Cicely Mary Brown would greet fellow volunteers with a kind word and a plate of cookies, according to Burnaby Village Museum conservator Elisabeth Czerwinski.
Brown - known as Cice to her friends, fellow volunteers and Mayor Derek Corrigan - passed away at the age of 86 on Jan. 24.
"She's a warm lady," Czerwinski said. "She makes relationships very easy, (she was) very light hearted, made work easy to do. Everyone around her was having a good time."
During the five years it took to restore the B.C. Electric Interurban 1223 tram car, Brown - who was the volunteer coordinator for the Friends of the Interurban 1223 society - kept in touch with all of the volunteers and connected with them on a personal level, Czerwinski said.
"People enjoyed working with her and people enjoyed receiving those calls, so people came," she explained.
Having someone to connect with everyone is essential when working on a long-term project like the Interurban, Czerwinski added.
"She really made everybody feel very valued as an individual while they were contributing to this big long-term project," she said. "Without someone like that on the team, (who) makes it warm, you can lose people really easily.
"She kept everybody happy to be at work," Czerwinski added. "She brought the cookies."
Czerwinski got to know Brown when they began working on the Interurban project in 2000, she said.
Brown volunteered at the Burnaby Village Museum since 1984 and was a museum docent, or guide, according to her obituary.
Before the Interurban project, Brown's passion was working as a volunteer with the museum's school programs, according to Czerwinski.
"That was Cice's work here as well," she said. "That was her big love at that time. She's wonderful with children."
Brown and her husband, Dennis, were also very involved with the restoration of the 1912 C.W. Parker Carousel, she added.
Brown was busy in her personal life as well, raising five children - Diane, Maureen, David, Wayne and Mary - and working outside of the home, according to Czerwinski.
Mayor Corrigan honoured Brown at the Feb. 20 council meeting, saying it was always a pleasure to work with her.
"She was a wonderful person," he said, "a valuable member of the community."
Corrigan also passed on his condolences to Brown's family.
"Burnaby will always honour, remember and appreciate Cice's dedication to this city," he said.
Brown was honourary reeve of the museum in 2002, and in 2003 she was awarded the Kushiro Cup for being Outstanding Citizen of the Year.
She received her 25-year service pin from the museum in 2009.
Brown was born in 1925 in New Westminster, but lived her entire life in Burnaby, her obituary stated.
She is survived by her husband Dennis, five children, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
