The City of Kamloops will bestow the Freedom of the City to Stella Black – a pillar of the local healthcare community – at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 20.

Born and raised in Kamloops, Black started off as a staff nurse at Royal Inland Hospital before risking up the ranks to serve as Executive Director of Acute Care.

She also spent many years serving on the BC Cancer Agency Board of Directors, and was involved in publications that were instrumental in forming breast cancer early detection and self-examination programs.

In addition to that, Black also served on Thompson Rivers University’s Board of Governors for a decade, and was part of the process to change the college’s status to university college and then to university. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree for her service to TRU.

She was also a member of the Kamloops Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow, and served on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club and the Kamloops Symphony.

“Throughout a lifetime of living and serving in Kamloops, Stella Black has supported some of our largest and most significant institutions through monumental changes and improvement, selflessly giving of her talents to benefit the health and vitality of our community and beyond,” the City said, in a statement Tuesday.

“Stella truly exemplifies the spirit of service with her dedication to health, education, culture, and local community.”

The Freedom of the City is seldom awarded and only done so by unanimous vote of Kamloops mayor and council. Since 1949, it has only been awarded to 27 people and six entities, most recently going to Pat Wallace and Doug Collins in 2019.

At Wednesday’s ceremony, the City will also recognize AnnMarie Aase (Caremongering Kamloops), Teresa Dares (Kamloops Ambassador program), Henry Pejril (Kamloops Sports Council and 55-plus Canada Games), Ron Popoff (Hot Nite in the City), and Rick Windjack (PIT Stop) with Exemplary Service Awards.