Salt Spring Island Archives

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Audio

Bill Scoones

interviewed by Ruth Sandwell, 2004

Accession Number
Date 2004
Media digital recording Audio mp3 √
duration 55 min.

382_Bill-Scoones_Ruth-Sandwell_WW2_photos_2004.mp3

otter.ai

17.02.2024

no

Outline

    Family, war experiences, and boat travel in the 1930s-40s.
  • Speaker 1 describes their experiences in World War II, including serving on escort ships in the Mid Atlantic and collecting Japanese fishing boats.
  • Speaker 1 recounts experiences in the Royal Canadian Navy during the war, including sinking a submarine and damaging their own ship.
  • Speaker 1 reflects on the significance of a dip in a dark garden for young people in Canada.
  • Speaker 1 recounts family boat trips in the 1930s, including picnics and transportation to Vancouver.
    Family history and genealogy.
  • Speakers reminisce about childhood friends and family members, sharing personal stories and memories.
  • Speaker 1 discusses their childhood home in Suffolk, England, and mentions a famous artist who lived there.
  • The speaker's mother was afraid the kids would drown at Marianna and moved back to England.
  • Galliano's age is revealed to be 10 years older than previously thought.
    Family history, war experiences, and old photos.
  • Speaker 1 reminisces about a steamship and a Royal Navy cruiser from the past.
  • Speaker 1 discusses World War I and II losses in the Dardanelles, sharing personal experiences and historical context.
  • Speaker 1 discusses family vacation in southern France, with possible photo taken by father.
  • Speaker 1 recounts a story about a woman named Jesse who worked at a resort on an island and was possibly involved with Thorny Bellhouse.
    Family, school, and community involvement in the 1930s.
  • Unknown speaker reminisces about childhood photos of their mother and sister, Marianne.
  • In 1930s, 21-year-old Louise worked at Haven resort with Speaker 1, who reminisces about her.
  • Mother was a hardworking and talented community member who kept the books for the Galliano Light and Power Company.
    Naval service, family, and war experiences.
  • Mrs. Smith was a dedicated school teacher and Navy veteran who was involved in her community and had a fear of boats.
  • The speaker describes their experiences serving in the Navy during World War II, including traveling through the Panama Canal and visiting Mexico.
  • Unknown speaker recalls family history during WWII, including evacuees and relatives.
    Family history and childhood memories.
  • Uncle George's daughter Diane Snow was born in 1876.
  • Speaker 1 shares stories about their grandmother, Marion Berry, and the differences between families then and now.
  • Speakers reminisce about their experiences in Salt Spring Island and Ganges, BC.
  • Speakers reminisce about childhood memories of water and near-drowning experiences.

Unknown Speaker 0:10
Okay, so now that's greenways. Now the galley on a lot, right, and that's the whole family.

Unknown Speaker 0:17
Can you tell me who's who?

Unknown Speaker 0:19
That's Mary?

Unknown Speaker 0:20
That in the middle? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 0:22
My father behind my mother. Right here. I'm over on the side. There. My little sister is known here, Margie. And Jim is up at the back and John and Betty Lizabeth.

Unknown Speaker 0:44
And when was this?

Unknown Speaker 0:45
Um Well, the family was at the launch 37 to 44, I guess. And that would have been probably 38, maybe 39. No 38 Or no 40 Probably because I joined the Navy and 41 and I'm a no more pictures for many years after

Unknown Speaker 1:27
that pretty young to be a year away from joining the Navy.

Unknown Speaker 1:31
I was 17 when I joined. I served four years active service in World War Two. And when I came home after the victory in Europe, I was 21 It's an amazing

Unknown Speaker 1:56
Where did you go in Europe?

