He met his wife Sue (Diplock) while at Guelph, and following their marriage in 1975, they returned to Nanaimo for a summer honeymoon.

From 1976 until 1980, they worked in Botswana, Africa with CUSO. For two years Doug taught agriculture and science in a remote secondary boarding school in Tutume, where he was involved in developing the national secondary school curriculum for agriculture, grew vegetables, raised chickens for the school kitchen, and repaired the school farm tractor. For the next two years, Doug reclaimed an abandoned irrigated market garden which provided vegetables for the large village of Kanye, training and employing 22 workers. Following many adventures and travel in Africa, Europe and across Canada, Doug and Sue settled in Nanaimo in 1980.

Doug was also committed to social justice and to service in his community. He earned his Life Skills Coach certification and worked with challenged adults. He volunteered and fundraised for Central America support groups and was a coordinator for the Tools For Peace Campaign. He helped found the Nanaimo Unemployed Workers Centre, Food Bank and cohosted a local Coop Radio show. He was a board member and president of Mid-Island Coop for many years. He volunteered with the local Emergency Social Services team. He donated blood over 100 times. For seventeen years he was tenant support worker and property manager for Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society. A proud member of the New Democratic Party in Nanaimo, Ladysmith and Cowichan, he was constituency assistant to MLA Jan Pullinger, then a ministerial assistant for Jan Pullinger and Evelyn Gillespie.

One of his great loves was music, and for 30 years he volunteered with the Vancouver Island Musicfest in Comox and the Islands Folk Festival in Duncan. He co-founded Harbour City Concerts, and at age 61 he took up fiddling and became an active member of the Nanaimo Fiddle Society.

Doug was a keen sailor and was never happier than on a sailing trip to the Gulf Islands, or on a dinner cruise around Nanaimo harbour.

He was predeceased by his parents, Glenn Creba and Arlene Creba (Winterton). He will be greatly missed by Sue, their children Skye (Claud), Cori (Kegan) and Will (Jill), grandchildren Fisher, Isla, Aeden and Lewyn, his brothers John, Bruce, David, their partners and children, and many, many friends and relatives.

The family would like to thank Dr. Mander, Dr. Fleetwood, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Atwell, Dr. Love, Dr. Davies, the many nurses at the Cancer Centre in Nanaimo and Victoria and all of the nurses and care aides in NRGH Palliative Care Unit who cared for him so well.

A celebration of his life will be held in the summer. Condolences can be sent here.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the new Nanaimo Cancer Care Centre building fund https://bccancerfoundation.com/in-your-region/vancouver-island/

Or the Sea Wolves Men’s Cancer Pack https://seawolvesmenscancer.ca/ who provided such strong support to him through his cancer journey.

Photo HA Photography