Guest columnist: Joe Urie

Imagine being gifted the name Gloria. It’s such a beautiful name. A name derived from the Latin word which simply means “Glory.”

Now, try to imagine living up to the hype of such a name.

To many of us, if we were ever made to try, it might seem a daunting task. Or maybe it would seem more like a curse than a gift. But to Gloria Kongsrud it was neither gift nor curse.

It was a natural state of being.

It wasn’t something she sought nor was it something she yearned for.

It was just who she was.

Gloria.

You may not be aware of this, but to have lived in Jasper for any amount of time in the past 50 years is to have basked in her glory. She was a warm gift that this community will continue to bask in for many years to come.

Despite battling cancer for almost half of her life, she was an unbreakable pillar upon which the weight of this community rested firmly. Her commitment to community was on a level that is rarely seen anymore. It was selfless and it is enduring.

Those who knew her well will testify to the truth of this.

Those who knew her well will testify to the truth of this.

She was instrumental in the Cabin Creek West housing development; played a big part in seeing our community’s Aquatic Centre come to fruition; helped oversee the attainment of local governance; and saw through the construction of the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge. 

In total, she served more than three decades as an elected official, making her tenure the longest in Jasper’s history.

Although we are saddened by the loss, we shouldn’t grieve the passing of a woman such as Gloria because that sort of grief is selfish. And Gloria was anything but selfish.

Rather, we should celebrate the glory of such a life lived and we should then honour her by picking up the slack left in the rope that she once anchored. Her place on that rope, that to which she held fast, is laying loose on the ground. 

It needs to be hefted and it needs to be pulled taut.

We should honour her by shoring up our sense of community, that which is in a state of flux these days due to our skills being eroded by the not so social aspects of social media and by the greater presence of corporate interest which seems to be running amok.

There is room for social media. There is room for corporate interest done right.

But Gloria would grimace at the sight of the tear in the cloth of the fabric of our community.

And then she would sit up straight and get out the darning needle.

In her honour, we should do the same.

A couple of days after her service, I walked down the street to Gloria’s house, perhaps hoping for one last chat with her. Quite often in the past, I would be greeted by the sight of Gloria, sitting on the stoop, drinking hot coffee. Upon spying me coming down the sidewalk, she would rise from her chair to greet me at the fence where we would engage in our fencepost chronicles.

When I arrived at the gate this time, however, rather than Gloria, I found her rascal of a husband, my friend Garfield, his ever present reading glasses threatening to fall off of the end of his nose as he sat silently staring up at the mountains.

He invited me in and called out to his daughter Heidi to come. I was given the honour of sitting in Gloria’s well worn chair in the living room. The three of us spoke at length about the incredible woman that was his wife, her mother and my friend.

There was one thing that Garfield said that stuck in my mind.

“All these years I thought Gloria was riding on my coat-tails,” he said, “when in fact it was me who was riding on hers.”

It was a revelatory moment. A pure moment. A moment of honest reflection.

And if we, the community of Jasper as a whole, were to be as honest as Garfield was in that one pure moment, collectively we would have to admit the same thing.

So we will. And then we will carry on. And we will do our best to uphold her legacy because to do otherwise would not only be a disservice to her, but to ourselves and to her beloved community. It would be a disservice to Jasper.

So all that is left to do now is to say thank you.

Thank you for having coat-tails big enough for the ride Gloria.

And perhaps to pledge that we will continue to build this community that was once one of your greatest passions.

You will be missed Gloria.

In her honour we sing….

Gloria in excelsis Jasper.
(Glory to Jasper in the highest.)

Gloria Jean Kongsrud
April 29, 1944- July 22, 2019