Sophie King

Folk Art Gallery

Sophie’s Extended History

Sophie Purser was born on June 15, 1880, on Stowell Lake, Salt Spring Island, by Annie Kollestomet of Cowichan, and Englishman George Purser.

Sophie was the second last child of 8 (including one half-brother), and was born into a struggling family. Her father was bedridden with a sickness that left him fully paralyzed, leaving his wife to provide for the family single-handedly. Annie Purser would go to Victoria to find work, bringing baby Sophie along.

When Sophie was 3 years old, her father died by suicide. Her mother had already left him. Sophie’s half-brother George Fisher intervened on Sophie’s behalf, taking her to the Sisters of St. Ann Convent in Duncan as an “orphan”. He traded physical labour for her acceptance into the convent, and she was raised there until 17 years old.

Sophie recalls her time at the convent being very good. This is largely due to her upbringing with the wealthier English/Irish girls who were “day-scholars”, the alternative of being placed with the indigenous students could have resulted in a very different experience. She left the convent at age 17, though she never wanted to leave. After working in Victoria, Seattle, and Tacoma for a number of years, she was brought back to Salt Spring by her half-brother and married Leon King, son of the Greek settler Joseph King. Sophie and Leon made a good match, and built a successful life together. She helped him build their home, and together they built at least 60 small launches and clinker boats in their later years. They had six children: Hazel, Zephira “Vera”, Kenneth, Bernard, Evelyn, Clarence Leon “Lee”.

It was after Sophie’s retirement, when the children had left and Leon had passed away, that she had the time to dive into her artistic skills. She created her Driftwood Museum: signature driftwood animal sculptures that drew hundreds of tourists and many journalists to her home. She sold the full collection to Bob Akerman to be put in his South End Museum. Sophie died at age 95, in 1975. Though she embodied proper and reserved demeanour, her free spirit is evident by her passion to learn new things and excel in them, even in her final decades. By all personal reflections, she was a soft-spoken woman, with confidence, grace, and an unwavering determination to find happiness in life.

References

Barman, Jean. Maria Mahoi of the Islands. Vancouver, BC: New Star Books, 2017.

Guiled, Brenda. Ruckles World: A History of South-East Salt Spring Island. Salt Spring Island, BC: Kimae Books, 2015.

Barman, Jean. ‘Sex and Violence in the BC Archives: Adventures in Historical Detection’. Vancouver, BC: BC Historical News Vol.34, No.1, Winter 2000-2001.

The King Family Collection