Tribute

Of Salt Spring Island, BC. passed away Monday, January 16, 2023 in her sleep after a long battle with cancer. Radha is survived by her siblings, Karen Fournier (CA), Bill Fournier (TX) and Steven Fournier (OR). In addition, Radha’s adopted daughter AmanDa Bapty and her grandson Benjamin Bapty (SSI). Radha was predeceased in death by her older sister Diana Fournier (1997), her mother Donna Mast Fournier (2006), and her father James Damon Fournier (2019).

Radha grew up in Mt. Angel, Oregon. She graduated from Silverton, Oregon High School in 1979. She attended University of Oregon from 1979-1985 majoring in Music Education and minoring in German. In 1982, she studied a semester abroad in Cologne, Germany. In 1984, she returned again to Germany to study, this time in Tubingen.

Post college, Radha moved to Portland, Oregon. In 1986 she continued her travels spending 6 months in Australia. While there, she worked as a helping hand on a large sail boat. This is where she discovered her love of sailing.

In 1987, she returned to Portland and worked at various jobs: Spaghetti Factory (waitress), Blackwell Book Depository (administrative assistant) from 1988-1993; INTEL (customer support, programmer, data-base manager) from 1993-1998 and again from 2001-2003.

In 1990, Leslie received her certificate to teach sailing. In 1996, she met a student named Jay Fraser, whom she later married. In 1992, Leslie received her associates degree from Portland Community College in Computer Science.

In 1993, Leslie bought and moved onto her houseboat in Scappoose, OR. Radha and Jay sailed their boat “Kestrel” from 1998-2001 all along the west coast starting at Puget Sound and moving south along the coast through Mexico and ultimately to Central America.

Upon Radha’s return, she and Jay returned to Scappoose, Oregon. From 2003-2006 she worked at Oregon Aero.
In 2004, Radha and Jay married and moved to Salt Spring Island, BC (SSI) in 2006.

Once on SSI, Radha worked as a payroll administrator for the SSI school district 64 (from 2006-2016). Even though Radha was retired, she continued working part-time work at the local grocery store (Thrifty’s).

In 2009, she ran the radio station CFSI called “Green FM”. Then she created her own radio program called “Heart of the Islands Satsang”, which ran from 2009-2015. In 2016, she was instrumental in starting a new community radio station “Gulf Islands Radio” (CHIR FM).

Radha suffered from various illnesses over the last 20 years. Despite her troubles, she had a huge heart. Radha was very positive and had a compassionate outlook on life. She always found peace. She was very pragmatic and was direct and clear about her point of view and boundaries.

She adored SSI – loved the people, their friendliness and relaxed nature. And of course, she loved the natural beauty of the island. She found joy in her dogs, going into town for her daily chai at Barbs and going for walks in nature. She loved spending time with her daughter and grandson, they brought laughter and joy to fill up her life.

She was loved by all those who met her and is sorely missed. Her presence was a ray of sunlight that brightened up your day.

A memorial for her will be held at 6pm at saltspring center for yoga on Blackburn road on Sunday January 22ed. Donations would be welcome.