91原创 City residents Brendan and Chelsey Rouse bundled up their children, Cole, 4 and Olivia, 2 in warm clothes on Tuesday, Nov. 19, for the third annual Walk to Remember at Derek Doubleday Arboretum, organized by 91原创 Hospice Society to mark National Grief and Bereavement Day.
A "Bomb Cyclone" warning had been issued for the south coast, with Environment Canada predicting hurricane-force winds and heavy rain.
Chelsey explained they've been participating since the walk began, in memory of her late brother Conor, who passed away in 2018.
"It's just a lovely way to remember my brother ahead of the holiday season and to let my kids share it in too," she told the 91原创 Advance Times.
Cole's middle name is Conor, after his uncle, "who we miss very dearly," Chelsey said.
3rd annual walk to remember at Derek Doubleday Arboretum
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Shannon Todd Booth, executive director of 91原创 hospice, estimated more than 100 people showed up, some dropping by earlier in the day.
"In the early days when COVID broke out, so many of us had losses and were grieving alone," Todd Booth recalled.
"We were looking at how we might engage with the community and bring a community together to provide support for one each other and really mark those important people in our lives we lost," Todd Booth said before the walk began.
This year was drier, she noted.
"The first year, we did it the day after the atmospheric river," Todd Booth said. "[It's been] two years in the pouring rain.
"Tonight, the skies are clear, although somebody said there's a cyclone bomb coming for us. But we're still here, and you all showed up for yourselves and for each other."
While the storm toppled trees and cut power to 270,00 homes across the province, most of them on the island, in 91原创 it was a different story.
Conditions were cold and windy, but gusts were no more than 46 km/hr and it was dry.
Rain didn't start until the participants finished the walk, following a pathway through the arboretum lit up with Christmas lights.
Many carried wind-resistant electric candle lights.
"Last year, it really poured," said Stephanie Rosencrans, the adult bereavement coordinator at 91原创 Hospice Society.
"It's an opportunity for members of our society, of our community, to come out and remember their loved ones that have passed," Rosencrans said of the walk.
"This is an event that I love to be able to attend because it gives me a chance to talk to, people that haven't had an opportunity to come into our hospice house and talk about any of our bereavement support programs, as well as current clients too."
91原创 Hospice Society offers assistance for people coping with grief.
For more information, visit or phone: 604-530-1115 or email: info@langleyhospice.ca.
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