Gary Fiegehen

FIEGEHEN, Gary Wayne
Professional Photographer

Peacefully at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver on Friday August 26th, 2022
at the age of 75, with his wife Sara by his side.

Loving and long-time husband of Sarah Whitney. Cherished brother of
Joan Alexander of Toronto and Donna and her husband Jim Hammell of Sarnia.
Fondly remembered by his nephews and nieces Derek and Mark, David and Chad,
and Katie and Laura. Gary will be greatly missed by his great-nieces
and great-nephews, and extended family. He will be fondly remembered by
his many friends far and wide, and by his First Nations "families" and friends.
Gary is predeceased by his parents Hartley "Dick" and Jeanne Fiegehen,
and his brother Ron.

Gary is a graduate of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto when it was
the only photography school in Canada. Gary moved to the West Coast in the
early 70's. Working out of Vancouver, he had made the B.C. landscape and the
First Nations people the focus of his professional life. Often gone for months
at a time, traversing some of the rugged places of British Columbia;
Nass Valley, Telegraph Creek, Stikine, Spatsizi Plateau, Mt. Edziza and Wells
to name just a few. Together with his wife Sara, a landscape artist,
have seen and done so much that most of us can only dream of seeing and doing.

Gary Fieghen was honoured by the Canadian Government and B.C. First Nations
when his photos were used to tell as part of the permanent exhibition at
the Royal British Columbia Museum - "Nisga'a People of the Nass River".
He also hosted a show at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American
Indian, Washington DC. Gary's photographs were also used in a museum at
Whistler, Information Kiosks along the "Sea to Sky Highway" to "tell the stories" of
our First Nations for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"Gary hoped his images provide a door for the viewers imagination and suggests
that this work is less about innovation and more about remembering.
Remembering when the world was new and full of wonder."

Memory of Me

I'd like the memory of me,
to be a happy one.
I'd like to leave an afterglow,
of smiles when the day is done.

I'd like to leave an echo,
whispering softly down the ways.
Of happy times, and laughing times,
and bright sunny days.

I'd like the tears of those who grieve,
to dry before the sun.
Of happy memories I leave behind,
when the day is done.