Legacy gift honours caring heart of a nurse
Vera Marjorie Myers - In loving memory
March 27, 1933 - January 15, 2025
Since she was 10 years old, Vera Myers knew she would spend her life caring for others.
Vera served as Comox Valley’s Public Health Nurse for 19 years, so if you’re a longtime resident, chances are you’ve met her.
Newspaper clippings from the 1970s and 80s show Vera making house visits to care for newborns, hosting prenatal and baby wellness programs for families and administering immunizations to seniors and young children.
Walking down the street, it wasn’t unusual for people to stop and recognize Vera, saying hello and telling her how much they appreciated her kindness and support. Vera understood that nursing extended far beyond medicine. It was about relationships: holding a hand when someone felt scared or offering comfort and strength to people during challenging times. After a difficult labour, one couple named their baby Vera.
Vera was passionate about caring for others and while she passed away in January 2025, her care for others continues as she left a significant donation to the Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation to support high-need projects benefiting patients at the Comox Valley Hospital.
Vera’s generous gift is the culmination of a lifetime of caring, starting with an experience at a hospital at a young age.
A calling for nursing
Vera was the oldest of two daughters and grew up on a farm in Dauphin, Manitoba. In 1943, when she was 10 years old, her parents took her to the hospital for an operation. Being farmers, Vera’s parents were needed at home, so they had to leave her at the hospital for the surgery to return to the farm.
It was under the compassionate care of several nurses that Vera felt reassured and comforted and from that moment on she knew she wanted to do the same for others.
Her family had limited means, however Vera’s grandmother recognized her drive to become a nurse and wanted to help. While she couldn’t give her the funds to pay for school, she did what she could, gifting Vera a young calf to raise. Vera fed and cared for the animal until she could sell it, providing her with the money she needed to train and become a Registered Nurse.
These early life experiences stayed with Vera. Her family remembers her as a hardworking nurse who was highly capable, tackling challenges with a can-do mindset all the while staying true to her desire to comfort others.
She retired from her role as Comox Valley’s Public Health Nurse in 1988 and enjoyed gardening, music and family. Later in life, Vera lived at Glacier View Lodge where her favourite activity was to join the nurse’s corner for a chat.
Carrying her vision forward
Upon her passing at 92 years of age, Vera’s bequest will continue to make an impact on the community she loved.
“Vera’s legacy is her unwavering commitment to looking after our community,” says Sandy Dreger, Vice Chair of the Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation’s Board.
“As a retired nurse, I feel a connection to her story and admire how she is continuing to care for all of us through a gift in her Will. Speaking on behalf of the Foundation, we’re thrilled to celebrate Vera’s legacy while recognizing the dedication of nurses across our region. Whether in hospital, long-term care, or the community, they show up every day with compassion and commitment to care for others. We are deeply grateful for all that they do, and I am extremely proud to belong to this profession.”
Vera’s story reminds us that one life, lived with compassion, can touch countless others. And through her legacy gift, her love for caring can continue.