Valerie heads to Canada in 1959

1959 Val heads to Canada aboard to Saxonia.

On Board the P&O's SS Chusan - heading home for a visit in 1960

Pictures of Val before she came to Canada!

1937 Valerie, Ronnie, & Jill

1955 Val & friend Pam

1956

1956

1958 Dauson Park - Val, Jill, dad, & grandad

Val's paintings over the years

 After graduating from the Emily Carr school of fine arts, Val created many beautiful paintings.  Mostly in oil paint, but eventually in watercolour too. Here is just a sampling of her hobby.

 Val had a love for the sunflower...

 These two paintings of buildings were done on a trip to Italy where she took a course to learn how to paint with watercolours.

 Another beautiful watercolour from Italy

 She also had a love of birch trees!

 ...and breakfast nooks...

 Her daughter Catherine's wedding day, August 26, 2005

Here favourite painting of all time was the one she painted of her children, Catherine and Lawrence.

Obituary in the Vancouver Sun & National Post - June 15, 2013

Valerie Fronczek (nee Westcott) 1937 - 2013

On May 24, 2013, Valerie Fronczek's amazing journey through life came to a peaceful closure in Vancouver, B.C., following a courageous and determined effort to hang on to life and those she loved.

Born in Liverpool, England on March 27, 1937 and growing up in London during the Battle of Britain she learned at an early age to fight adversity through play, collecting shrapnel from doodle bugs and V2s, playing rounders, a keen eye to drawing and a sense of humour and wit enjoyed by all (except maybe her grammar school teacher). At an early age, rice pudding was her nemesis (even delivering the contents from her plate to her shoe to avoid the horror) but in every other way she loved to cook, something she excelled at to the great delight of family and friends through her well-known and attended dinner parties. Following in her father, Ron Westcott's, athletic footsteps - he having played soccer for Liverpool and The Arsenal - Valerie excelled at sports, both in swimming and field hockey for her school in Kent, England. She also excelled in school and later received recognition from Emily Carr as well as displaying her artwork and paintings in a number of galleries throughout Vancouver. Her passion for art - written, drawn and painted - was a pursuit she continued to enjoy throughout her life.

She decided to take steps to explore other regions of the commonwealth, moving to Canada in 1959. Valerie lived in Montreal briefly before being one of the last travellers to cross the Rockies on the old dirt road, settling in Vancouver, where she embarked upon a long and distinguished professional career as an advocate for children, children's play and children's rights. She received the Rosemary Brown Award for Children's Rights from the BC Human Rights Coalition in 2006. She was also nominated for the Order of Canada. During her 23-year tenure as Executive Director of the Society for Children and Youth of B.C. (SCY), as well as developing, in the years before computers, the nationally renowned Children's Play Resource Centre, Valerie was instrumental in developing ground-breaking policy on child abuse prevention, child and youth rights, child and youth friendly communities, child friendly housing, and fair play in sport. She brought with her to SCY an exquisite understanding of the needs of children, a passion for what was right and the drive to do what was necessary to make good things happen for the children of British Columbia and beyond. Valerie worked tirelessly to build SCY into a very well-respected child advocacy organization that has contributed substantially to making the world a better place for children. Valerie was innovative and very articulate. Valerie was never afraid to tackle contentious issues and authored numerous letters and papers that went to politicians, practitioners and policy makers; she knocked on the doors of people of influence whom she thought should care about children just as much as she did; she spoke eloquently whether it was to one individual or as a keynote address to the United Nations. This was Valerie's life. Those who knew her understood that Valerie was a driving force in the children's rights movement and she spent most of her days and evenings devoted to this noble cause. She was very self-effacing and never wanted any personal credit for her deeds. In fact, praise would embarrass her. She had a delicious and rather wicked sense of humour and was always a joy to work with. Valerie served on the Board of Directors of the International Play Association (IPA), for many years, and was most recently involved in coordinating the development of a General Comment on Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, approved by the UN in February of this year. Her contribution to the advancement of policy for children's rights and her passion for children's play was a guiding light for many. She also served on the Canadian Coalition for Children's Rights, was chairman for the International Institute for Child Rights and Development and contributed to and worked on many other associations and boards. She worked tirelessly to make the world a better place for children and youth - this was an unwavering commitment. With Valerie's passing, the world has lost a champion for children. Through her devotion to the cause and her relentless efforts, the world is a better place for children and families. Thank you Valerie for "giving it all you had. We hope to continue in your footsteps and make you proud of the work that continues in your memory on behalf of the children who meant so much to you." Valerie, lovingly nick-named "dude mum," brought boundless energy, tremendous intellect, and an unparalleled zest for life to everything she did. Valerie loved to travel and she did so with both style and simplicity. She knew people from all over the world and basked in the light of those relationships. She was a good friend. She loved white wine. She loved to laugh. She enjoyed the moment. She was independent and feisty and loyal. She was humble, she lived simply, but well, she was never one to focus on herself, or dwell on the negative. She was adventurous and playful and could carry on a conversation while bounding up the 95 steps to her home in West Vancouver, carrying a flat of Perrier under her arm, never out of breath. She loved to garden and her home was often full of flowers, always artfully arranged. She was a hard worker and was always active enjoying tennis, cooking and entertaining, dancing, traveling the world over, walking and sailing. She will be lovingly remembered and deeply missed by family and friends around the world as she was to all who knew her the very definition of a Renaissance Woman (and to her children a Renaissance Mum). Valerie is survived by her mother Ellen Westcott, her dude son Lawrence (and his lady Kim and her two daughters), and her daughter Catherine (Kevin) Staveley and her grandchildren, Benjamin, Olivia and Lauren, her sister Jill and daughters Elizabeth and Eleanor, brother Ronnie and wife Margaret and their three children Jackie, Tony and Andrew. She is predeceased by her father, Ron Westcott. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the International Play Association (IPA) http://ipaworld.wildapricot.org/ and select the Donate! page. Her memorial service is at 1:30p.m., June 24 at St. Francis-in-the-Wood Anglican Church, 4773 South Piccadilly Rd., West Vancouver, BC, V7W 1J8, Phone: 604-922-3531. 

By Lawrence Fronczek