James Joseph Claxton was born in Ireland on August 22, 1910 and immigrated to Canada as a teenager. Despite a love for his adopted country, he never forgot his Irish roots. In 1941, he joined the Irish Fusiliers of Canada (Vancouver Regiment) where he was able to serve the British Commonwealth along side his many Irish-Canadian compatriots. The following year, his regiment was deployed for active overseas combat in North Africa, Italy and North Western Europe. At the end of World War II, Claxton returned to British Columbia where he explored this province by settling for a time in Kamloops, Kelowna, Salmon Arm and finally Burnaby. He owned a jewellery store in the New Westminster area for several years in which he showcased his extensive collection of Royal Irish Constabulary badges and ephemera. Claxton was an active leader for the Salmon Arm Boys Scouts of Canada group, and was a member of both the Irish Fusiliers Association and the Toc H (an international charity and membership movement that emerged from a soldiers' club in Belgium during World War I). He also served aboard the M.S. Columbia III (ca. 1960) – one of the last ships then maintained by the Anglican Church’s Columbia Coast Mission. This mission provided religious, medical and social services to remote coastal settlements, logging camps and First Nations communities along the inner coast from 1905 to the late 1960s. James Joseph Claxton passed away at the Royal Columbian Hospital, New Westminster at the age of 86. He was cremated and buried at sea off the northern tip of Vancouver Island at Cape Caution.
Dr. Evans completed a BA (1987) in Anthropology at the University of Victoria and an MA (1989) and PhD (1996) in Anthropology from McMaster University. From 1995 to 1998, Evans was an instructor for the Anthrology and First Nations Programs at UNBC. Since then, Dr. Evans has worked at various professorial positions at the University of Alberta and UBC Okanagan. His research interests include rrban Aboriginal issues, Métis history and contemporary issues, and aboriginal communities of Oceania.
Born in New Zealand, Peter Larkin came to Canada as a child, and was educated at the University of Saskatchewan and at Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar, earning his DPhil at the age of 24). He moved to B.C. as Chief Fisheries biologist for the B.C. Game Commission in 1948, and in 1955 he joined the faculty at UBC. He worked first in the Fisheries Institute, and then in the Department of Zoology; and subsequently he became head of department, then dean of Graduate Studies, and later still, vice-president in charge of research. Author of some 160 scientific papers, he also served over the course of his career on some 50 local, national, and international commissions, ranging from the Science Council of Canada and the National Research Council to TRIUMF and the Vancouver Hospital Board, and from federal studies of the impact of pesticides, and United Nations studies of marine mammals, to the Board of B.C. Packers Ltd., the B.C. Advisory Committee on Ecological Reserves, and the committee that worked on preserving and developing Strathcona Park. After his retirement from UBC, he became actively involved in the Northern River Basins Study, and he maintained his interest in marine research. From 1993 to 1994, he was appointed as a temporary head commissioner for the British Columbia Utilities Commission Review on the Kemano Completion Project.
W. Murray Sadler, a founding partner of the Prince George law firm of Heather Sadler Jenkins, was the founding President of the Interior University Society and later became Chairman of the Interim Governing Council of the University of Northern British Columbia.
Iona Victoria Campagnolo (née Hardy) was born in Vancouver, B.C on October 18, 1932 to Rosamond and Kenneth Hardy. Soon thereafter her family returned to Galiano Island to the family home. In 1940, the Hardy family moved up the coast to the North Pacific Cannery located on the Skeena River near Prince Rupert, where her father worked as Chief of Maintenance. On August 9, 1952 she married (and later divorced) Louis Campagnolo, and together they had two daughters. It was out of a concern for the quality of her daughters’ education that Iona Campagnolo first became involved with municipal politics: first being elected to the Prince Rupert School Board in 1966 where she served for six years as School Trustee, Chairman of the Board, and North Coast Zone Chairman of the Board. Upon completion of her term on the School Board, she ran in the Prince Rupert civic election, won, and served a term as ‘Alderman’ (City Councilor) until 1974. Also during this period (1965-1974) Iona Campagnolo was working for CHTK Radio, Skeena Broadcasters Ltd., as both Advertising Sales Director and Broadcaster: her prowess at the latter position earned her a B.C. Broadcaster of the Year award in 1973.
The early seventies were not only a time of political activism for Iona Campagnolo, they were also a time of continued community activism and development of ethnocultural initiatives within the City of Prince Rupert that had originally begun almost twenty years earlier in 1954. In 1971 Iona Campagnolo was appointed the Royal Visit Co-ordinator for the City of Prince Rupert. As producer, director and costume designer for many performances of the North Pacific Players (a Prince Rupert theatre company) Iona Campagnolo was intrinsically involved in several community theatre performances. To acknowledge and honour her 20 years of dynamic volunteerism within her community, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1973 and was promoted to Officer in 2008.
In 1974 Iona Campagnolo turned her attention to federal politics. Running as a Liberal Party candidate for the riding of Skeena, she won this election and ousted long standing Skeena MP Frank Howard. As Member of Parliament for Skeena, Iona Campagnolo first served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1974-1976). She was then appointed a Cabinet Member in Pierre Trudeau’s government – a position which subsequently granted her the portfolio of Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport (Sept. 14, 1976 – May 22, 1979). Not only did this new appointment grant her the distinction of becoming the very first Minister of Amateur Sport in Canada, she also became the first woman and Northerner to be appointed a federal Minister.
