Penticton hospital tower fundraiser closer to goal with $1 million donation

PENTICTON – An estate donation from a Penticton couple has put the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s hospital tower fundraising campaign to within 80 per cent of its goal.

John Moorhouse with the foundation says the $1 million donation from Ed and Claire Festel's estate has put the fund to the $16 million mark of the $20 million campaign.

The donation comes from the couple’s estate following the sale of a Whitehorse apartment building that Ed left in his will to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation, according to a media release.

Claire died in June 2014 at the age of 57 and Ed died in August 2016. He was 65.

Ed was from in Switzerland and was an experienced pilot who moved to Canada in 1984 to build the Frances Lake Wilderness Lodge on Frances Lake in the eastern portion of the Yukon Territory. Quebec-born Claire was involved in the Yukon mining industry when she and Ed met in Whitehorse in 1994.

The couple shared a passion for life in the north.

The two made many trips to remote parts of the north over the years, but when Claire’s health began to fail, the two moved to Penticton in 2009, where Ed became an active member of the Penticton Flying Club, Moorehouse says.

He also helped resurrect the local branch of the Civil Air Search & Rescue Association.

Moorhouse says the money from Festel’s donation has provided a big boost to the medical foundation’s $20 million campaign to provide medical equipment for the Penticton Regional Hospital expansion, due to open in April, 2019.


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Steve Arstad

I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.

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