Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to page-level navigation Go to the Disability Resource Centre Website Go to the DRC Booking Accommodation Portal Go to the Inclusive Technology Lab Website
The University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
UBC Okanagan News
  • Research
  • People
    • Student Profile
    • Faculty Profile
    • Alumni Spotlight
  • Campus Life
    • Campus News
    • Student Life
    • Teaching & Learning
  • Community Engagement
  • About the Collection
    • Stories for Media
  • UBCO Events
  • Search All Stories
Home / 2013 / June / 20 / Community builders, rising star celebrated for volunteer efforts

Community builders, rising star celebrated for volunteer efforts

June 20, 2013

Walley and Marietta Lightbody, Jennifer Forsythe and  Deborah Buszard

Walley and Marietta Lightbody (left) jointly received UBC’s Okanagan Alumni Community Builder Award, while UBC graduate Jennifer Forsythe (second from right) received the Rising Star Award. The tributes were presented by Deborah Buszard, (right) deputy vice-chancellor and principal of UBC’s Okanagan campus.

UBC honours alumni for outstanding community contributions

When UBC looks to honour its alumni, you can imagine there are thousands of great candidates to consider. To be presented with the Okanagan Alumni Community Builder Award, you have to be pretty outstanding.

And that’s the case with Walley and Marietta Lightbody – Kelowna residents who were jointly selected as winners of this year’s Okanagan Alumni Community Builder Award. Presented annually, the award honours Okanagan-based UBC alumni who have made and continue to make a difference locally, regionally or globally.

The Lightbodys were honoured at a special event at UBC’s Okanagan campus Wednesday night, along with Rising Star alumna Jennifer Forsythe.

“What an honour to be joining the ranks of such distinguished alumni as Bill Nelems and Dick Hooper together with the very eminent Catherine Comben and Paul Mitchell,” says Walley. “It is indeed a wonderful tribute.”

Walley Lightbody graduated from UBC with an arts degree in 1956. Offered a scholarship from the National Broadcasting Corporation to attend Northwestern University in Chicago, he instead chose to stay in BC and study law. He enjoyed a successful legal career and remains a strong believer in giving back to his community.

He is a tireless steward of his profession in both Vancouver and Kelowna, and has held many volunteer leadership roles during four decades of a busy career. His passion for the wilderness led him to establish the Save our Fish Foundation in Vancouver and to lobby governments to stop the second diversion of the Nechako River.

Lightbody has numerous professional accolades and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1985. Throughout the years he has kept close ties to UBC and currently spearheads a scholarship fund for Okanagan campus graduates who plan to pursue a law degree at UBC’s Vancouver campus.

While he loves a good game of tennis, he has helped raise more than $600,000 for lifesaving equipment for the Cardiac Care Centre at Kelowna General Hospital though the annual Celebrity Tennis and Bocce Ball Tournament.

Lightbody has not enjoyed these accomplishments alone. By his side throughout his career was his wife Marietta Lightbody, who earned her Bachelor of Home Economics degree from UBC in 1955. She, too, was presented with the Okanagan Alumni Community Builder Award.

Marietta has been an active member of the Okanagan Historical Society and the Okanagan Heritage Society, and also served as a member of the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation board of directors for six years. She remains politically active with the Liberal Party of Canada, and like her husband, has been presented with numerous commendations for her years of volunteerism including the Award for Distinguished Community Service.

The Rising Star Award this year was won by Jennifer Forsythe. The Rising Star Award honours graduates of the Okanagan campus who have shown to be exceptional in social, civic, professional, cultural, research and/or athletic pursuits and accomplishments.

Forsythe earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honours from UBC in 2011, and this summer will defend her master of science thesis in biology. Her research in plant and soil science holds great promise for critical issues in human ecology. As an undergraduate, she published a paper examining how some fungi contribute towards improving nutrition in plants. This research may potentially change lives in Third World countries where soil fertility and food crops are often low in essential micronutrients such as iron and zinc.

A dedicated volunteer, Forsythe serves as fundraising coordinator for the Women in Science and Engineering mentoring program and is social media coordinator for the Kelowna Arthritis Centre.

“It is a huge surprise and a great honour to receive this year’s Rising Star Award,” says Forsythe. “I am so grateful to be counted as a UBC graduate worthy of this recognition. I owe so many of my opportunities and future prospects to this university and the world-class education I have received at UBC.”

—30—

Media Contact

Patty Wellborn
E-mail: patty.wellborn@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Release
More content from: Alumni, Irving K Barber School of Arts and Sciences (prior July 2020)

Trending Stories

  • Reducing the side effects of cancer therapy
  • Psychedelic mushroom microdoses can improve mood, mental health
  • UBCO’s largest graduating class marks 20 years of growth
  • How one student connects AI innovation to wildfire research
  • Putting community, students and research on the same track
All Stories
Contact Media Relations

About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

Discover more about UBC Okanagan

Find a Program Admissions Book a Tour UBCO Facts
UBC Okanagan Campus News, University Relations

Innovation Precinct Annexation 1 (IA1)
3505 Spectrum Court
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 2Z1

We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.

 

Search all stories

Subscribe to receive news by email

Visit UBC's Vancouver news room

Global and Admin Messages

News

Okanagan Campus

TikTok icon Linkedin icon

UBC Okanagan News
Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility