Gale Arthur Brown

March 18, 1946 - February 20, 2017

Gale was born in Cadillac, Saskatchewan and soon moved to Richmond, BC with his parents and siblings, where he lived most of his life until he moved to the island and started working for Overwaitea Foods. Gale continued to work for the company and worked his way up to former Vice President. Gale, known fondly throughout the company as Brownie, got his start in the Courtenay store in 1964, and spent the better part of 4 decades dedicating himself to the growth and evolution of the company. One of the first leaders of Save-On-Foods division, Gale made significant contributions to both the merchandising and the operations sides of the business, leading Non-Foods, Save-On-Foods and Overwaitea Foods divisions along with the development of innovations like Smart Market through the course of his career; wrapping up his career as a senior leader on their People team in December 2000. Gale was well known for his great personality, his commitment to the company and developing of people, and for teaching everyone, every day, about the importance of looking after the customers. After retirement, Gale felt he had too much time on his hands when he wasn’t working in his garden or cutting his grass (which he did every other day), he took on the job of President of the Promontory Lake Estates Homeowner Association in the gated community where we lived. He enjoyed it very much and spent 8 years in that position, as well, going to work for another wonderful company, Canadian Tire, in Chilliwack, BC. He met lots of wonderful people while working there and made some very good friends. Gale retired on September 30, 2016. We moved to Vernon in October 2016.

Gale passed away at Hospice House in Vernon, BC after a short battle with cancer.

Gale leaves to mourn: his best friend and the love of his life for the past 26 years, Holly McLean of Vernon, BC;

2 sisters, Marilyn (Ben) Crace of Langley, BC and Sharon Kloschinsky of Abbotsford, BC; one brother, Larry (Sandy) Brown of Surrey, BC; his son, Mark Brown and girlfriend, Stephanie of Cloverdale, BC; two step-sons, Jason (Pam) Frank of Prince George, BC and Trevor (Danielle) McLean of Abbotsford, BC; 2 stepdaughters, Tamara (Brent) Tangen of Medicine Hat, Alberta and Janette (Brent) Armstrong of Cloverdale, BC; 8 grandchildren: Morgan and Kelsey Tangen, Brooke Armstrong, Alivia and Makenna McLean, Holland Frank, Madeline and Daniel Jones; many nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews and many close dear friends. Gale was predeceased by his parents, Lewis Brown and Blanch (Sinkler) Brown; and by nephew, Ronley Lewis Crace.

As requested, there will not be a service other than a private family celebration of life.

Holly and the family would like to thank Dr. Kobius le Roux and the wonderful staff at Vernon Hospice House, as well as the many friends she made while there. She would also like to thank all their family and friends for their e-mails and phone calls of condolences and great support.

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Pleasant Valley Funeral Home, Malachi Friedrichs, Funeral Director.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Gale’s Memory to:

North Okanagan Hospice House

3506 27th Avenue

Vernon, BC V1T 1S4

Phone: (250) 503-1800

Fax: (250) 503-1844

E-mail: [email protected]