Unknown Speaker 2:00
Well, mostly on the Mid Atlantic escort and some, some stuff over over around England. And also, one of the first things I did the day after I graduated as a ordinary seaman. I was shipped up to up the coast to collect a whole bunch of Japanese fishing boats, which were taken over at that point, which is a really tough job because I'd been to school with Japanese kids, they were my friends, you know. And I, my option was either to go or to get shot for being a spy or something. It was really grim. And it's still for the Japanese, it's still I think a terrible thing to for them to have happen to them. A lot of them were well, they were mostly Canadian citizens. Some of them were War One veterans and the Canadian Forces. So that was sad. That was I was really sad. But that's life, you know, especially in the armed forces in the in the Royal Canadian Navy as it was. Anyway. But I had some fun in those days and I enjoyed being in in, in Ireland and Scotland. I knew Londonderry and Belfast very well back in those days. And the tension there between the the northern and southern Irish was pretty vivid. Because they were neutral. So the South was neutral. North was British, you know? Which says still trying to settle. And I think of Londonderry and I think of the buildings and the river and people know they're interesting place and we we actually sank a submarine off the off the Northern Ireland. I shipped it to New Glasgow. And we were badly damaged and went into got the hull patched up and went all around the north of Scotland and into into the Firth of Forth into it dark out there. And that's where we were where the war ended. And it was funny everybody was just roaring and raving and cheering and all the rest of it and I till I was a petty officer then I I told all the guys, go and have your fun. I'm going to stay here and I sat by myself for this dip in the dark garden the thought about it thank God I was still there it's very it was really a very very significant part in so many young lives in Canada

Unknown Speaker 5:21
like then I came home

Unknown Speaker 5:32
and the whole front was pretty mild after that people didn't you know, it was very little understanding of what the troops went through during the war which I think is always true you know, we think of peacekeepers in a terrible times they're having nobody seems to worry about it really are our general who was the only sort of Hero of the where was it where were they Bosnia

Unknown Speaker 6:14
so anyway, what else are the other because I could go on and on but no, any more pictures?

Unknown Speaker 6:25
Yes. Any more? Okay. Okay

Unknown Speaker 6:35
I think it is hard, you know, for people my age we've never had to deal with war so it's very difficult if you only read about it and sometimes get a chance to talk to people who experienced it but people really don't people really don't know next one

Unknown Speaker 7:00
this is the screens girls on me too.

Unknown Speaker 7:03
Oh, yes.

Unknown Speaker 7:06
The next picture

Unknown Speaker 7:09
yeah

Unknown Speaker 7:14
I don't remember where that was. Actually. It's hard to get the I remember when the picture was taken. I was probably steering the boat

Unknown Speaker 7:27
so which which one is which here?

Unknown Speaker 7:28
Well, Mary's in the middle and berries on this side. Marquis on that side.

Unknown Speaker 7:32
On the right. Yeah. What was me too is that your family boat back

Unknown Speaker 7:38
in those days? Well, most people have boats they were sort of the main means of transportation. We used to go on techniques we used to father had the he used to take rent that you know take people in the boat and the big occasions where the Labor Day weekend when the Marguerite or the Kathleen would stop off prvo island off port logpoint People from the all the islands would come out and boats need to pull up alongside the after freight door and climb aboard and be taken to Vancouver and we the IBO was the high had the highest cabin to yours used to sort of go alongside first and get bashed in. Because the skipper whenever you were they stopped they always seem to put the boat the ship would be hardly moving. And the skipper would put the propellers in reverse and push you out away from the ship because he couldn't see where we were

Unknown Speaker 8:53
Who do you think took this picture?

Unknown Speaker 8:54
I have no idea I have no recollection of of being taken.

Unknown Speaker 9:03
And what What year do you think this is about?

Unknown Speaker 9:14
30 Something late 30s I would guess late 30s. We were living on Saltspring I'm sure at that time on this was a trip where the family probably coming over here to galley or Alexa, my mother used to do great picnics. She used to have cold fried chicken you know I was always amazed that she did so well with the food because we were quite poor in those days, you know. We scraped along but those were our kids. Asians

Unknown Speaker 10:10
okay

Unknown Speaker 10:12
let's go on to the next one

Unknown Speaker 10:23
okay this is the school's girls on shipmate

Unknown Speaker 10:34
yeah that belong to some friends they were they were oh what was it they were fishermen fishing people and they used to tie up but sturdy is Bay and one of the sons had that sailboat I forgotten his name but he drowned off the river subsequently a lot of fishing Fisher people were drowned it's not funny his name's gone. Not fun

Unknown Speaker 11:17
Mrs. Is this Mary, Betty and marketing?

Unknown Speaker 11:23
I can't get that a clear of them. No, I think I think this is Betty. And this is Margie.

Unknown Speaker 11:32
Edie on the right. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. Anything you want to say more about this one?

