In Memoriam

Jimmy Campbell, BSc’42, and Lorraine Campbell (née Thompson), BSc’42, MSc’44

Lorraine Jean CampbellJimmy CampbellThe Faculty of Land and Food Systems focuses on the connections between agriculture and communities. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the lives of its graduates Jimmy and Lorraine Campbell. The Campbells graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture and farmed on Saturna Island for approximately 70 years prior to their recent deaths on November 29, 2015, (Jimmy) and February 16, 2016 (Lorraine). Jimmy’s agriculture career began with an undergraduate project to grow flax for fish net production, which he carried out on the farm of Lorraine’s father. Lorraine was one of few women undergraduates in the faculty, and even fewer women master’s students at the time she completed her MSc in plant nutrition and raspberry production. While Jimmy’s flax project failed, it initiated a lifelong devotion to agriculture and to Saturna Island, where they moved after Jimmy left the Canadian Navy following WWII. Here they raised cattle, chickens, lots of vegetables, and lambs, including those for the annual July 1st Saturna Island Lamb Barbeque that attracts more than 1,000 people annually. Over the years the Campbells hosted visiting students from UBC and around the world, and provided opportunities for them to learn about sustainable agriculture, rural communities and the marine environment. Jimmy and Lorraine were community leaders in the southern Gulf Islands. In 1993 Lorraine received a Canadian 125th Anniversary medal in recognition of her many volunteer activities, including 19 years on the board of the Lady Minto Gulf Islands Hospital and 13 years as a school trustee. Jimmy also served 12 years on the Gulf Island School Board, 10 years on the Capital Regional District Board (as chair for seven) and two years on the Islands Trust. The Campbells had four children, Jimmy (deceased), Tommy, Nan and Jacques (Jacqui). The Campbell farm continues as an important aspect of the Saturna Island community.