Remembering Vance Bridges

Twelve years ago in this space I wrote about Vance Bridges, in a post about being a member of the Central Farmer's Co-op:

I had an up and down relationship with the coop after that: I went to every Annual General meeting and was dismayed by fellow members referring to the coop in the third person (“when are you guys going to get better peas?” instead of “how can we get better peas?”). Dismayed enough that, after a rousing speech by Vance Bridges I stood up and committed to shopping only at the Coop for the next year (an announcement I made without consulting Catherine, primary buyer-of-groceries in our family; that didn’t go over well).

Vance was a co-op force to be reckoned with: he was a true believer, a passionate advocate, a clear explainer. 

At that same meeting I recall him predicting that, once Loblaw's established itself in the PEI grocery market (this was the days before the Superstore had arrived), they, along with Sobeys, would enter a dog-eat-dog war that would eventually force the co-op out of the market. 

This was his rallying cry to convince co-op members to stay loyal. 

It wasn't enough, alas, and Vance's prediction came true: there are co-ops still hanging on in rural PEI, but Co-op Atlantic sold its grocery distribution arm to Sobeys, and the urban grocery market is essentially a Sobeys-Superstore duopoly now, and we are all the worse for it.

Vance Bridges died last week, and we are all the worse for that as well.

Not only was Vance a dedicated member of the co-op movement, he was, as his obituary related, an "ultimate community activist," volunteering in activities and organization wide and various.

I will remember Vance for his energy, his wit, his commitment.

He will be missed.