McLoughlin Gardens Board and Administrative Staff

The McLoughlin Garden Society is currently composed of seven directors and an executive director.

Joel Fox

With roots in Ottawa, Joel Fox has been immersed in the Comox Valley for almost two decades. In 2011, he graduated from the Windsong College of Healing Arts in Port Alberni, practising Shiatsu in the Valley for a number of years. Currently, he is enrolled in the Social Services Program at North Island College, pursuing a passion for social justice and societal transformation. He is also Community Director on the board of NISU,
the student union, and volunteers every week at the Lake Trail Community School lunch program.

Joel takes pleasure in the realms of writing, music-making, and especially the performing arts, with a particular fondness for collaborative creativity. He's been having fun with the local improv club and Cumberland's annual soap operas for many years. He has also
trained in Theatre for Living, also known as Forum Theatre, which explores social justice themes through specific improv formats. Co-founding a sketch comedy group, Joel has performed multiple times at the Woodstove Festival, presenting sketches and experimental
long-form improv/sketch hybrids exploring socially relevant themes in engaging ways.

Essentially, Joel is dedicated to promoting well-being and laughter while helping to create more vibrant, dynamic, inclusive, and just communities.

Glenn Gustafson

Glenn has spent most of his life appreciating and exploring nature, which translated into a career working as an environmental educator for numerous non-profits and governments in both Saskatchewan and Alberta. His love of nature also translated into a range of creative interests that are now showcased in a home-based arts and crafts business - Sanctuary Craft Studio. Glenn recently moved to the Comox Valley, fulfilling a long held dream of living on Canada’s west coast.

Susan Joyce

A Merville resident, with a passion for gardening, Susan joined the board in 2024 and brings a wealth of experience in business and consulting.

Kay Kennedy

Libraries were Kay's refuge in every school she attended. Her interest in books and writing led her to a BA in English, to organize poetry readings in the coffee houses of Berkeley, to form a union with her fellow poets, and her great pleasure in creating a warm, inviting library as an elementary school librarian on the north end of Vancouver Island and always, reading, writing, and thinking of what is next.

Denise Lawson

As an emerging multi-disciplinary artist and the co-curator at the Comox Valley Art Gallery, Denise is aware of the value artist-in-residence programs provide artists. Denise brings past experience as a board member of a variety of community organizations, and as an advocate and activist. She has lived shore-to-shore across Canada and settled in the Comox Valley with her husband and children in 2006. Denise was educated and practised as an outpost nurse and recently graduated from Emily Carr University with her BFA.

Bryan Mortenson

New board member Bryan Mortenson is the Executive Director of the Federation of BC Writers and makes his home in the Comox Valley.

Eva-Marie Trebell

Born close to the Dutch border in Germany, Eva was an early childhood educator for many years. Photography, poetry, swimming, art & gallery visits, music, reading, travel, hiking, and cooking are her passions. She has sold her photographs in Germany, the US, and Canada. Eva was a poetry ‘judge’ at Vancouver’s ‘Café Deux Soleils’ poetry slams. She had the pleasure of meeting Shane Koyczan, CR Avery and other poets. She also worked in the Film Industry for many years. She has served on several not- for-profit boards and was the Events Coordinator for the Vancouver Opera Guild. Currently, she is a volunteer at the Filberg Lodge in Comox.

Margo McLoughlin, Executive Director

Margo McLoughlin is a writer, storyteller, and teacher. Margo grew up in Vancouver, but every summer from the age of three to the age of 15 she and her family spent summer holidays at the Alders Beach Resort at the end of Williams Beach Road in Merville.