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authority records
White, Hester
Person · 1877-1963

Hester Emily White, the eldest daughter of Judge J. C. Haynes, was born in Osoyoos 25 April 1877. In 1888, on his way home from the coast, Judge Haynes was taken ill and died at the Allison Ranch near Princeton. Mrs. Haynes took the children to Victoria for a period of time and then to England to complete their education. On their return, when Hester was approximately 17 years of age, financial problems necessitated the selling of the ranch and the family moved to White Rock. In 1897 Hester married C. A. Lambly, government agent at Osoyoos. In 1898, the government offices were moved to Fairview. Mr. Lambly died suddenly of pneumonia, and Hester and her two boys, Wilfred, and C.A.R. went to live on the Lambly ranch at Peachland. In 1908 she married Dr. R.B. White, who had recently moved his practice from Fairview to Penticton. Two more sons were born, Bill and Jack. In Penticton, Hester was a charter member of the Women’s Institute, and the IODE, served on the school board, and was a member of the Children’s Aid Society. She aided in establishing a cottage hospital in Penticton and contributed to the success of the Okanagan Historical Society. Hester died in Penticton in 1963.

Kruger (family)
Family · 1829-1939

Theodore Kruger was born in Hanover in 1829, and died in Oliver in 1899. He came from Germany to San Francisco in 1854 and moved to the Fraser River in 1858, where he mined at Boston Bar. When gold was found at Similkameen, Kruger opened a store and stopping place 6 miles south west of Princeton. He then moved on to Cawston, and pre-empted land there with Frank Richter. He soon moved to the old customs cabin in Similkameen and from there was sent to take charge of the Hudson’s Bay trading post in Osoyoos in 1866. He purchased the trading post in 1872 when the HBC closed it. Kruger House became known as the most important stopping place and supply centre on the crossroads of the trails leading to the gold fields of the Kootenay and Cariboo. Mrs. Christanze Kruger was born in Schleswig–Holstein in 1857 and died in Penticton in 1939. She came to Victoria in 1872 and married Theodore Kruger the following year, travelling to the Okanagan by way of the Hope-Princeton trail. She was the only white woman in Osoyoos until Judge Haynes remarried in 1875. After Judge Haynes’ untimely death in 1888, Mr. Kruger became customs officer until his death in 1899.

Beinder, Frank
Person · 1910-1994

Frank Beinder, often referred to as the father of the college system in B.C. was born in Surrey, England on April 24, 1910. As a young man, Beinder worked in a motorcycle factory and attended night courses in engineering and business. Leaving England in 1928 and arriving in the Canadian West, he worked as a farmhand for three years and completed the first year of an Agriculture degree at the University of Manitoba but returned to England in 1930. After WWII, he returned to Canada with his wife and two children. Employed by Cominco in the field of Public Relations, Frank Beinder lived in Roseland, BC. An active member of the British Columbia education community since 1953, Beinder was elected to the Trail School board (School District No. 11) where he served for twenty years, the last five of which he was Chair. During this time, he was elected President of the British Columbia School Trustees Association (B.C.S.T.A.) for two terms, from 1966 to 1978, Chairman of the Education Committee, BC Chamber of Commerce from 1968 to 1972, director of the Education Research Institute of BC from 1969 to 1972 and was a founding member of the Provincial Teacher Qualification Board. Frank Beinder has been particularly identified with British Columbia college education since its earliest days. He was chairman of the Selkirk College Council from 1970 to 1975, a member of a government appointed Community College Task Force and a founder and Executive Director of the British Columbia Association of Colleges. Frank Beinder's career of public service and leadership in education was unique. His particular concern for the potential of community colleges in and for British Columbia prompted Simon Fraser University to confer upon him an honorary doctorate degree in 1984. Shortly afterwards, Beinder published a history of the development of the British Columbia college system entitled "Recollections of a Layman". His efforts were recognized by the province in 1991 when he was presented with the Order of British Columbia. Frank Beinder died in Richmond, BC in 1994.

