Delta Coun. Sylvia Bishop will be taking a leave from her council duties until September to grieve for her husband, who passed away last week.
"I expect I will be back at my duties in September, taking the balance of August to grieve," Bishop said.
Council granted Bishop an official leave of absence at an Aug. 12 regular meeting. A leave of absence permits a council member to be absent from regular council meetings, committee meetings and all other municipal meetings for the time required - in Bishop's case, to deal with her loss.
She will miss just one regular council meeting on Aug. 26 and one Delta council/Delta board of education liaison committee meeting on Aug. 23.
There are no financial implications and "no rescheduling of duties is required," said Bishop.
Earlier this month, Bishop issued a statement to explain her absence from a July 29 regular council meeting.
She wrote that her husband, Robert David Brown, had been admitted to the Irene Thomas Hospice in Ladner, an end-of-life care facility. Brown had advanced stage melanoma, a type of skin cancer.
Bishop said he was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and had a successful operation.
"So we decided, we're going to celebrate now (and go on a cruise)," she said, referring to the photo of the two of them on the cruise.
Unfortunately, Brown's health took a turn for the worse and he passed away peacefully on Aug. 13 at the age of 59. He was a sales manager for steel companies and was an avid
sports enthusiast, animal lover and family man.
"We have been together for 20 years - he was my best friend," Bishop said.
"We travelled a lot and we enjoyed a lot of the same things - good food, good wine, good times - we were very happy in our home."
A celebration of life will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25 at the Beach Grove Golf Course in Tsawwassen.
Bishop, who lives in Tsawwassen, ran in the May provincial election as the B.C. NDP candidate for the Delta North electoral district, but lost to fellow Coun. Scott Hamilton, the B.C. Liberal party candidate and now MLA, by 203 votes.
