Winter 2013.bk - The Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society

Port Coquitlam Heritage
& Cultural Society
Newsletter
Winter 2013
Community Archives
2100-2253 Leigh Square
Port Coquitlam, BC V3C 3B8
604-927-8403
email: [email protected]
www.pocoheritage.org
Port Coquitlam buries time capsule to
mark centennial
Larry Jacobsen, Editor
By Cindy St-Laurent Community October 16, 2013
As part of Port Coquitlam’s centennial celebrations, a time capsule was buried in Veteran’s Park on Oct. 16.
Linda Sliworsky grabs items to put into
the time capsule. Photo by
Cindy St-Laurent
www.pocoheritage.org
The time capsule event was created by Poco’s Spirit Committee ,
which was established for the 2010 Olympics. Linda Sliworsky, volunteer at the Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society, who is also a
committee member, said the committee thought “…towards the end of
the year, why not have the time capsule sort of thing where we’ve got
some memories of the year and some memories of what people in the
future need to know about what we were like.”
Port Coquitlam’s 100th anniversary was March 7, but the city decided to bury the time capsule later in the year. Sliworsky said that the date
was late enough so that the weather was still relatively warm and it was
right after Thanksgiving, where people were more likely to come to the
event before they went back to their busy lives.
The time capsule will be dug up in the year 2038, after being buried
for 25 years. The capsule was originally going to be unearthed after 100
years, but Sliworsky said the committee wanted to be around when the
capsule was opened. They also felt that it would be fun for the children
who contributed to the capsule to see their work once they are older.
The hardest part of the event Sliworsky said, was getting people to
submit items. Posters and information about the event were spread online in order to get submissions but not many responded.
A few schools from the community did provide items. Riverside Secondary School’s drama department provided flash drives and DVDs.
Sliworsky said they contain skits that show “their interpretations as to
what they would like to see in the future and what they want people to
know.” James Park Elementary, which also recently celebrated its 100th
anniversary, included a banner from its own festivities. Some other sub1
Some other submissions were a proclamation from the
city, t-shirts, water bottles, a centennial year hockey puck
and news articles about the centennial events from the TriCity News and the Vancouver Sun.
The Spirit Committee decided to submit some of the
items above as a group. If she included something herself,
Sliworsky said it would be something natural that could be
preserved, such as the city flower, which is an azalea called
the “Pride of Poco.”
There are several good protections against temptations, but
the surest is cowardice.
--Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar.
Mark Twain
OLD PEOPLE
Old People are easy to spot at sporting
events for during the playing of the
National Anthem. Old People remove
their caps and stand at attention and
sing without embarrassment. They
know the words and believe in them.
Old People remember World War II,
Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal , Normandy and
Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age,
the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet
Age and the Moon Landing. They remember
the 50 plus Peace-keeping Missions from
1945 to 2005, not to mention Vietnam .
Linda Sliworsky and Brian Hubbard, president
of Poco Heritage, bury the time capsule.
Old People have moral courage and
personal integrity. They seldom brag
unless it's about their children or
grandchildren.
If you bump into an Old Person on the
sidewalk he will apologize. If you pass an
Old Person on the street, he will nod or
tip his cap to a lady. Old People trust
strangers and are courtly to women.
It's the Old People who know our great
country is protected, not by politicians,
but by the young men and women in the
military serving their country.
Old People hold the door for the next
person and always, on the sidewalk, makes
certain the lady is on the inside for
protection.
This country needs Old People with their
work ethic, sense of responsibility, pride
in their country and decent values.
We need them now more than ever.
Thank God for Old People.
Old People get embarrassed if someone
curses in front of women and children
and they don't like any filth or dirty
language on TV or in movies.
www.pocoheritage.org
I was taught to respect my elders.
It's just getting harder to find them.
Sent to me by a friend in Whitehorse, Yukon
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POCO Heritage readies for annual holiday-tree festival
This year the Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society invited local businesses,
community groups to enter their Holiday-trees in city-wide contest in celebration of the
city’s 100th birthday. Fee for entry was $100 per tree with proceeds going to the PoCo
Heritage Society.
The public had a chance to cast their ballots for their
Participants were given the choice of setting
favourite tree until Dec. 18 at several on-line sites or at
their trees up at their places of businesses or at
the PoCo Heritage at the Leigh Square facility. Conpartner sites that included the Heritage ar Leigh
tacts for the project were Pippa VanVelzen reachable at
Square, PoCo Rec. Complex, Terry Fox [email protected] and Fritz Radandt at
brary, and Leigh Square Community Art [email protected].
lage. The deadline for entry was Nov. 15.