After electoral defeat in the May 1979 federal election, Iona Campagnolo embarked upon several years of active involvement within the public, private and non-profit realms. Ms. Campagnolo served for two years (1979-1981) as host of a prime time feature interview program on the CBC, from Vancouver, titled “One of a Kind”. During the first three months of 1981, Ms. Campagnolo completed an assignment by the Secretary of State for External Affairs, to organize the founding and incorporation of the “Future’s Secretariat,” with the aim of creating a series of community Task Forces and network linkages at the local level, which would raise the consciousness of Canadians to the interdependent nature of the world and Canada’s role and responsibility to it.
Working as a consultant on Public Relations and Fundraising to CUSO-VSO, (then known only as CUSO or the Canadian University Services Overseas Organization) Iona Campagnolo undertook a large number of speaking engagements particularly in support of refugee re-development, with emphasis on Thai-Kampuchean Border refugees. After spearheading the raising of more than half a million dollars in 1980 towards this particular campaign, she continued to work on various other campaigns on behalf of CUSO. Iona Campagnolo was also a Special Projects Consultant to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Iona Campagnolo also devoted much time to feminist initiatives, becoming involved in the Jerusalem Women’s Seminar and Intercultural Dialogue and assisting in the organization and emergence of women’s networks in several Canadian urban centers such as Edmonton and Vancouver.
Also from 1979-1981 Ms. Campagnolo acted as Special Consultant in several different capacities to Simon Fraser University (SFU). In January of 1981, Ms. Campagnolo was guest lecturer to senior-level students in the Sport Administration Degree program at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont. where she spoke on the involvement of various levels of government in sport development.
During this inter-political period, Ms. Campagnolo was also a consultant to the Calgary Olympic Development Association, assisting them with their bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics, through personal contact with members of the international sport community, including presenting Calgary’s bid to IOC (International Olympic Committee) members in Africa and Europe.
In 1982 Iona Campagnolo once again heard the call from the political realm and stood for election this time for the position of President of the Liberal Party of Canada. She was elected to this position by a Party Convention on November 7, 1982 as the first woman President of the Liberal Party of Canada, after 50 years of male predecessors. In the September 1984 federal election Iona Campagnolo made one last run at federal politics when she ran in the North Vancouver-Burnaby riding. She was, however, defeated in the Mulroney landslide victory that reduced John Turner’s Liberals down to 40 seats. Also in 1984, she served as National Co-Chair of the Liberal Leadership Convention, and was re-elected to the office of President by acclamation at this June 1984 Convention. Ms. Campagnolo served in this capacity until November 27, 1986.
From 1986 - 1996 Iona Campagnolo worked on contract with Contemporary Communications for the National Speakers Bureau. Writing and delivering speeches across the country to a myriad of organizations. From 1987-1990 Iona Campagnolo, as Associate Director, worked towards the establishment and development of the McMaster University Centre for International Health.
In 1992, Iona Campagnolo became actively involved with the establishment and development of a new university in northern British Columbia – the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Prince George. On May 23, 1992 she was appointed the founding Chancellor of the University.
In 1995 Iona Campagnolo became a Director (1995-1996) and then Chair (1996-1997) of the Fraser Basin Management Program (FBMP) which worked towards bringing together all four orders of Canadian government (federal, provincial, municipal and First Nations) to address some of the key river management issues identified by Fraser River Action Plan - a part of Canada’s Green Plan.
On September 21, 2001, Iona Campagnolo was appointed by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in the name of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, on the advice of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, as British Columbia’s first female Lieutenant Governor; a position in which she served until September 30, 2007.
Since 2007, the Honourable Iona Campagnolo has remained actively involved with two key issues: reconciling Aboriginal Rights and Title with Crown Title, and salmon sustainability in collaboration with the faculty of Continuing Studies in Science at Simon Fraser University. She currently makes her home on Vancouver Island.
Bruce Strachan was MLA for Prince George South and Minister of State for the Cariboo Region. He was a member of the Interior University Society and a strong proponent of the creation of a university in the North. In 1989, he became Minister of Advanced Education.
George Pedersen is a Canadian academic administrator. He was the president of Simon Fraser University (1979 to 1983), University of British Columbia (1983 to 1985), University of Western Ontario (1985 to 1994), interim president of the University of Northern British Columbia (for three months between Geoffrey Weller and Charles Jago), and founding president of Royal Roads University (1995-). He served as chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia from 1998 until 1999. As chancellor, he has given degrees to 3,100 UNBC graduates.
Born in Three Creeks, Alberta, Pedersen received his B.A. from the University of British Columbia, an M.A. from the University of Washington, and his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Chicago in 1968. In 1992, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for being "devoted to the cause of higher education." In 1994, he was awarded the Order of Ontario. In 2002, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia. In 2005, he was appointed Chair of the Board of Governors of Emily Carr Institute.