Unknown Speaker 11:43
Not really, I forgotten just I guess we were at the green rates and large at that point. We were living there so that would have been I don't know. Gonna tell you

Unknown Speaker 12:04
they look, I'd say a marquee and you know Mark, it looks about 17 or so. And when so when we're when was everyone born?

Unknown Speaker 12:18
We were born between

Unknown Speaker 12:25
1930 and 1937 3839. My parents had six children and eight your first eight years of their marriage is eight

Unknown Speaker 12:48
two of us were born in England. I was born in England. So as my sister Margie

Unknown Speaker 12:54
wasn't someone born in the south of France to no no, no.

Unknown Speaker 13:00
No. The family moved to the south of France when I was six weeks old, and I didn't do very well in the south of France and mother took me back up to her parents place in New Castle and my father followed later with my two sisters and I was born in Suffolk I was born in a famous famous house and I can't think of the name of it. I have a picture of it somewhere

Unknown Speaker 13:47
that belong to or belongs to a famous artist now and I think it was probably started out as a cottage and it had a pond I know that but I don't remember you don't want to leave somewhere had six people

Unknown Speaker 14:12
I guess you have no idea who would have taken that photograph? Do you know okay

Unknown Speaker 14:25
Okay this one's this is this skin sketch in black and white. Sideways

Unknown Speaker 14:39
I have the original of that. Oh, you do? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 14:45
It's gonna turn. So who did that drawing?

Unknown Speaker 14:49
Missing people Moyer. Mrs. Moyer. What's it What's your first name clatters As a lawyer, she she and her husband lived down it at our beautiful point. And I remember them vaguely. But they were they were strange. They were strange couple, they didn't like people. And they moved the atom got to, to too many people on the island and they moved off over to Vancouver island somewhere. That's right. And this is my parents wheeling my sisters. They were living at Maryann point that was on the road just before he got to Burroughs.

Unknown Speaker 15:51
And oh, many years ago now, my wife and I bought her bought a house in Sydney in fifth three. And our next door neighbor was Mrs. Meyer, who was then a widow. And she was getting to be quite a great age, but she gardened all the tide. She She hadn't been in this place very long when we we moved next door and she tore up all the lawns and made rockeries. And it was really beautiful. And I, I would chat with her across the fence and we're working in the garden. And she produced this sketch, and said, here's something that might see that come on, and I've got something for you. And she gave me this and I said, I'd like you to sign it. So she signed it

Unknown Speaker 16:46
that's a long time ago that would have been well, baby stroller, whatever you call them. You see how modern they were back in those days. But my mother refused to live at Marianna no longer because she was afraid that the kids are going to fall into the past and drown you know. And that's when they went back to England.

Unknown Speaker 17:17
So this would have been done in the early 30s. This little sketch

Unknown Speaker 17:20
that would have been through 32. Probably

Unknown Speaker 17:34
Galliano has been attracting reclusive for a long time. Well,

Unknown Speaker 17:37
that would have been thrilled with me see now when they were married in 1920. Yeah, they were married in 1920. So that would have been 2323. Gotta get these dates right.

Unknown Speaker 17:59
10 years older than I thought.

Unknown Speaker 18:05
And I never I don't Well, I wasn't born at that point. I was because I was born and 24.

Unknown Speaker 18:21
Anything more about this

Unknown Speaker 18:33
actually, Mrs. Moyer had a lot more pictures, which I tried to require when she died relative from the East came out to sort of clear up her things. He wasn't the slightest bit interested in anybody having anything of her and whoever she was with lots of pictures of the island. She had one picture which I remember because I look at the two trees down and our view is white there was a path that came down across the end of the garden, up the bank and to a gate going on to burrow road. And the picture she had had two maple trees which were about seven feet tall at that point. And now they're huge. They still there, and their bank is all eroded away underneath them. One of these days they'll fall into a bay that's how things change.

Unknown Speaker 19:40
This is just in color. Same sketch.

Unknown Speaker 19:56
It says shipmate 1948.

Unknown Speaker 20:01
yeah that's that's the that's the ship oh what setting did John know? Or did you show them

Unknown Speaker 20:13
they can ask

Unknown Speaker 20:17
more you might know but I'm not sure I have a terrible memory I really do I'll probably remember the name of the sometime that happens to me I go shopping you know and I don't have a list and I think are two things I was going to get what was the other one? When I get home and I remember

Unknown Speaker 20:40
exactly everything okay, but this was the this was the boat that belong to the fishing family.