Here is a sampling of the decorated Holiday
trees. They are ones that I, the editor, found
especially appealing but may not reflect the
tastes of other people. The tree photos were all
taken by Brian Hubbard.
L - R: Above: Brad West, Terry Fox Library students, and Art Focus. Below: Hyde Cr. Girl
Guides M. Forrest, and K. Fuson.
www.pocoheritage.org
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Top: L - R, Westminster Savings, Mayor Moore and Bruce Hansen (Sr. Centre), and Wilson Ctr. Seniors.
Left, Community Volunteers - Wilson
Sr. Centre.
Right: PoCo Garden Club
Bottom: (Rec. Centre), PoCo Insurance, Altura Development, PoCoRidge Meadows Ringette, Protection
Property Management..
www.pocoheritage.org
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On Sunday December 1st more than 100 people attended the Centennial Holiday Tree Festival Kick Off Tea
and Celebrity Tree Decorating Challenge at Heritage at
Leigh Square. Tea, punch and goodies were served as
everyone cheered on Mayor Greg Moore, Councillors
Mike Forrest and Brad West, School Trustee Judy
Shirra as they decorated their trees. Diamond Jubilee
Recipient and Heritage Society member Karon Fuson
had decorated her tree on Saturday - See more at:
http://www.placeweave.com/
A Member Profile
Fritz Radandt arrived in Canada at age two from
Germany in 1960. He spent his first six years in
Kelowna followed by periods in Port Coquitlam,
Vancouver and Victoria. He went to school in PoCo
from Grade 4 on where he was friends and a basketball teammate with Terry Fox through his school
years. As a teenager Fritz worked with his father at
the Vancouver shipyards starting at age 15. Yes,
Vancouver did once have a shipyard. He completed
a computer and business degree at SFU in 1983, at
a time when they still used mainframes and punchcards there. In his last year of university he opened
the second micro computer school in Western Canada, stocking it with 21 Commodore-64 computers
(Remember them?).
Fritz later worked as an Information Systems
Manager at Children's Hospital for four years before going back to school to study Anthropology &
Sociology. Next he developed the first "co-housing
community" (based on a Danish concept) in Canada
where the residents designed their own homes within a framework that encourages community interaction. Although this concept has worked quite well
in Europe it has never really caught on in North
America with less than a hundred projects completed to date.
He became involved in the Internet before there
was a world-wide web. He was a founding director
of the Vancouver Free-Net, a text-based community information-sharing system that was free for everyone to use. He helped set up free-nets in
communities all over BC. As the internet grew in
the 90’s, Fritz was involved in a variety of on-line
ventures which ended abruptly with the dot-com
crash an he was among the many who took severe
financial losses.
Not being known for giving in, or giving up,
Fritz has been slowly building a community networking site called PlaceWeave.com. Whereas Facebook facilitates the exchange of news with
www.pocoheritage.org
Brian Hubbard does not appear to have the underpinning it takes to fill the Santa Claus chair. But who
among us does? Photo by Lois McCrady.
friends and acquaintances, PlaceWeave enables information sharing and interaction between the people
and organizations of a community. He is testing this
concept in Port Coquitlam and hopes to expand to
other places if successful.
Many of us at PoCo Heritage are using PlaceWeave to share our news, promote our events and
find volunteers. Online voting for the Centennial
Holiday Tree Festival is also happening at PlaceWeave. Heritage members can use PlaceWeave to
find out what is happening in PoCo and to post their
classifieds, announcements (births, anniversaries,
obituaries), and opinions. There is also a PlacePedia
section where one can make posts about the people,
places, events and organizations of Port Coquitlam similar to Wikipedia, but specifically for Port Coquitlam.
Ideally PlaceWeave will become the site where
anyone wanting to know anything about PoCo will
first look. A successful PlaceWeave will become the
glue that helps cement Port Coquitlam residents together as a community. Fritz is encouraging all PoCo
Heritage members to give PlaceWeave a try and provide him with feedback on how he can better serve
their needs - [email protected].
