On October 3, Bea passed peacefully at home with family and caregivers at her side. While it is difficult to capture 93 vibrant years in a handful of even the very best words, it is safe to say that Bea was passionate about her family, friends, community, province and country.

Born in Meyronne, Saskatchewan, where she met her husband of over 35 years, Ray Leinbach, who passed away in 1979, Bea was the only daughter in a family with five brothers. Bea and Ray settled in Vancouver after the Second World War, and together they had three children, Darlene (Denis), Barry, and Kevin (Anne), who would give them five grandchildren, Raymond (Susi), Lynette, Stephen (Alisha), David (Erin), and Heather, as well as seven great-grandchildren, with an eighth on the way.

While most of her friends and community will remember her as “Captain Bea”, the creative force behind the popular and enduring Kitsilano Showboat that is now in its 80th year, Bea was also the epitome of a proud Vancouverite and community volunteer.

Bea’s life-long enthusiasm for the performing arts, and endless volunteer energy on behalf of seniors, youth, women and persons with disabilities, earned her numerous awards, including the Order of Canada, the Vancouver Centennial Pioneer Award, Canadian Volunteer Award, Vancouver Lions Club Appreciation Award, the YWCA’s Women of Distinction Community and Humanitarian Award, and her own star on the BC Entertainment Walk of Fame. But, more than any award or accolade, Bea loved the work, whether it was introducing new talent on the Showboat stage, helping to found Meals on Wheels in Vancouver, or
lending her considerable organizing skills to the Children’s Hospital Society and BC Special Olympics.

By any measure, Bea put every one of her 93 years to good use, leaving her family, friends and community with warm and wonderful memories of a life well lived, a personality as big as the province she loved, and a commitment to community service that made Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada better places because of her.