In Memorium
Warren Albert Jones
November 1956 – February 2026
A celebration of life was held to honour Warren on March 19 at St. Hildas Church to an overflowing crowd. Warren’s partner of 40 years, Michel spoke of their life together before moving to the coast and Warren’s love of animals and travel featured prominently in the stories. A slideshow ran in the background showing childhood and family photos as well as many from his time with the Auxiliary attending conferences, social events, and cheque presentations. There was time for some heartfelt speakers to share with the crowd and attendees reminisced amongst each other with refreshments brought by members to share.
Warren was a great friend to many of us in the SCHA. He always had a kind word or a gentle dig or jest. He was master of putting people at ease and encouraging them.
Warren was a leading light with the SCHA since the time he joined in 2014. He helped steer us to where we are today humbly, behind the scenes as a driving force on the Board.
Coming from a retail background with London Drugs he saw how the Thrift Store could be improved and was instrumental in organizing its renovation together with then Executive President Vicky Forest and Thrift Manager Jane Bader. Construction started December 27, 2016, and the store opened in record time on January 10, 2017, 95% complete. All the work completed over the Christmas break!
At about the same time Warren and Jen Grey started asking the question. “Why do we only support the hospital as coastal healthcare needs are greater than just the hospital?”.
This coincided with the name and constitutional change from St. Mary’s Auxiliary Society to the Sunshine Coast Healthcare Auxiliary Society. One more sentence was added to the constitution specifying that the Sunshine Coast Healthcare Auxiliary supports healthcare on the entire coast, from Port Mellon to Egmont.
With the broadening of our mandate, he, Jen Gray and Karen Archer started the Granting Program in 2016.
Also, at this time Warren was instrumental in starting a formal budget/accounting process for the Auxiliary. This is one of the achievements he was most proud of.
In his words in a recent note, “they went from paper napkin ideas to state-of-the-art computerized financial management.” This budget process and financial accountability is what keeps us on track and allows our investments to grow and allows us to make sound financial decisions and donations.
Warren was CEO of the Healthcare Auxiliary from 2021-2023, steering us through the pandemic years. He was also the driving force behind us purchasing the Thrift Store building. He looked at our finances and commitments and put together a business case for the Board to consider its purchase. He liaised with the Sechelt Hospital Foundation which culminated with us agreeing on a price and happily becoming the owners in June 2023.
His Thrift Store involvement did not stop there, up until the end he was arranging for new heat pumps, window damage repair and new construction, a new sea-can to replace the “Go Shed” and so much more. He was a regular visitor to the Thrift Store checking on the building and ensuring the volunteers were happy.
Hopefully we will make him proud by continuing to improve on his legacy and ensure that the SCHA becomes an even more vibrant major driving force in the improvement of healthcare on the coast.