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MY YELLOW KEYBOARD
by Larry Jacobsen
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This yellow keyboard has made a HUGE difference
for me. I presume that I may not be the only “old” person having difficulty reading black computer keys,
hence the inclusion of this story. Previously published
in the “BC Catholic.”
A yellow keyboard? How gross! Everyone knows that
computer keyboards are supposed to be black with white
letters. That's all I have ever used. Unfortunately times
change – at least for me. I used to have superb eyesight in
my left eye at least, and could outshoot all my acquaintances. But that was then. We degenerate as we age, and for me
in addition to losing strength and stamina it has been my
hearing loss and failing eyesight that has bothered me the
most.
My eyes improved considerably after cataract surgery a
few years ago, but macular degeneration had by then set in
and has now reduced my night vision to the point that I
drive only during daylight. This would in itself not be so
bothersome except that I took up writing 20 years ago (after reaching retirement age). So what has that got to do
with night vision? A great deal when you use a black keyboard.
I have never been a typist, but I used to type quite accurately, though not swiftly, while mostly using the correct
fingers for the various keys, especially if I looked down at
the keyboard frequently. With black keys with small white
lettering I find that extremely difficult now. The manufacturers further aggravate the problem by changing the layout
of many of the keyboards in order to cram in a few more
keys – especially on laptops. The term "hunt and peck" has
become significant in my life, for I am now spending more
time hunting and less time pecking. Why don't I just memorize where the keys are? I do. But with my short-term
memory becoming shorter term, I have to relearn them every time I sit down at my computer. Get the problem? To
give you some idea of the scope of my vision issues – I am
continually losing dark objects if I carelessly lay them
down on dark surfaces.
Last year when I visited my younger brother, Frank, in Victoria I learned he was experiencing similar travails. He had
however mitigated them by getting a yellow keyboard with
big black lettering. He had gone on the Internet looking for
solutions and found some yellow ones that were so inexpensive that he ordered two – at least he thought he did.
They came in packs of two, so he actually got four. Did I
say inexpensive? "Cheap" would be more descriptive.
www.pocoheritage.org
Frank soon learned that two of them had the
odd key that did not work. Whatever the criticism, he found that it really helped his data input,
and when I saw them I knew that was what I
wanted too. My brother obliged me by giving me
his spare one. When I got back home I plugged it
in to the computer and discovered that the keys
lacked bounce and felt dead, but I could live with
that.
I was not long in discovering that one of the
keys on the numeric pad was missing. It must
have fallen off while we were on the bus. I was
disappointed, but one can get by without the numeric keypad unless one is an accountant or a
construction estimator. Since I was never an accountant and I no longer provide construction services, the keypad flaw did not bother me overly.
I was pleased that I now had a keyboard with
keys that I could read without effort. My satisfaction did not last long. Within two days I found
two lettered keys that did not work either. That
keyboard turned out to be worth exactly what I
paid for it – $0.00. It went into the recycle bin
forthwith.
One of my problems is not knowing when to
quit. This year I began on yet another book. My
research has yielded great photographs, but typing has become increasingly difficult; especially
in places where the lighting is less than superb. I
went on the Internet looking for yellow keyboards
and quickly I found the ones my brother had
bought, but I found others as well and ordered a
Maxell keyboard through Amazon. The keyboard
arrived three days later and because I had also
ordered a yellow wireless mouse and a USB splitter, I paid no shipping charges. I have checked the
keys and not only does every single one of them
work, but they have great feel as well. Best of all,
I can now SEE and read the keys without effort.
Of course the $25 I paid for it did not hurt too
badly either.
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The yellow mouse and the USB splitter arrived
three weeks later – from a company named "Eshopic."
It seems they were made in China but shipped from
Britain – go figure.
I searched through the packaging but could not
find the USB receiver that every wireless mouse requires. The USB splitter worked with my Windows-8
machine but not with the laptop – where I could really
use it, so I complained to the vendor via email. I received a prompt response telling me that the receiver
was in the battery compartment of the mouse. They
added that both items were "plug & play" and that I
would need an Internet connection should the computer require drivers for them.
I opened the battery compartment and sure
enough after a meticulous search I found the receiver.
Though difficult to spot it was exactly where they
said it would be. I plugged it in – no response. I then
searched for device drivers but found none. I wrote to
the company yet again, but they maintained the items
should work and asked me to persevere. They also
invited me to notify them if my problems persisted.