Unknown Speaker 20:46
Yes. Friend of your family. Yeah. They were they were they were sort of friends in a way you know, they were people we knew and we sort of visit them down on the wharf and you know, had fun with them. And I don't remember ever sailing on her

Unknown Speaker 21:23
okay, this is a steamship

Unknown Speaker 21:30
that's a Royal Navy cruiser. And that picture was taken when she was out here

Unknown Speaker 21:45
I think it was tape taking the Navy channel in any way it was some royal tour some some some occasion. In terms of their royal family, I'm pretty sure

Unknown Speaker 21:59
39

Unknown Speaker 22:01
No, that's a lot. No, no, no, no, that that's a lot a lot earlier than 39 You just have to look at the hull to know that it's very old. An old Dreadnought but that's all I know about it.

Unknown Speaker 22:27
And I don't know whether I ever saw it but I have sort of recollection of that. I've seen it but I'm not sure that it's true

Unknown Speaker 22:39
what kind of what kind of boats were you won in the war?

Unknown Speaker 22:44
frigates they're small 100 170 These ships carried about seven or 800 crew you know they were they were well, actually, I'm reading I'm reading a book about the the Dardanelles in in World War Two. And the fighting that went on there and of course, the Dardanelles were the center of war time activity in the World War One and they were they were massive losses of the British the allies in World War One because the Turks you know, the channel that goes up into the Black Sea is so narrow and well defended that they tried to get in there and just couldn't get in there and they lost. And they did or World War Two, but it's not nearly as well known as World War Two the World War One Dardanelle catastrophe. And life they finally gave up, left, but my father who was in the Royal Engineers in Britain, was sheduled to go down to the Dardanelles just before they packed it all in but they lost 1000s of people terrible times you know terrible times. Not last night our placid little Galleon.

Unknown Speaker 24:38
And I don't know who I don't know where that picture came from.

Unknown Speaker 24:46
Okay,

Unknown Speaker 25:02
Two spoons girls. Two cubes good scripts. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 25:06
that's Mary and Betty, Betty. Mary.

Unknown Speaker 25:11
Betty on the right this looks like it's is this could this be in France?

Unknown Speaker 25:19
It could be but yeah probably is maybe it looks kind of yeah yeah the beach at the level knew where the lab on do the south France

Unknown Speaker 25:46
so how long was your family there in southern France

Unknown Speaker 25:56
not very long and I can't tell you how long but because my, my dad and my two older sisters were there longer than my mother and I but probably not even a year, maybe maybe a few months. There was I don't know how long I was there, either.

Unknown Speaker 26:25
Do you think that probably one of your parents took this picture

Unknown Speaker 26:28
could be my dad took quite a lot of pictures. I've got some great pictures that he's taken pictures of him with his camera in his hand and

Unknown Speaker 26:42
most mostly in his sort of early years before he was married and he was sort of while he was working in Brazil, and he used to get three months holiday and he'd come home and they'd go to Switzerland and they do all kinds of fun things. Ski sled sled and stuff. I have some great pictures of my aunt and other relatives and friends playing ice hockey rink in Switzerland and this would be before the for the First World War known for their second world war. playing hockey in their long skirts and their big hats with with ordinary hockey sticks like grass hockey sticks

Unknown Speaker 27:56
last one this is a woman in a flowered dress

Unknown Speaker 28:07
can I get closer?

Unknown Speaker 28:19
Know where that is? Now.

Unknown Speaker 28:31
It could be Marty bellhouse. But I don't know. I don't know. I've never seen it whether it come from Betty somebody yeah that's my impression that it's Marty bale house. And there's a story there because Marty bellhouse was I don't know much about it. But anyway, she was a friend of thorny, thorny bellhouse who was Jesse's husband and I think she probably like many of the young ladies in those days and still do came to the out to work at the resorts and that sort of thing. But I'm not sure about that. But anyway, the thorny was sort of figuring that she was his girl. She married his father

Unknown Speaker 29:35
by remember, I mean she married a guy by the name of Fisher they lived on the island for a while Captain Fisher

Unknown Speaker 29:47
thought he married Jesse. Jesse Do you know her maiden name? Jesse. Well, how's it going? In