Corporate body

Trinity United Church has its roots in Wellington and Lantzville Pastoral Charges. After church union, Wellington United Church became a Pastoral Charge in its own right. Between 1929 and 1931, Wellington was affiliated with Cedar. In 1931, the Nanaimo Suburban Pastoral Charge was formed and included Wellington as a preaching point, as well as Lantzville, Brechin, Chase River, Cedar, South Wellington, East Wellington and Extension. By 1952, the yearbook listed only three points: Brechin, Lantzville, and Wellington. In 1959 Brechin built a new church and became a stand alone Pastoral Charge. Lantzville and Wellington joined together and formed their own Pastoral Charge, operating as a joint-charge.

In 1967 there were joint meetings consisting of members from both Wellington and Lantzville and in 1970 they became one congregation with a Council and four committees elected from both groups. Worship services were held in both Lantzville and Wellington, now as two parts of a single congregation. In 1977 the St. Philips U.C. building was sold to the Anglican Church and the congregation integrated fully with the Wellington U.C.

In 1975 plans began for an ecumenical center in between the United Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Wellington U.C. became Trinity United Church and, with Trinity Catholic Church, dedicated the Nanaimo Ecumenical Centre on February 4, 1979.

Card, Charles Ora
Person · 1839-1906

Charles Ora Card was born November 5, 1839, in Ossian Allegany, New York. He and his family moved to Utah in 1856 and eventually settled in Logan, Cache Valley. Charles was an active member in the militia and achieved the rank of major. He and his father, Cyrus, were one of the first settlers to engage in industry by starting two saw mills. Charles became an expert sawyer. In 1886, he and three other men searched British Columbia and Alberta to find a place to start a Mormon colony. They chose a spot by Lee’s Creek, now named Cardston. Charles moved to Canada in 1887, starting another saw mill. After settling in Canada, Charles also oversaw the construction of irrigation ditches, his greatest accomplishment being the construction of the Kimball Lethbridge Canal. He died September 9, 1906. He left thirty-nine journals dating from December 11, 1871 to July 9, 1903 describing his experiences in Canada. During his travels, he met Judge Haynes from Osoyoos.

Flett, Alfred
Person · 1912-1991

John Alfred (Alf) Flett and his wife Agnes Maud Flett were photographers and journalists on Vancouver Island. Alf Flett was a descendant of one of the Cowichan district's first pioneer families; he farmed and logged before becoming a photographer. The Fletts operated their photography business, Flett Studio Ltd., in different locations, including Duncan (at 35 Station Street), Langford and Lantzville. As journalists they were regular contributors to television news for 25 years.
The Fletts moved to Nanaimo in 1960 , where Alf was active in civic affairs and served as an alderman from 1980-1984. He was also a well known ornithologist.
Alf Flett was born in Duncan in 1912 and died in Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria, on March 11, 1991.

Sotvedt, Anne
Person · 1904-2004

Anne Sotvedt (nee Adair) was born March 23, 1904 in Swan River, Manitoba. In 1919, she moved with her family to British Columbia, and in 1922 began her long time career as a teacher at Douglas Road School in Burnaby. In December 1934. Anne met Henry Sotvedt, a young ski jumper from the Norwegian silver mining town of Kongsberg, on Hollyburn Mountain in West Vancouver. They married in 1935, and after living in several places throughout BC they eventually settled in West Vancouver.
The Sotvedts loved skiing and were active members of the Vancouver Ski Club and the Cypress Ski Club. Henry ran a successful ski supply store in Vancouver with Gus Johnson called "Two Skiers" for many years, and was an active ski jumper and ski-jump instructor on both Grouse Mountain and Hollyburn from the 1930s to 1950s. He also competed at the elite level in both Nordic and Alpine events, winning a number of championships throughout North America. Anne temporarily interrupted her teaching career to raise their two sons, eventually retiring from teaching in 1969.

