Most people know her as the candid and upbeat executive director of South Fraser Women’s Services Society.

Under her leadership of two years now, the society has seen its programs expand, a satellite location start in Cloverdale, its 38-year-old South Surrey house renovated, and several thousand women, both old friends and new, come through its doors.

But behind the curly, brown hair, bright clothes, and large smile, there’s still a lot to learn about Denise Darrell.

At 13, she and her family – an English mother, Jamaican father and four siblings – moved from her homeland in England to Canada.

“I was teased,” she recalls of her time in Calgary public school. “I tried to fix my accent. I focused on that. I had to learn to write Canadian style, all the Rs linked together.”

With a rocky childhood - “I didn’t grow up in a wonderful home” – she left at a young age but managed to finish school. Then, years down the road, near the time of 1988 Winter Olympics, she vacationed in White Rock and “fell in love” with the city.

“I thought, I’m just gonna sell my house,’” she says, “and I did.

“I have to be close to the water. I’m at peace here.”

Darrell began volunteering with the South Fraser Women’s Services Society’s lesbian support group.

She says she’s always known she is gay. It’s made her somewhat of a black sheep in her family.

“I don’t like that being my identity. It’s not like I’m Denise the Lesbian. It’s Denise.”

Darrell and her partner have been together for 14 years. They met at the society, and have nine grandchildren from previous relationships.

She says her work with the society means so much more to her than her previous career in finance and retail.

“I felt something was really missing. I was just making money for other people,” she says.

Now, the staff eats lunch together every day, and she even misses them when she goes on holiday.

“There’s not one day that I’ve come to work that I’ve hated it.”

But Darrell’s passion for women’s and homeless services has also landed her in trouble.

In March 2004, she and four other activists met with Ida Chong, B.C.’s then-minister for women’s and senior’s services, to discuss funding cuts.

Chong cut their meeting short for another event, she says, but the group wanted to wait. When they wouldn’t leave, police arrested them for assault by trespass. She was banned from the legislature for two years.

Now, at age 50, Darrell sits back in her yellow-painted office, with a portrait of a compassionate Tibetan girl above her desk, and thinks about her next personal plan.

“I love politics,” she says.

After the 2010 Olympics, she says she might run for the province’s NDP party and tackle affordable housing.

“Or I might just retire,” she says.

But, whatever her next path is, it won’t be just sitting back and relaxing. Travelling to Africa to work with women and children with AIDS is another option she’s considering.

“I’m project-driven,” she says. “My biggest fear is getting bored.”

- by Laura Baziuk

lbaziuk@peacearchnews.com