Unknown Speaker 30:04
a well known Victoria family sort of I know the place the house they lived in and Victoria when she came up here to work oh, it's gone out of my head

Unknown Speaker 30:19
if we can find it out you'll remember in the middle of the night

Unknown Speaker 30:22
tonight No, I never heard anything in the middle of the night. Well, those are interesting. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 30:28
Do you want to see any of the other ones

Unknown Speaker 30:37
well, we got a lot of when you guys were kids. A lot of your Dad this is kind of a nice one. Show your dad you don't have many of my mother. No we don't she hated her epic her photographic she really did yeah, that's that's Marianne again

Unknown Speaker 31:10
Danny looks just the same as in she or is that Mary? This is

Unknown Speaker 31:24
Alex, Eddie in France that's pretty cute

Unknown Speaker 31:35
Eddie and John and choo choo choo choo are Pekinese

Unknown Speaker 31:41
and this was on Saltspring

Unknown Speaker 31:42
I'm sure it was yeah yeah, because John was was wasn't a year old when we moved to Salt Spring he was bathed in arms when they moved when we moved

Unknown Speaker 32:03
well that he always liked having her picture taken she like lots of publicity

Unknown Speaker 32:17
teacher looks pretty happy to Oh, okay, well here's one view and your uniform

Unknown Speaker 32:28
Yeah. And that's PIP and fitness. Boy there right I remember PIP you do my repair pay

Unknown Speaker 32:52
John, and John? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 32:54
Do you remember were you about to leave or were you home off for a visit? No,

Unknown Speaker 32:59
I was probably that was probably after after I came home when the war was in Europe was over

Unknown Speaker 33:10
so I would have been 21

Unknown Speaker 33:23
all dressed up we should have had my hat on

Unknown Speaker 33:36
anything else about this one? Coming up

Unknown Speaker 33:52
there's Phil and a friend on the beach Louise

Unknown Speaker 34:01
that'd be my friend. Who is Louise. Louise was a gal who worked with summer at the Haven which was a resort run by the prices she was a she was a cutie

Unknown Speaker 34:23
yeah, that's all I have to say about

Unknown Speaker 34:25
my fall okay when was this do you think what year huh

Unknown Speaker 34:45
That would have been in the late 30s.

Unknown Speaker 34:54
You You must be pretty young, smart. You must be about 16 or so

Unknown Speaker 34:58
I think so. Yeah. She was pretty young too, you know, she was she was about the same age as me. But there are a lot of there were a number of people that that from North van who came to the island and sort of spent the summer and lived here partly and that sort of thing and she was at North Vancouver girl

Unknown Speaker 35:22
did you guys go to school in North Vancouver? No,

Unknown Speaker 35:24
I went to school in North Vancouver. I went to a private school there for a short time. And John to John went for several years yeah

Unknown Speaker 35:38
okay, okay

Unknown Speaker 35:48
well, here is your mother

Unknown Speaker 35:56
yeah

Unknown Speaker 36:03
any anything to say about your mother?

Unknown Speaker 36:07
Not really. No. She was she was she was quite a gal. You know, my mother. She, she probably worked harder than anybody I know, work. But she was extremely talented. You know, she sang and she played the piano and, and she got involved with a she was the person who really was responsible for the new school here on Galliano when she was on the school board. She was on the hospital board, Ganges. She was she was quite an active community person. She she sort of ran the old Galliano Light and Power Company, she was saying, she Well, Fred Robson and Ali Ali and other people sort of did the plant and stuff but mother would did all the books and all the father was the secretary. But mother was really the person that kept the books and kept the thing running properly. And she also was the was the person who what do they call it when they when a company goes out of business, you know, after hydro bought part of the power power plant, there were several things to sell and things to clear up and she sold the power plant and to some place up the Gulf and then did the final winding up of the company. And the interesting thing was that all the shareholders were paid off in full this was just a little one horsepower plant

Unknown Speaker 38:01
anyway, so she was quite a she was quite a lady. She was also very much involved with the school during Christmas and doing the Christmas concerts and she used to walk up to the rehearsals at the hall

Unknown Speaker 38:21
she was she didn't drive a car lot of a lot of women in those days didn't

Unknown Speaker 38:34
she hated boats she went chin really hate them but she was always uncomfortable. She was always afraid we were going to fall overboard anyway

Unknown Speaker 38:53
there's so many pictures

Unknown Speaker 39:07
Oh yeah, that was that was earlier in my career. When I was a leading seaman, what does that mean? Leading? Well their ranks in the Navy work boy Sima ordinary seaman, leading seaman Petty Officer Chief. I joined as a boy because I was a boy a boy. Literally I was 17. And I was paid $15 a month. Five of which I collected at the end of the month from the pay table and the other 10 had to be sent. Either they saved it for you. Or you could send it home to your parents which I did.

