from Gigi Jackman

There aren’t words adequate enough to express the impact that Wende has had on my life.  Although I didn’t know Wende as long as most of you, she’s nonetheless affected me in ways that I am still discovering to this day. I’d recently arrived in Canada and had needed a place to rent. Well, I’d needed to have had rented a place prior to my landing in Canada as part of the immigration process. Panicked, (I hadn’t realized that that was the case), I had to find a place pronto and anyone needing to find lodgings in Vancouver in a hurry would know just how difficult that could be, especially since I’d never been here before nor had any friends or relatives that I knew of living in Vancouver.
 I found a posting online that sounded ideal and when I saw the picture of the “red door”, I knew in my heart that I’d found ‘my place’. Through a series of emails and two phone calls, Wende had accepted me as her tenant, sight unseen. Amazing really when you think about it. It was a leap faith/trust on both our parts as we’d only formed a connection with just those few interactions.
I think Wende had an ability to cut through to the core of a situation and perceive truth. Think she had a deep sense of adventure and lived in the moment. Well, that’s how she appeared to me.
How fortunate am I to have known her, brief though it was, as ‘landlord’, teacher, advisor, Go-to-person for all things ‘Arts’ in Vancouver, first friend. She has inspired me to live life in the moment and to not have too many “attachments” to outcomes...to just “let things unfold and see what happens”, as she’d like to tell me. It’s been over a year since our first meeting and I am still reaping the benefits of having known her.
An amazing woman; an amazing gift to us all...