The cat in Pam Portman's lap is a rescue, like all of the family's pets have been, and she pets it as she shares why she worked for more than 40 years in supporting Penticton's SPCA and the rest of the community.
"When it comes to the animals, they can't talk," Portman said, smiling as she stroked Biggie's back. "All they need is love."
There's a slight breeze across the deck as Pam Peterson, Portman's daughter, sits down with her mother to talk for a while. At 82, she's built up a lifetime of stories.
A steady stream of visitors have visited the home over the past few weeks, many of them friends, but just as many people who Portman helped over the years.
It's cancer, terminal, and the prognosis is not a long one.
It doesn't outwardly seem to show with Portman, maybe a little in her walk, but it doesn't touch her smile as she shares why she got involved with local fundraising.
"You would go in there and turn one light on and three others would turn off," Portman said. "I can't even remember what tempted me to go into the shelter in the first place."
Just before coming to Penticton, Portman had started up a flea market in Surrey in support of the SPCA there. After seeing what the shelter looked like in Penticton, she wanted to do it here, too.
After getting Marge Messmer on board, the wife of then-mayor Ivan Messmer, and getting an agreement with the Wholesale Club to not sell anything they did, they set up right on Main Street. Despite a few moves over the years, they eventually returned to where they started.
Today, the market brings in about $2,000 a weekend, purely through the vendor fees, which go straight to the local SPCA.
Within a couple of years, she was invited down to a major BC SPCA convention where she was asked to present about the market. The head of the Kamloops branch told her he'd give it a try, and she didn't think much of it.
"Two or three years later, my husband and I were down with the vintage car club for a rally, and I said, 'Before we go back to Penticton, can we just go up North Hill, I want to see if that guy was just joking,'" Portman recalled. "We drove up to this huge shopping center that was closed for the Sunday, and outside was the biggest flea market I'd ever seen in my life."
She managed to find the organizer, who told her that after taking her idea to heart, it had helped Kamloops to build a new shelter in nine months, and that Quesnel had started doing it, and so had Prince George.
After more than 40 years, Portman was one of the last of the six original Penticton vendors at the market, even though she'd given up the operations end a few years prior.
During one of her recent tours of the market, Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield joined Portman to meet the various vendors. He said that he was impressed by all the work she had done so far behind the scenes.
"Here's someone that just quietly went about making the community a better place for everybody," said Bloomfield. "The work she put in and how it benefited different sections of the community, it's really admirable and without looking for any accolade. That's the true test of genuine community spirit."
During their tour, the pair also discovered they shared a further unlikely connection.
"We both came from Maidstone in Sussex," said Portman. "The odds are one in a million."
The day after the interview, Portman and Peterson drove down to Surrey to see the home where Peterson grew up and to tour the structures Portman's advocacy, through the Newton Ratepayers Association, helped build that are still standing.
Another drive reminded Portman of a different project she'd helped establish, the pet cemetery near Twin Lakes.
"Somehow it slipped my mind and I don't understand why because it took a lot of finagling to get through," Portman said with a laugh.
Supporting animals wasn't the only thing that Portman has worked on through the years. Whether it was Miss Interior, the Quota Club for the hearing impaired, the Women In Need Gaining Strength thrift store, or any number of other fundraisers she helped put together over the years.
For Portman, it was never about publicity, and she is quick to say it was never her alone, such as the dozen members of the Penticton SPCA auxiliary who helped get the flea market set up and worked with her on other fundraising, or the great staff at Pam's Deli back when the likes of Andy Moog or Rick Hansen stopped by and ordered her to cater a dinner.
Her own family has taken after her, with Peterson having volunteered with her when she was younger and then her own kids volunteering alongside their grandmother. Peterson's brother, Gord Portman, is also a local community champion, who came by his community spirit honestly.
"We've had many families come through and stay at our house," said Peterson. "It's not only my little brother that gives back, he got it from my mom. My mom would give you the shirt off her back and never ask for anything in return."
"I've given away more than I've ever made, I'm sure," Portman added. "I love Penticton, and I've loved all the people I dealt with."
The funniest story Portman shared that day?
"I've never been in the new shelter," she said. "We tried to go and it was closed, and I'm okay with that. I don't want kudos, I'm just happy that things are running so well."
