Laura Noble, BPW London member from September 2006.
Laura served in various positions with the London club, including the position of club president from 2010-2013.
She was nominated for and received the BPW Ontario Leadership/Woman of the Year Award from BPW Ontario in 2014.
As her health declined and she was unable to participate in person, she took on more positions and activities around the websites and social media and communications positions for the London club, BPW Ontario, and BPW Canada.
Laura had BPW sisters all over Canada and the world.
Laura was very accurate and particular in every task and undertaking she did – she would make sure she followed through on every commitment she made.
Laura passed away suddenly on June 17, 2021, alone in her home while waiting for a ride to her annual vacation away from home.
Laura’s estate administrator, Genevieve Laforce, reached out to Winn Barnett of BPW London who in turn reached out to Norma Yau of the club to advise that BPW materials in Laura’s home needed to be returned to the London club.
Genevieve met and corresponded with Norma regularly on the administration of Laura’s estate and advised that Laura wanted to remember her BPW sisters as it was a large part of her life.
A painting owned by Laura was hoped to be donated to BPW London, but the estate needed to ensure that tax receipts would be available. As BPW London had no tax status, Norma referred Genevieve to Karin Gorgerat, BPW Canada president. After exploring many possible ideas and processes, it was determined that the easiest method to get funds to BPW was to have Laura’s painting liquidated and the funds provided to BPW.
Genevieve donated $2,500 to BPW London from the proceeds of the sale of the painting late in 2021. The club decided to use $1,500 of these funds to support BPW London members attending a provincial conference or the national convention in 2022.
Early in 2022, both Karin and Norma approached Genevieve to have Laura’s estate possibly sponsor the 2022 BPWC convention in memory of Laura. Genevieve advised Norma that she was willing to provide $25,000 from the estate to be used however BPW decided.
A meeting was held with representatives from the three levels of BPW and a decision was made to split the funds as follows:
A memorial private luncheon was held for Laura on May 10, 2022, at the London Civic Gardens with good food, fine wines and lots of Laura’s friends.