Unknown Speaker 39:54
John said when he saw the set when you were home he used to try on your your uniform because he wanted to be in the Navy. I know he did.

Unknown Speaker 40:04
And when I finally, when I got out of the Navy, and came home I went to, I worked for the summer and then I went to a premium trick school in Vancouver. I left all my junk at home and when I got back was practically all destroyed. I have nothing except my badges and little box and my metals, which I don't have there.

Unknown Speaker 40:33
So this was sometime during your service at the beginning.

Unknown Speaker 40:36
Yeah, that would have been probably before we went overseas.

Unknown Speaker 40:44
So you spent time in Canada first.

Unknown Speaker 40:46
Yeah, up up the coast here and in Esquimalt. What made you me while I was taking courses and

Unknown Speaker 41:02
why I first of all, I was involved in the Japanese. And we were up in the illusions and up around that part of the world. We were on patrol out of Prince Rupert for one winter and down on the streets for a while and then I went ashore for a course and commissioned to ship in, in Victoria. And in about three weeks later, we left and went down around through the Panama and up to our service out of Newfoundland. So I went twice I would actually I went twice around the United States before I went ever went into the United States because after the war, we brought it all Minesweeper back from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Victoria and we we it was quite a trip because this thing had been laid up for a while and we sort of got it going and we had all kinds of trouble and on our freshwater system quit working and we We almost ran out of oil after we come through the Panama and we went into a little port in southern Mexico called Selena Cruz and which was really wild west I was detailed to go ashore on shore patrol and I wore a 45 on my hip there was a dangerous place in those days and after that you know we went into the big place down in Mexico where there is a big recreation facility or something on the coast not sure anyway it in those days it was practically nobody there there was one hotel people the native people cooked on the street and little fires on the street it was an interesting place really well off

Unknown Speaker 43:20
anyway so

Unknown Speaker 43:25
so okay here are boys fishing in the boat Oh, John didn't know who these boys are.

Unknown Speaker 43:35
Can I little get away with it

Unknown Speaker 43:44
no I don't know who they are no, I'm sorry I don't I don't recognize them

Unknown Speaker 43:58
John showing me these Edith and Mary but he's saying that's actually your and not eat it

Unknown Speaker 44:08
and die and die. Die. Yes. Late Miss goons as my father always used to call her.

Unknown Speaker 44:17
She was always late Yeah, they came out. Well, that's quite early, but they came out and and camped with the family here during the war. She and her her they see my cousin and her mother, my my cousin and my second cousin who I'm still in touch with. She's in England, stepping out

Unknown Speaker 44:53
here. Are they like evacuees?

Unknown Speaker 44:55
Yeah. Well, they were. A lot of a lot of people sort of voluntarily came out have left England during the war. Or some people did and they were so they weren't. They weren't sort of evacuated. They sort of just left and they're wet. They went back after the war. My cousin Diana and I add to my cousin Diana. And who was Diana?

Unknown Speaker 45:30
Was it Diane snow? Was it?

Unknown Speaker 45:32
Yeah, her her married name was Diane snow. She was in a school and she was an uncle, my uncle's daughter.

Unknown Speaker 45:41
And she had a daughter named Winky right we have some we have some new family photographs of Diane's now and wiki because they lived in the house find that news? Oh, yes. Yeah. So this and I was related to them.

Unknown Speaker 46:04
She was an older sister of my father's

Unknown Speaker 46:11
This isn't Diane snow is it? No,

Unknown Speaker 46:13
this is that die. This is this Diane Snow was my uncle George's daughter. And know that die was never married.