In later years, she and Henry travelled extensively throughout Canada and Europe and indulged their love for skiing, golf, contract bridge, and sharing time with family and friends. After his retirement from active competition, Henry became a technical consultant and spokesman with the Canadian Amateur Ski Association. He was also the first Canadian to be certified by the International Ski Federation as an international judge, coach, and manager of the Canadian team for the 1964 Olympics, as well as the first Canadian to judge in a European championship. Henry Sotvedt died April 21, 1982 at the age of 74. After Henry's passing, Anne continued to travel and was actively involved in the Eastern Star, and West Vancouver Seniors Centre. Anne Sotvedt died April 15, 2004 at the age of 100.

Corporate body · [1925-1928]

The Caulfeild Property Owners and Ratepayers Association was a group of Caulfeild residents engaged in issues of concern to the neighbourhood. They held regular meetings in members' homes and prepared correspondence and petitions to staff and Council of the District of West Vancouver.

Payne, David
Person

David Payne owned a cabin on Hollyburn Mountain in West Vancouver. Around 1937 he joined a provincial policing service involved in mountain rescue in Lynn Valley.

Dundarave Pharmacy
Corporate body · 1925-?

Dundarave Pharmacy was opened ca. 1925 by James Finlayson. From 1937 to 1942, it was owned by pharmacist W.L. Ker, and from 1942 to 1944 by Alex Steven. It was also known informally as Libby's Pharmacy, when owned by Frank Libby after 1959.

Fletcher (family)
Family

John Howard Fletcher was born in 1889 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. When John was five, his father moved the family to Canada where he had bought some land. John's father and the two oldest boys built a six room frame house on the newly purchased land. The house was five miles north of Armstrong, BC. When John was fifteen he left the interior for Vancouver where he worked as a farm hand. In 1904 he found a job as a messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Co. Later, his brother Herbert found John a job as an apprentice with the Mitchel-Courtney Electrical Company.

During Canada's first real depression, John found a job at one of Vancouver's first all motion picture theatres, The Royal. Although he had never run a projector, John quickly learned from watching another projectionist. He then worked at various other theatres until he bought his own projector and started running his own shows. However, it only lasted for three weeks because he ran out of shows. John then returned to Vancouver to his old job. He continued as a projectionist as well as studying at Sprott-Shaw college. When he graduated, he took a job as a secretary for a railway survey company. This entailed a horse-back trip into the interior. He later also surveyed the Alaska-Yukon boundary.

In 1914, war was declared and John headed back to Vancouver to enlist. He was a private, first class, of the 62nd Battalion. After five months of training John headed for Halifax. After just leaving the harbour, the munitions ship blew. John completed more training when he arrived in England. In the field, he worked as a sapper or field engineer.

After the war, John travelled to Jamaica where he was offered the job of drying bananas. After eight months in Jamaica, he contracted jaundice and was told to leave Jamaica.

John then returned to Vancouver and bought a small theatre. June 5th, 1925, John married Amelia (Alma) Eleanor Snider, a cashier at the Paramount Film Exchange. Bert Snider, Alma's father, offered to help pay to build a new theatre for the young couple. The theatre became the Hollyburn Theatre in West Vancouver which opened in June, 1926. John and Alma by then had seven children. They resided at 2283 Haywood Ave.

During WWII, John became ill and sold the theatre and took a job as a projectionist at the Lonsdale theatre. After recovering from his illness, John bought the old Music Box theatre at the corner of Fraser and Kingsway and changed its name to Kingcrest.

In the 1950s, John bought a lot in North Vancouver and began building another theatre. However, during this time, television became popular and theatre attendance dropped. The Kingcrest subsequently closed and John sold the unfinished theatre.

John served as Reeve of West Vancouver from 1951-1952 and Councillor in 1946 and 1948. He was also involved in the West Vancouver Chess Club. He was the first president of the BC branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada.

John Howard Fletcher passed away February 20, 1983 in West Vancouver at the age of 93. His wife, Alma, passed away August 30, 1982 in North Vancouver.

John and Alma's children were Gordon Joy Fletcher, Doreen Eleanor Fletcher, Roy Howard Fletcher, Mavis Alma Fletcher, John Albert Fletcher, Hazel Grace Fletcher (b. October 21, 1932, d. May 2, 2003), and Gloria Mae Fletcher.

