John Hatchett, president of the Sun Peaks Health Association for the past 18 years, is set to retire as Sun Peaks’ municipality takes over and the board becomes a Health Advisory Committee.
After coming to Sun Peaks, Hatchett volunteered for ski patrol from 1998 to 2010, creating a link between the Health Association and patrol that has only grown stronger.
When John Gossage, one of the first members of the Health Association, passed away in 1999 Hatchett already had 20 years of experience working for United Way in the Lower Mainland and wanted to carry on Gossage’s vision of a health centre for local residents in
Sun Peaks.
Anne Terwiel, Gossage’s daughter, said Hatchett will be dearly missed in Sun Peaks.
“He has worked tirelessly and invested a ton of time into the health centre,” Terwiel said. “I will miss how he immerses himself in the community and does whatever he can to make it better.”
She added her father would be thrilled to see the progress made on the Health Centre and he would appreciate Hatchett’s passion for ensuring there is multidisciplinary health care to serve community members.
Hatchett was president for all of his 20 years spent serving on the board, guiding the Health Association towards the physical centre which has just recently broken ground on the new site.
“My proudest accomplishment is to see a permanent structure,” Hatchett said. “We have been as successful as we can be.”
Mayor Al Raine said he always admired Hatchett for his strength and greatly appreciated the work he had done to improve the community.
“He has been absolutely dedicated to improving health care for Sun Peaks and is still working on it even as he retires,” Raine said. “His biggest contribution has been his undogged pursuit of health care for the people at Sun Peaks.”
Hatchett will assist with fundraising for equipment for the new centre and plans to move to the Fraser Valley to live closer to his family in a few months. He said he will miss Sun Peaks.
“The spirit the residents and everyone at Sun Peaks has in supporting activities that go on at Sun Peaks is great,” Hatchett said. “People are willing to help out and you don’t see
that everywhere.”
Hatchett said he appreciated the people of Sun Peaks and how great it has become for families over the time he has lived there. He hopes the centre will make it an even better area for families to reside and help the community as
a whole.
“Sun Peaks has been a wonderful place to live and we will be back to ski and say ‘hi’.”
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