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Tsilhqot’ins mourn loss of young mother

The loss of a 33-year-old mother killed in a single vehicle crash last week is being felt across the entire Chilcotin.

The loss of a 33-year-old mother killed in a single vehicle crash last week is being felt across the entire Chilcotin, said Anaham Chief and Tsilhqot’in National Government Chair Joe Alphonse.

“She was a lovely beautiful young mother and wife inside and out. It is a great, great loss,” Alphonse said of victim, Barb Cooper. “She came from quite a traditional family that is respected throughout the Chilcotin.”

A small service for Cooper was scheduled for Thursday at a funeral home in Williams Lake and a larger service will take place Saturday, June 18, in her community of Tsi Del Del (Redstone), Alphonse said.

“She was part of the women’s group in her community that would visit other communities,” Alphonse said. “The women’s group from Anaham went to Redstone to support her family this week. I feel for her children and have asked the community to step in and help the family.”

Cooper died as a result of injuries she sustained Friday, June 10, at about 3:24 p.m. when the vehicle she was a passenger in crossed the centre line and entered the westbound ditch, causing the vehicle to roll, said senior media relations officer RCMP Staff Sgt. Rob Vermeulen in a press release.

Cooper and the driver were ejected from the vehicle, which was travelling eastbound on Highway 20 near the Chilanko Forks loop at the time.

Vermeulen said the 39-year-old male driver was airlifted by BC Ambulance Helicopter to hospital where he was listed in critical but stable condition with undetermined injuries.



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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