Gilbert, Freda, b. 1907
Person · 1907-

Freda Herrin Gilbert was born in 1907. She lived in West Vancouver, but matriculated from North Vancouver High School in 1924 as there were no matriculation high schools in West Vancouver at that time. In 1929, she obtained her certificate for a Primary Grade Teacher's course at summer school. She taught at Hollyburn School as early as 1925 until her marriage in 1933, which led to a move to Calgary. Upon her return to West Vancouver, she began teaching at Ridgeview Elementary School where her brother-in-law Harry Dickson was principal.

Spratley, Louise
Person · 1910-1993

Louise Spratley was born on June 24, 1910 in Vernon, BC and moved with her family to West Vancouver in the mid 1920s when she was a teenager. She began her career as an accountant but after marriage to Richard Leonard Spratley she turned to full-time motherhood.

In 1955, Spratley began to write a garden column for the Lions Gate Times and shortly thereafter also became the accountant for the newspaper. In 1959, she became editor of the paper, replacing editor Claude Hoodspith. Under her editorialship both Spratley and the Lions Gate Times won awards in 1965 and 1966. She left the Lions Gate Times in February 1967 to become editor of the BC Hotelman for one year.

From 1968 to 1974 Spratley was Special Assistant to BC Federal cabinet Minister, the Hon. Jack Davis. During this period she was highly involved in environmental issues, including the Capilano Hatchery, and Environment Canada's "Interdepartmental Task Force on National Marine Parks" in regards to the Straits of Georgia and Juan De Fuca.

Spratley's retirement years were busy with contract work, especially for the District of West Vancouver. She worked on the West Vancouver Community Plan in 1980 and was editor of the West Vancouver Municipal News (subsequently the West Vancouver Report), a newspaper that she founded. Spratley regarded 1992 as the year she truly retired. She died on April 26, 1993.

Corporate body · 1946-1985
 The West Vancouver Little Theatre Guild was an amateur theatre group that produced plays and presentations in the community. Prior to 1946, the group was called the West Vancouver Little Theatre Group but it did not make an impact until Ernest Laws, a prominent London actor was asked to participate. The guild was officially formed in 1946. By its second year, membership had flourished from 20 to 106, although the guild never managed to have its own facility to stage plays.

In its first season, the guild produced four plays, To Have the Honour, Distinguished Gathering, Personal Appearance, Yes and No, and scenes from Alice in Wonderland. The guild averaged four plays a year and members participated in the One Act Play Festival and the Dominion Drama Festival for which they received numerous awards. The guild also held actors workshops and studio nights. The group was renamed West Van Little Theatre in 1985, and more recently became Theatre West Van.

Gale, William
Person · 1906-1987

William Esteen Gale was born in 1906, one of two sons of Hannah Rolinson (nicknamed Annie) and engineer William John Gale who were married in England in 1901. Emigrating to Canada to join other family members, the Gales and their two young sons arrived in Calgary in 1912 where Annie Gale became active in local social causes. At a time when there were no women in government across Canada, Annie Gale won a seat in the 1917 Calgary Civic Election and became the first woman alderman in the British Commonwealth Empire. She also served as Acting Mayor on occasion – another first for a woman. She retired from civic life in 1923, and in 1925 moved to Vancouver with her husband and two sons Henry and William.

In 1936, William Gale embarked upon a career in the mortgage loan industry, working for the Northwest Mortgage Company, Ltd. as an inspector. His duties included soliciting loans, writing plans and appraisals, taking photos and doing surveys. By 1939, Mr. Gale was working for the Vancouver Mortgage Corporation Ltd., securing applications for mortgage loans, and in 1947, he was appointed as manager of the Mortgage Department of Gordon M. Thompson Ltd. He launched his own company, the W.E. Gale Mortgage Company Ltd in 1954 and his offices were located in the penthouse suite in the Vancouver Stock Exchange Building.

