Longtime mayor of Peachland mourned
Memorial service for George Waldo set for Aug. 13
A large crowd is expected to gather Aug. 13 at a memorial service in Peachland for the town’s longest-serving mayor.
George Waldo, mayor for 19 years, is being remembered as a tireless community builder whose passion for the job was nearly matched by his fondness for quips.
“He was a colourful guy who could always make you laugh, but he also cared very deeply about improving Peachland,” Don Wilson, who served on town council with Waldo, said Thursday.
“He was a real character — in a good way,” said Richard Smith, the town’s unofficial historian.
“George turned out at every conceivable community event, usually wearing his gold chain of office, which you almost never see other mayors wear,” Smith said.
Waldo’s municipal accomplishments include encouraging the purchase of private waterfront land to make the town’s long lakeshore almost completely open to the public, overseeing construction of a new community centre, campaigning for the installation of sanitary sewers throughout the downtown area and supporting the preservation of historic buildings.
Waldo was also a teacher and vice-principal, working across Canada in the 1960s before moving to Peachland in 1972. For many years, he was vice-principal at Westbank Elementary.
He was mayor of Peachland from 1980 to 1993, and again from 1996 to 2002.
His many election victories were due to a mayoral style that mixed folksy charm with appealing wit and fierce intelligence. And though he could often be selfdeprecating, he wasn’t afraid to be blunt in his criticisms of others.
Waldo liked to refer to himself as the “short, fat, boss teacher,” which is what he said his Inuit students called him when he taught in the Arctic.
Some of his other more notable pronouncements over the years:
— In 1990, Waldo was the only councillor who voted against buying a new van for the fire chief. “Imelda Marcos never had this. This is a wardrobe van for the chief,” he said.
— “I ate greasy chips, and now look at me,” Waldo said, showing off his girth at a breakfast meeting that kicked off the 2006 heart and stroke campaign.
— In 1992, Waldo said everyone who complained about something when addressing town council would also have to say something complimentary about the the town. “Be on notice. If you refuse to speak positively about our community, I don’t want to listen to you,” he said.
— He overruled plans by a town group to apply for federal funding in support of Canada Day celebrations. “You shouldn’t have to bribe people with their own money to go out and have a party to celebrate the country’s birthday. If it’s important to them, they’ll put on the party themselves.”
After losing the 2002 mayoral election, he said: “The main reason I lost was probably that I hung around so long.”
Once he quit politics, Waldo and his wife, Ann, moved to Sechelt. He died July 20 at age 81.
A celebration of Waldo’s life will be held at 10 a.m. Aug. 13 at the Peachland Community Centre.