Unknown Speaker 46:31
years was interesting because my grandparents had quite a number of children. I forgotten how many and my father was the youngest of the of his generation. And he was born in 1876. His father was born in 1820 1820. An AI who was the next spoons in line was born in 1924. But that's the kind of generations you had in those days. It's very strange nowadays, you know? Because I was talking to her galette at Aberdeen where Barbara is a little A little while back, I've gotten to know her but she she waved me over and said, Bill, I want you to meet some front that some of my family and she so I went over and she said, This is my daughter, this is my granddaughter. This is my great granddaughter, and this is my great great grandson and they were all there now that's quite strange.

Unknown Speaker 47:41
Yeah, it is. That's pretty That's pretty remarkable even today. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 47:45
And this woman is 93 She's She looks about 70 She she's in a wheelchair most of the time but she can walk and she she wheels around she's the only one in the place that calls me Bill is everyone else call you mostly Mystery Schools are just hey you but I have fun with the ash I have fun with her because she's always so friendly so that's that's how family the difference in families

Unknown Speaker 48:21
it's funny because I think you know these days people waiting longer to have children. But But it seemed well maybe men back then were older. When they started having children maybe their wives were younger when they started having babies.

Unknown Speaker 48:37
Course so many babies didn't survive way back then.

Unknown Speaker 48:46
Lots of them did. Anyway know where that tree is?

Unknown Speaker 49:02
I think John said this might be done that the lions or something would have been Maryann point. That was where you met that right at Marian point

Unknown Speaker 49:14
well is only to say that was Oh that wasn't very on point. That could have been there

Unknown Speaker 49:31
this is a cute one

Unknown Speaker 49:39
girls on the log

Unknown Speaker 49:43
Marion Berry. It can you can you put it back into the further perspective that Yeah, I wonder where that was?

Unknown Speaker 50:01
I'd say that's down at like morning beach at Lyons

Unknown Speaker 50:06
could be yeah yeah pretty cute

Unknown Speaker 50:23
here's a cute one

Unknown Speaker 50:31
Yeah. And and John's puppy

Unknown Speaker 50:37
Bow Bow Bow. Big cute that was it that was a toss me

Unknown Speaker 50:51
so when you run Saltspring was that when you were going to North Bend for school?

Unknown Speaker 50:56
No that was in the 30s we went to Salt Spring in 30 I think and came back here in 36 So I was actually

Unknown Speaker 51:12
I didn't go to while I went to when I went to school in Salt Spring I came back here and went back to school in grade seven

Unknown Speaker 51:28
but the Sparky news Wi Fi was a teacher way back then. always insisted that I was I was at school before we went to went to Ganges but I don't remember because I have not in any of the school pictures here

Unknown Speaker 51:51
this one is kids on a raft and a whole bunch of kids

Unknown Speaker 52:00
from raft Yeah, that's that's a Ganges. And this is Bittencourt they were fishermen and this is their boat and we had a beach next to them a piece of seafront property. And I have I remember a picture of Jim on this. This wasn't a raft it was just a few planks. I remember a picture of Jim but I was always I never could stand being in the water myself. I always froze as soon as I got into the water no matter where they are. Nope. Nobody ever got pictures of me in the water. So there's a picture. Yeah, there's a picture of Jim sitting on that boat on that piece of wood by himself somewhere yeah, yeah. That looks like Joe

Unknown Speaker 52:56
and then this one

Unknown Speaker 53:05
choo choo

Unknown Speaker 53:12
choo choo. Looks like he wants to swim back. Yeah

Unknown Speaker 53:19
John was telling me a story about when he was a kid and we were being babysat. And he fell into the water he jumped off into the water off the dock when he was two about two years old and almost drowned. But someone came at one of the bitten courts came and fished him out and saved him

Unknown Speaker 53:37
don't remember that.

Unknown Speaker 53:40
Okay, so you remember the bubbles? Because it was the it was it was either Betty or Mary's fun game and he was a baby to you know throw him off the dock into the arms of one of the other kids never catch on so I guess he thought he could just leave off

Unknown Speaker 54:10
this is cute

Unknown Speaker 54:21
don't know where that would be. I say I don't remember I never liked being in the water. I looked cold there

Unknown Speaker 54:45
on the large lawn Yeah. Eddie go

Unknown Speaker 54:55
I don't remember I don't remember that. I think I was I think I was way back

Unknown Speaker 55:08
in all that, I think that's enough. Okay. Okay.