A Gift from James A. & Laurette Agnew

It was Jim and Laurette Agnew’s hospital. While living on the Saanich Peninsula, they used the Saanich Peninsula Hospital and valued the services it provides. So they made a gift which will support it long after their lifetimes.

Jim and Laurette met while employed in the engineering department of Bell Canada, where they worked for over 30 years. After retirement in 1974, they built a bungalow on the ocean, living, as a friend says, “simple, happy lives”.

Jim and Laurette Agnew were very active retirees. They founded a publishing house: Les Editions Laplante-Agnew, for the publication of French books in BC. Laurette authored and published genealogical and historical works. They told the stories of their Laplante and Agnew relatives, and also covered subjects relevant to the local historical societies to which they belonged. These included L’Association Historique Francophone de Victoria, which Laurette co-founded, the Saanich Pioneers Society, to which Laurette was granted a Life Membership, and the Sidney and North Saanich Historical Society. 

Jim died in October 2008 and Laurette passed away in April 2011. Dawn Piché wrote: “They were always willing to help family, friends and the community they came to love and call home.” They continue to do so through their bequest to the Saanich Peninsula Hospital.