Gale was very proactive in seeking investment capital and he compiled two books (1944, 1950) designed to interest potential clients in Vancouver and West Vancouver. The books contained general and residential information about each area and included photographs, street scenes, and statistics on construction growth, marriages and mortgage registrations. During his lifetime William Gale also collected First Nations artifacts, rare books, and paintings. William Esteen Gale died in Vancouver in February 1987, at the age of 81.

Lettice, Katherine
Person

Katherine Lettice was a teacher in the 1910s at Manson's Landing School on Cortes Island. She took photographs of the school.

Corporate body · 1946-

The Rotary Club of Campbell River (club 6224), sponsored by the Rotary Club of Courtenay was chartered on April 10, 1946. A celebration of this event was held at the community hall in Campbellton. When established Dr. Ken Craig was the first president and other board members included: F.E. McCarthy (treasurer), Carl O Thulin, Oscar Thulin, A.G. McLean, K.W. Brown, J.H. Burgess.

Although the club charter night was April 10, several (weekly) meetings of the new club took place before then. The first meeting was held on March 13, 1946. The club immediately became involved in community activities and one of their earliest community projects was supporting the construction of a new hall for the Boy Scout's.

Over the years the club has been a part of a number of significant community activities and undertaken a number of community projects. Some of those significant projects include involvement in the building of the community halls, the Centennial Outdoor Pool and ice arena, the Rotary Beach Park and Seawalk and the Cari Infant and Toddler Centre.

Additionally the Rotary Club of Campbell River sponsored the chartering of several new rotary clubs in the area including Port Hardy, Sayward, Gold River and the Campbell River Daybreak Rotary. The Rotary Club of Campbell River continues to have an active role in the community.

Rand, Paul
Person · 1896-1970

Paul Rand (Otto Schellenberger prior to May 12, 1941) was born 1896 and died in 1970. He was born in Bonn, Germany where he attended public school. He next studied for a year in art school at Frankfurt-on-Main. He came to Canada in 1912 and settled on the prairies. He travelled and sketched across Canada for two years (1912-1914) then for the next thirteen years he did not paint. In 1927 he moved to Vancouver, B.C. where he attended night classes for eight years at the Vancouver School of Art under W.P. Weston, J.W.G. Macdonald (design) and F.H. Varley (life drawing). In 1930 he became a naturalized British Subject. By 1932 he was exhibiting at the Vancouver Art Gallery Association Annual Exhibitions and in 1933 became a member of the B.C. Society of Artists (Vice-Pres., Pres., Exec.). In June of 1934 he started work as a commercial artist and for the next seventeen years was Art Director for the Sun Printing Company while continuing with his easel painting on his free time. In 1956 he became Art Director for the Evergreen Press Limited in Vancouver where he continued until his retirement in 1965. In his painting he became known for his landscapes of British Columbia which he painted in water colours, oils and tempera in impressionistic and decorative realistic styles. He received a number of awards for his painting including a bronze medal for outstanding water colour in 1937 at the Vancouver Art Gallery Exhibition; his work was selected for the Royal Canadian Academy travelling exhibition of 1942 and 1944. He was also included in the Southern Dominion Exhibition of 1936 under the Carnegie Foundation which show travelled for three years appearing in the United States, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands and across Canada. He was art instructor at the Polytechnic Institute of Vancouver, 1937-1938; night classes for the Armed Forces sponsored by the Canadian Legion (1944-1945). He did illustrations for a history of England text published by W.J. Gage & Co. (1937) and in 1942 he did cover illustrations for the Vancouver Sun Magazine. His commercial awards include: Gilcrafter Honour Award from Gilbert Paper Company for best letterhead (1944); Top Honour in The Bruce McAllister Memorial Award Competition "Industrial British Columbia" (1946). His solo shows include Y.M.C.A. Building, Vancouver, B.C.; posthumously in 1972 by James Warren Felter, Curator/Director of Exhibition Centre for Communications and the Arts, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby; and by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1980. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Helena. He lived in Vancouver.