The next morning I plugged in the mouse receiver one
more time, and voila, now it worked. I then tried the
USB splitter again and now it too worked. Perhaps
there are mischievous gremlins toying with me.
I have become so used to instant results that I always demand them. But then of course, being male,
Right - Frank Smyth, Korean War Veteran, who gave
my name is not Patience.
My yellow keyboard was fine but I should mention
that my new mouse and USB splitter required continuous wireless availability and that the battery compartment in the mouse was too large to keep the
batteries centred on their contacts. So much for buying things over the Internet. I was still pleased with
my keyboard but with the loss I expected, on these
other two items, my purchase no longer appeared to
be a BARGAIN. I should have known better than to
expect one. Besides, even if they returned the purchase price, nothing had been promised about paying
for the shipping costs.
I considered throwing them in the garbage, for my
shipping and packaging costs would likely negate any
possible refund. Nevertheless, "Hope springs eternal"
(in the minds of fools?), so I sent an e-mail in which I
explained to the Eshopic people why these two items
were not acceptable. I also inquired of them where to
ship them for my refund. Within a day I learned that
my Visa account had been credited for the full purchase amounts. No one asked me to return the defective products.
www.pocoheritage.org
Based on his recent performance Michael Ng surely has
the ability to become a good
Construction Estimator for he
walked away with 1st prize in
the candy-counting competition last Halloween. He is pictured receiving the top award
from PoCo Heritage president, Brian Hubbard. Did his
prize consist of candy? Photo
by Lois McCrady.
us a presentation about
that conflict called, They
remember us.. Photo by
Brian Hubbard.
Sandra Barnett is receiving
the gorgeous Heritage quilt,
she won in the raffle, from
Brian Hubbard, president.
The photographer is not
known.
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HERITAGE AFLOAT
By Bryan Ness, PoCo Heritage
As proclaimed by the hierarchy at Heritage
BC, the annual theme during Heritage Week –
2014, which runs from February 17-24 next year
is Heritage Afloat. Many among us who call Port
Coquitlam home, have often wondered, "where
exactly is the Port?" For many years I was in the
same boat, so to speak, until my quest to learn
more about our city's history led me to the Holy
Grail, aka, the Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society. (PoCo Heritage to you more modern
folk). Deep down in the musty caverns of the City
Archives, I swept aside the cobwebs and found an
old pirate's strongbox containing … well, maybe
not quite that dramatic, but here's part of my story
anyway!
The First Nations people used the local rivers
for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European explorers such as Simon Fraser and James
McMillan, the latter on behalf of the Hudson's Bay
Company. The Gold Rush of 1858 prompted the
British Government to send out 160 Royal Engineers, under Colonel Richard Clement Moody, to
survey the area, build roads and generally keep
those rowdy American gold-seekers in line.
At the same time (1859) the HMS Plumper,
under Captain George Richards, was conducting
his own surveying and mapping of the Lower
Mainland, including our own Pitt River. Named
after British politician William Pitt the Younger, it
begs the question of whether Pitt Polder was
named after his father, William Pitt the Older. The
good news for all you readers is, I'm only allowed
two bad puns in this article!
An 1859 survey map of Port Coquitlam produced by
George Richards?.
Early Arrivals; Ned Atkins, James Fox and Donald
McLean.
HMS Plumper in 1959 captained by George Richards
www.pocoheritage.org
The first European settler to land in what we
now call Port Coquitlam was Scotsman, Alexander McLean, who sailed up the Pitt on his schooner, the "Rob Roy," with his family and 50 head of
cattle in 1859. He was followed in 1860 by the
Atkins Family and their vessel, the "Shannon
Cop," named after their old Irish homestead, arriving near present-day Red Bridge. I'm tempted to
throw another pun in here about the British, but
alas, I am now pun-less!
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Port Coquitlam Shipbuilding Yard on Pitt River Road in 1918.
Things really begin to get interesting at the start
of the 20th Century, when the idea of a deep-river
port began with the imminent opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. Visions of steel mills, grain elevators and lumber mills dotting the landscape were
planned by the visionaries of the day. Serious plans
were considered to dig a canal from Burrard Inlet at
Port Moody eastward to connect with the Pitt River
near Deboville Slough, but that's another story for
another time.
