In 2000, after careful research and consideration of the amenities they considered necessary to a comfortable retirement, Paul and Jane Burrows uprooted themselves from Whistler, BC, their home for 30 years, and moved to Salmon Arm. They became active members of the community.

Jane née Archer was born in Kirkland Lake, ON. She attended Ryerson University, obtaining a degree in 1963, and then starting a career in Marketing Research. Paul was born in York, England, and later moved to Ireland, then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. After Completing high school in South Africa, two years in Medicine at the University of Cape Town, he entered the printing trade. In 1959 he was sent to the London School of Printing by his employer, Rhodesian Printers, to complete his training as a printer [by the (Polytechnic School in Salisbury, Rhodesia], and from there, in 1960, he chose to move to Toronto, Canada, where he went to work for Rolph-Clark-Stone Limited.

The couple met in Vancouver, where Jane was attending UBC in order to obtain her teaching degree, having become disenchanted with the ethics of the marketing world, and Paul was now working for PrintCraft in Burnaby. They married in 1971, moving to Whistler, where Paul had built a ‘cabin.’ Jane pursued her career as a primary school teacher, first in Britannia Beach, then Pemberton, and retired from her school in Whistler in 1997. Paul worked on the mountain for the next 20 years, as a member of the ski patrol and a mountain guide/host, as well as in the construction industry. He became active in Whistler politics, serving two terms as an alderman and six years as a school trustee. He was also president of the Whistler Ratepayers Association for several years.

In 1976, Jane and Paul began a new venture, creating The Whistler Question, a small local newspaper still in publication on a weekly basis today. They sold the business in 1983, but Paul continued writing his ‘Burrowings’ opinion column until 1999, when they began planning their retirement move. They had been active with the Whistler Blackcomb Community Foundation and had met Cindy Derkaz at a conference. When they made the move to Salmon Arm, they contacted Cindy, who introduced them to Shuswap Community Foundation.

Believing strongly in the need to preserve the natural environment of the Shuswap, and the importance of protecting Shuswap Lake, they recently decided to create their own endowment fund, the Paul and Jane Burrows Endowment. Income from the fund will be given as grants to qualified charitable organizations in the Shuswap for projects which benefit the environment, as well as to those entering a field of environmental studies, or which address environmental issues. The directors of the foundation will have the discretion to award grants should there not be a qualified request or recipient in any particular year. Paul says they hope to ‘do a little good’ for Salmon Arm, and help others get involved in the issues that will keep the community vibrant and growing as an unspoiled attraction on the shores of Shuswap Lake. The fund is open to further donations.

“Whatever intervention we can provide for some younger person to get involved and use their thinking to see what the issues are and to solve those issues, if we’ve helped to do that then we’ll have succeeded.” – Paul Burrows