`Mayor of English Bay' recalled as `a totally amazing human being'

Waterfront fixture was known for always lending a helping hand

Friends of Joe Anderson may be saying goodbye, but they're not forgetting him.

Anderson was a fixture at English Bay, rain or shine. He often arrived early in the morning and stayed until after sunset.

Anderson was so involved in what was going on around him, he was unofficially dubbed the “Mayor of English Bay.”

There's no denying Anderson had a hard life. He lived most of it on the street, including a stint in a car.

But he turned his life around by helping people and creating a family of friends connected to the boat house building at English Bay.

“He was so generous, such a warm-hearted human being,” said Samee Ali, one of those friends.

“I don't know what to say. I'm going to tear up. He was a diamond in the rough — a totally amazing human being. I honestly would regard him as a very dear friend.”

Anderson, he said, never stopped helping people.

One way he did it was with a wheeled dolly to move kayaks, paddle boards and “anything that was heavy.”

One time in really bad weather, Ali recalled ending up about a kilometre away from the boat house with his windsurfer. He was exhausted from paddling.

“As soon as I got onto the beach, Joe was right there with this big dolly thing,” Ali said.

“I said: `Joe how did you know I was here?' He said: `I've been watching you with these binoculars.'”

Ali said anyone who was a regular at English Bay had a similar story about being helped by Anderson.

He used a metal detector to find valuables in the sand, spoke on behalf of binners, and figured out how to efficiently pack as many bottles and cans as he could into storage in the boat house.

Several years ago, he was so viciously attacked on the beach, he was hospitalized and ended up with a metal plate in his head. His friends rallied around, got him into low-income housing, and raised $4,200 for his recovery.

Late in life, Anderson also taught himself to read and stopped drinking alcohol.

“I honestly believed that we acted as a de facto AA group for him,” Ali said. “We listened to what he had to say, supported him.”

Anderson's sister, Shirley Bright, came from Quesnel to help clean out his apartment in the West End.

She said her brother was born in Timmins, Ont. He was 71.

Bright said he was reported missing Sept. 2. His body was found Sept. 15. Bright is upset and angry that he may have been lying dead for a couple of weeks. Friends said he'd been sick for months.

“He was very giving,” she said. “He would give you the shirt off his back, even when he didn't have a shirt.”

After living as a “down and outer for most of his life” he was able to find his niche in Vancouver, she said. “My role in this is to come here put my brother's affairs in order, give him a sendoff with his English Bay family, and take some ashes to my mom so she can be at peace about her first-born.”

A celebration of life is planned, but no date has been set.