While attending the unveiling of her memorial bench May 23, it wasn’t hard to see the lasting impact Donna Lee Giesbrecht had on the 14 Wing Greenwood community during her time working for 413 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron, Real Properties Operations and the Canadian Forces Housing Agency.
Her bench, dedicated by friends and coworkers on the wing, was formally unveiled by Captain Mary Valair in the common corridor of the CANEX mall.
“Every day at work with Donna was filled with laughter and tears – and the tears were from laughing too much,” Valair said.
During the ceremony, Giesbrecht’s memory once again brought tears and laughter to the wing, as her friends reminisced on the unifying force she was. An avid baker, Giesbrecht brought others together with her many sweets and jams, lovingly created from her mother’s recipe book. When she wasn’t baking, she was treating her friends to Dairy Queen using one of the seemingly infinite coupons she saved to share with others. More than a baker, Giesbrecht was also an adventurer, both in this world and the digital one. Affectionately dubbed a “World of Warcraft” pioneer, her friends recalled how they would visit Giesbrecht at her home in Kingston with their computers and monitors in hand, to join her for a game. Though she was born in Germany, and lived several years in Wimbledon, England, Nova Scotia was her home, which she shared with her friends and her three loves, her dogs Emma, Lilly, and Daisy. Giesbrecht’s sister, Gale, believes she would have been moved by today’s dedication.
“She often spoke of the small kindnesses offered to her by those around her. Help with her house, a kind word, encouragement at the gym when she went. She treasured those small, everyday gestures, and I know she misses them.”
The memorial bench, created by Real Property Operations, is a beautiful symbol of Donna’s contribution to the wing, and her lasting care for the people of 14 Wing.
“[It] will stand here as a place for those to seek solace, comfort and to remember precious memories that were shared together,” Valair said.