To learn more about the origins of the Port in
Port Coquitlam, be sure to come by the Terry Fox
Library Friday February 7th from 2-3pm where I
will be hosting a presentation called, "Wooden
Ships and Iron Will—The Early days on the River
in Port Coquitlam." If you are unable to attend, or
are a glutton for punishment, you can also catch a
repeat of the show at the Heritage Evening Thursday February 27th 7-8pm at Heritage at Leigh
Square. Special consideration will be given to all
patrons who dress as pirates! Arrrrrrrrgh Matys!
The Photos used in this article are from the PCHS
archives.
www.pocoheritage.org
Somber News regarding Mossom Creek Fish
Hatchery
‘The Port Moody Station Museum and Port Moody
Heritage Society’
We were deeply saddened to hear of the loss of our sister
hatchery at Mossom Creek. Ruth Foster and Rod McVicar
and a team of volunteers have been working tirelessly for
nearly 40 years to educate our children in the importance of
protecting our environment and providing an essential service to our community by providing a place of warmth and
love for all.
If you have photos or newspaper clippings (they lost all of
their albums and scrapbooks in the fire), please forward digital images to [email protected] or post to:
Sandra Niven Port Moody Ecological Society 300 Ioco Road
Port Moody BC V3H 2V7
According to Peter Meiszner of the Global News the
Mossom Creek salmon hatchery in Port Moody was
destroyed by fire on Dec. 12, 2013. The fire was detected by
a sensor but weather conditions made it impossible for the
fire department to get to the site. By late evening the fire had
burned itself out after destroying the building and this year's
fish stocks. the hatchery had been in operation for 38 years.
The hatchery was started by two high school teachers
in1976 at a time when no salmon survived in Mossom
Creek. It now supports strong runs of Coho and Chum.
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UPCOMING MEETINGS
General Meetings are held in the Community Room (CR) in the Leigh Square Arts Village on the 3rd Thursday of each
month at 1.00 p.m.
Jan. 16, 1:00 pm, CR
Feb. 20, 1:00 pm, CR
Mar. 20, 1:00 pm, CR
General Meeting - The foods we eat, The wine we drink,” John Gerum.
General meeting, “Living on the Water.” Mike Forrest, Joy Galea
General Meeting, “The Many Uses of Herbs,” Norma Matlock
Heritage Evenings are held in Heritage at Leigh Square on the 4th Thursday of each month from 7.00 to 8.00 p.m.
COMING EVENTS
Jan. 6, 10:30 am, HALS
Jan.16, 6:30 pm, HALS
Jan. 23 6:30 pm, HALS
Rhymes of Times, “Toys we made; Games we played.”
Valentine Card making; $20 for three cards, registration required.
Heritage Evening “Tracks in Time,” Jim Miller, Port Moody Museum.
Feb. 10, 10:30 am, HALS
Feb. 15, 10:30 am, HALS
Feb. 27, 7:00 pm, HALS
Rhymes of Times, Toys, “Water, water, everywhere.”
Girl Guides on the Air - GOTA
Heritage Evening, “Wooden Ships and Iron Will,” Bryan Ness
Mar. 10, 10:30 am, HALS
Mar. 19, & 26
Mar. 27, 7:00 pm, HALS
Rhymes of Time, “Grandma’s Kitchen.”
Spring Break camp, “Making Good with the 3Rs. $20 per child. Registration required.
Heritage Evening, “Portion Distortion,” Julie Schmidt
Hours of Operation
Monday
10:00 - 6:30 pm
Tuesday
10:00 - 7:00 pm
Wednesday
10:00 - 6:30 pm
Thursday
10:00 - 7:00 pm
Friday
10:00 - 6:30 pm
Saturday
9:00 - 5:00 pm
Sunday - CLOSED
CR - Community Room at the Gathering Place.
HALS - heritage at Leigh Square (Museum & Archives)
Visitors are always welcome!
WANTED
2013 Board of Directors
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Director
Director
Director
Director
Past President
Brian Hubbard
Julie Schmidt
Karon Fuson
Margaret Owens
Lois McCrady
Brianne Egeto
Fritz Radandt
Michael Thomas
Pippa Van Velzen
From time to time there are items we need at the Archives. Rather than spending our limited $$$, it’s
possible that some of our members may be able to
help. Our current needs are:
Plastic Totes with lids (all sizes)
If you have any of these items that you don`t need,
please bring them into the Archives, or give us a call
and we can arrange to pick up.
Thank you!
Newsletter Editor: Larry Jacobsen
www.pocoheritage.org
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