It is with crushing grief and sorrow that we mourn the sudden passing of our beautiful daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend – Sydney Morgan Bednarik. Forever in our hearts. Thank you for your words and prayers.
As most of you know, Sydney has spent her whole life helping others. Sydney had just graduated from UBCO completing her honours degree in psychology with a specialization in forensic psychology.
In honour of Sydney’s hard work, let’s carry on her legacy.
Please consider making a donation in Sydney’s name to allow youth struggling with mental illness to get the immediate care they so desperately need.
April 20th, 1994 – May 3rd, 2017. Forever 23.
Sydney Morgan Bednarik was born in Victoria, BC to Denise and Scott and welcomed by big brother Corbin on April 20, 1994.
She was always ready for an adventure and loved to explore. No matter what she tried, Sydney always did her best at it, from school, to sports, to life. She loved to travel and looked for any opportunity to visit a new country.
Sydney graduated high school from Queen Margaret School in Duncan, BC.
She graduated from the University of British Columbia Okanagan with an honours degree in Psychology with a specialization in forensics.
Sydney passed away on May 3, 2017 and will be forever remembered by countless family and friends.
As Sydney grew, she loved to be outdoors. One of her favourite things to collect was roly poly’s, or woodbugs. The kind of insect that scurries around and then rolls up into a little ball whenever you touched them. She would fill her pockets with them and then forget about them. If Denise didn’t think to empty her pockets, the house would be full of them.
She also loved the water- So much so that Scott put a fiberglass coating on the deck and they would just flood the deck and have a giant pool. Corbin remembers a summer where Sydney never really took off her swimsuit. The sprinkler and deck pool also served as a bit of an outdoor shower, as Sydney would usually be dirty from head to toe from digging in the dirt and mud.
Sydney loved all animals- and grew up with a variety of critters including a mouse, cockatiel, 2 dogs, hamster, her brothers lizards, and 4 cats. On her last visit home in April 2017 she had the chance to meet Olive- Denise’s Mexican Chihuaua Italian Greyhound cross. Olive took to Sydney as all animals do. Although she would have loved a pet, she was responsible enough not to have one, and was so happy when the BARK program started at the University where therapy dogs would come to the campus and anyone that wanted to hang out could.
She attended elementary school at Savory and Happy Valley in Colwood and Alex Aikens in Duncan. Junior high was at Quamichan Secondary then high school at Queen Margaret School, also in Duncan. Transitioning from one school to another is never easy, especially when you’re a teenager, and for a time, Sydney lost sight of the reason she was attending QMS- for their high academic standards. She took every chance she could get to let her mom know how unhappy she was. In typical Sydney fashion, it was not screaming and stomping. No, she wrote hate messages in tiny letters on the bananas. Although she hated the uniforms and would change as soon as she got in the car- she grew to love Queen Margaret School and the people within its walls. The girls she met there became close friends and many are still her close friends to this day.
On completion of grade 12 she went to Costa Rica to live with Tia Leah, Tio Beto and primos Tanner and Leandra Montes. We spent many a day hiking, swimming, biking and generally just being beach bums. One crazy day, when the kids were in school and I was subbing at a nearby school, Tio Beto and Sydney decided to ride to Las Catalinas. A nearby beach town. They set off on their bikes after getting directions having never gone there before. Unbeknownst to me, their short trip turned into a “Oh Lord, what have we done, are we going to survive this?” trip. The road was not paved, and people failed to mention the hills- the kind of hills that you could barely even push your bike up, and then at the top prayed for your life before going down. In fact, I think they walked their bikes down a couple of them as well. The bikes- one mountain bike- bought at a grocery store and the other a cruiser (in Spanish we them banana bikes) with no gears- got passed back and forth between them taking turns. It took them so long, that after arriving at the beach, writing their names in the sand and taking a picture- they had to head for home again. Sydney didn’t like riding bikes so much after that.
After learning Spanish she set out on her own to travel the rest of Central America, going through Panama, Columbia and Ecuador. Sydney met many people on her travels, many of whom she kept in touch with even after coming home. Sydney’s friendly and easy going manner made her an ideal traveling companion and she easily found people to travel with and share many adventures. Again, indicative of her always giving of herself, she cut her trip short to come home and be with her mom. Denise was going through some tough times herself and Sydney didn’t want her to be alone. So, she returned home to live in a barn. That sounds worse than it really was. It was a loft apartment in a barn where she and Denise shared a space with no bedroom, little furniture other than a couch and a king size bed where they slept. Luckily neither one snored. She spent the summer working and getting ready to begin her studies at UBC Okanagan in Kelowna.
During high school and summers while she attended University she held a number of jobs including working at Superstore, M&M Food Market, Costco, BC Parks, and the UBC Housing Office. Notice that all of those jobs were working with people. She loved helping others and always always had a smile on her face, even when people were being difficult.
As a little girl Sydney learned to swim, skate, ride horses. She learned to ride a bike at an early age- one summer while I was visiting. We would go to a parking lot of a nearby hiking trail where she would ride around and around the circle singing her favourite song. I think chanting is a better description. “Stop right there, thank you very much, I need somebody with a human touch”. It wasn’t until I returned home that I heard the wildly popular Spice Girl song playing on the radio that I realized it actually was a song she was singing.
She tried her hand at gymnastics and softball but found her niche playing soccer. She was an avid soccer player and rain or shine she was on the field. She played field hockey and basketball in high school and participated in many extra-curricular activities. She received many awards for her accomplishments including Senior Athlete of the Year in grade 12.
Along with sports- she loved filming and media and helped both QMS and UBCO with many productions, and videos. She was instrumental in organizing 2 different TedTalks events at UBCO. Sydney was always taking pictures and loved to set up crazy poses, and faces. When Snapchat appeared on the scene- I think it was taylor made for her. She took thousands of pictures- as evidence on her computer shows. Upwards of 16 000 pictures are there. And her phone…that’s a whole other ball game.
Denise was happy to have Sydney in Kelowna- she had a place to stay and a designated driver when it was wine tasting season.
Sydney spent her first year at UBC living in the dorms before moving into a basement suite with a friend. The suite in Lake Country proved to be a little too far from the action at school so they moved into a basement suite in Rutland. They lived there for 2 more years and the proximity to the University, as well as the almost inheritance of a car from Taunya allowed her to be involved in pretty much everything. In fact, she was so involved that we neither have the time nor knowledge of everything she took part in. I will leave her University accomplishments to other people to talk about.
Her passing leaves a very large hole in the lives of a great many people. She always had time to listen to the concerns of others and never forgot her friends and family.
We wish that Sydney could have seen the beauty in herself that we all saw in her.
– Written by Tia Leah
Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or might or pain can reach you.
Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of colour.
The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.
…May you continue to inspire us:
To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again.
On the Death of the Beloved, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, John O’Donohue
Thank you to everyone who donated and helped us raise and donate over $5700 in Sydney’s name to the opening of Foundry Kelowna in 2017.
Sydney’s legacy lives on as a plaque in the Kelowna General Hospital:
We look forward to growing awareness and continuing Sydney’s legacy through the
Sydney Bednarik Mental Health Foundation.
Sydney, you will forever be missed. Thank you for being a part of our lives.
Sydney Bednarik Mental Health Foundation 