Albert Pearce

Born and raised in Victoria, Al attended Mount View High School and UVic. In his youth and through adulthood, Al excelled in local sports, including soccer, baseball, and rugby. Al was also heavily involved with coaching in community sports and ultimately helped many different local sport organizations at the executive level. He is fondly remembered by so many in the community as a gentle soul who taught as much about kindness as he did about skills in the various sports.

Al was a well-respected social worker for the Province of BC and helped many children throughout his long career. He had an unflagging commitment to doing work of value supporting troubled youth and families in the community. It was no surprise then, that after retiring in 2002, Al worked as administrator with the Island Prostate Center Support Group for many years, including organizing the annual Men’s Health Day event, offering information, screening and support.

In 2018, Al was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. While the last few years of his life were a long and painful struggle, he managed to bring smiles to faces through his colourful, inspirational posters, spreading a sense of hope at a dark time. The story of Al and Pat’s journey with his dementia and new-found passion for art has been featured on Adam Sawatsky’s local CTV News segment, Sawatsky Sign-off. In addition, the Eldercare Foundation has produced several fund-raising calendars featuring Al’s art.

In 2019 Al and Pat joined the Voices in Motion Choir, an intergenerational choir for people with dementia, their caregivers, and students. They rediscovered the joy of music and benefitted from the new friendships of people walking the same path. Ever a master of lifting spirits, Al was long renowned for his jokes and stories, and he would often insert a one-liner into a conversation, go to great lengths to make a pun, or set his listener up with a compelling story, only to finish with a joke and a big grin!

Al’s biggest passion in his life was his family. He will be dearly missed by his wife of 49 years Pat; children Ben and Sarah; grandchildren Feenie, Jack, Mya, Chloe, Moshe and Tali; brothers Bob and Ron; son-in-law Avram; and numerous other family and friends. Al was predeceased by his sister Marlene and his parents Albert and Martha.

A Celebration of Life will be held Nov 13th at 2 pm at Esquimalt Gorge Pavilion in Esquimalt Gorge Park. Please wear bright colours! Al’s favorites were purple and orange. All jokes and stories are welcome! For more details, check out the Remembering Al page (https://sway.office.com/PUGPMvCAVd1FaXdt?ref=Link).

In lieu of flowers, donations to Mount St. Mary Hospital will be greatly appreciated and will help to keep Al’s spirit of kindness alive and well. The family wishes to send a special thank you to the staff for their care and compassion.