Published on 10 Aug 2011

Parishioner Profile – Megan Balmer

My name is Megan Balmer, I was born into a British Army family in India and I lived there until I was 16, attending an army boarding school (Protestant) in a hill station in Rajasthan, and an Anglican boarding school in Naini Tal, another hill station. On my father’s retirement we returned to England where I finished grammar school, then went to London University to take my Teacher’s Training in Early Childhood Education. I taught in London for 2 ½ years, then emigrated to Vancouver where I taught for the Vancouver School Board for 22 years, the majority of the time as a kindergarten teacher. My husband and I were avid sailors owning and racing several sail boats, and finally spent 7 years building a 46 foot sloop which we lived aboard for 2 years and sailed it to the South Pacific. Since I was working on my Master’s Degree in Early Childhood education at that time, I was able to do research in kindergartens in New Zealand, which was a fantastic experience for a teacher. I have a son whose Ukrainian wife recently arrived in Canada after a long delay because of the backlog at Immigration Canada!

After I retired from teaching, I was a Volunteer Member of the City Heritage Commission for 7 years during the time of the Restoration of the Cathedral, and that is how I decided to return to my Anglican upbringing and started to attend services at the Cathedral, knowing only 2 couples who are parishioners. Since large cities can be very impersonal places, it is important to have a sense of belonging to a group, and perhaps that is what I was seeking on my return to the church.

As a proud Canadian I have always been interested in First Nations and Inuit art, and have followed the career of Susan Point for over 25 years, so I was thrilled to be at the dedication of the wonderful stained glass windows which she designed and created. As a very young city Vancouver is lucky to have the cathedral situated in its centre, and it shows how progressive we are in that we can include first nations art in a venerable old building. It also means that tourists staying downtown can wander in to appreciate our heritage.