‘Smoker’ remembered
Virgil ‘Smoker’ Marchand was a painter, sculptor and exceptional fastball pitcher
Virgil ‘Smoker’ Marchand will long be remembered as a caring, gentle man but his legacy is also that of a painter, a sculptor and an exceptional fastball pitcher.
Funeral and grave-site services were held Friday for the 71-year-old member of the Arrow Lakes Band of the Colville Confederated Tribes who passed away peacefully at his Omak, Wa. home Jan. 13.
While Smoker lived south of the border, he spent much of his time in Penticton and other parts of the Okanagan during the fastball heydays of the 1980s and 90s.
It was then that he and Penticton Indian Band Chief Greg Gabriel first became acquainted.
Playing league games and travelling together to tournaments in Canada and the United States, they quickly became close friends.
“Smoker really was like family. I considered him a brother to me,” said Gabriel just before heading to Washington for the funeral services. “He was a very, very humble, a very honourable outstanding man.
“It’s such a tragic loss and I’m really dealing with a heavy heart with this loss.”
Someone else who first got to know Smoker on the ball diamond was Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band, another of Smoker’s close friends.
“I realized at the time he was really an accomplished artist, as good as he was a pitcher,” said Louie. “He was top notch and was one of the best native artists around.
“He was awesome. He was always polite, respectful and that’s why he has so many friends on both sides of the border.”
The Osoyoos Band currently has more than 30 Marchand sculptures on its land, most of which are custom designed, sometimes with Louie’s help.
The chief recalled with a smile their collaborative efforts, the times the pair would fax ideas and changes back and forth on paper.
Louie even wanted to see the works in progress with an artist he described as very accommodating.
“He (Smoker) would hem and ha around sometimes and say, ‘What the heck Clarence it looks good the way it is. Why don’t you just leave it?’ and I’d say, ‘Smoker I’d like some paint on it,’” said Louie.
“Grudgingly he’d agree, but he was a really good artist to work with.”
Greg Miller was also a pitcher in the Penticton Men’s Fastball League who fondly recalled Smoker’s talents on and off the ball field.
“Playing with and against Smoker was always fun,” said Miller. “From the first time I met him he was a genuine, kind man. He was always loyal to his teammates and in a game that Smoker pitched you knew it would be a very close battle.
“In the earlier years of fastball in Penticton the stands were full when Smoker came to town. Great memories.”
He also loved the art the fastball pitcher created and the work he did to help others.
“Not only did he shine on the ball diamond but was an exceptional person,” said Miller. “He was a powerful influence to the native community both on and off the playing field. He was highly respected by both communities.”
His nickname, Smoker, was given to him by his grandmother Mary Marchand who he lived with in Omak, the tag coming from their native language.
A residential school survivor, Smoker was also commissioned by the Okanagan Nation to produce a sculpture for the Syilx Okanagan Indian Residential School Monument that was unveiled in 2017.
The monument is located next to PIB fish hatchery where the train and cattle trucks used stopped to pick up the children to take them to the residential schools.
In addition to fastball and art, Smoker was an avid horseman, who loved to train horses and watch them race.
Once calling his life, “An incredible journey,” Smoker’s spirit will live on in the many works of art he created in his lifetime.