His career in education began as a school teacher in North Vancouver in 1952, and within a decade he was promoted to principal at both the elementary and secondary levels. The draw of further studies took him far from home, to the University of Chicago, where he completed his PhD and earned ten scholarships in the process. He laid the groundwork for Simon Fraser University’s downtown campus, engaged in bitter battles over adequate post-secondary funding, and passionately advocated for greater aboriginal access to university, for which he was honoured by the Nisga’a.
Margaret Lally "Ma" Murray, OC (1908-1982) was the wife of publisher and MLA George Murray, and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Originally from Kansas, "Ma" Murray was co-founder and editor (with her husband George) of the Bridge River-Lillooet News, the Alaska Highway News and other publications.
B.W. "Bud" McKilvington was born in Vermont but moved to northern Alberta and eventually settled in the Chilcotin district of B.C., where he had a number of jobs over the years. He was an outdoorsman and hunter who appreciated the writings of Eric Collier and began a correspondence with him after the publication of Collier's book.
Eric Collier was born in England but came to British Columbia at the age of 19. He became a trapper at Meldrum Creek in the Chilcotin. His writing career began in 1924 and he continued to publish articles on the outdoors until his death in 1966. He is best known for his book, Three Against the Wilderness (1959). He died in Williams Lake on March 15, 1966.
Jean Weller was the wife of Dr. Geoffrey R. Weller, the founding president of UNBC.
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. In her specific role as the monarch of the United Kingdom, one of her 16 realms, she is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Elizabeth was born in London, and educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne as George VI in 1936 on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. On the death of her father in 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. Today, in addition to the first four aforementioned countries, Elizabeth is Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
In 1947 she married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, with whom she has four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
Her reign of 60 years is the second-longest for a British monarch; only Queen Victoria has reigned longer. Her Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees were celebrated in 1977, 2002, and 2012, respectively.
Joanne Hewlett was involved with the Interior University Society.
Richard Fredrick Corless was born in Halls Gate, Cuerden, Lancashire, England on February 1, 1882 and died 29 Dec 1959 in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He married Mary Ellen Smith on 25 Dec 1905 in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, England, daughter of Thomas Smith and Hannah Bennison. He moved to Canada in the early 1900s, settling in Prince George, BC in 1915. In 1916, Corless entered into a business partnership with Ed Hall, starting a Ford Model T dealership. Corless made his family home in a lean-to that was connected to an undertaking parlour, which was operated by the Sandifords in Central Fort George. Before 1918, Corless assisted the under-takers for part-time employment. Once the flu pandemic struck the region, the Sandifords left, leaving behind their equipment and the business. Located on the corners of Third and Fourth Avenue, Corless decided to take over the business. For seventeen years, the Corless family operated the undertaking parlour, and in 1936, he sold the business to Harold Assman.
In 1930 Norah Banbery left Wolverhampton, England, setting sail from Liverpool to Canada to follow what had become for her a perennial obsession" since childhood - the desire to explore the Canadian West. Lured by the attractive posters from the Canadian Pacific Railway that displayed "long vistas of golden wheat…(and) range lands ... alive with grazing cattle…" Norah, along with hundreds of other Europeans, set sail to find work and a new life in a new land. In the 1930s and 1940s Norah wrote articles about farm life in Canada for the Wolverhampton newspaper, Express and Star, and later began her memoir about life in the Red Rock region. She died at the Jubilee Lodge, a senior's home in Prince George in 1991, at the age of 90 years. Her memoir "A Man's Country" recalls her early years in Meota near North Battleford, Saskatchewan where she met her husband Irwin Doherty [alias Jim Martin in the manuscript], an Irish immigrant farmer. It follows the Doherty's move to British Columbia to homestead on 160 acres of land in Red Rock, south of Prince George along the Fort George Canyon on the Fraser River. Norah's account of life in Red Rock recalls experiences similar to that of other farmwomen in isolated Western Canadian communities in the Depression era. These were often days spent cleaning, cooking, and most significantly rationing, penny-pinching and finding ingenious ways to create a comfortable household in a log cabin. Yet Norah's account also provides a personal view of life as a young woman in a new land. She talks about her longing for female companionship and also her attraction to the land and the people that she met. Her story provides a woman's perspective of "living off the land" in a time when many still considered the area to be, as Norah states, "A Man's Country".
Robert Gordon Rogers, OC OBC (August 19, 1919 – May 21, 2010) was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1983 to 1988.
Born in Montreal, he was a graduate of the University of Toronto Schools, the University of Toronto, and the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. During the Second World War, he served with the 1st Hussars of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, landing on Juno Beach on D-Day in 1944. From 1991 to 1996, he served as Chancellor of the University of Victoria. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1990, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia.
Rhys Pugh completed his Masters thesis in History at UNBC in 2004, which was entitled “The Newspaper Wars in Prince George, B.C., 1909-1918.”
Born August 5th 1908 in Vancouver to James Walton and Clara Mary Chapman. The eldest of 5 sons, he was raised in Victoria. He was a teacher and author; he wrote “A montage of chapmannals : over nine decades”, ca. 2000.
Born in Forchheim near Karlsruhe, Germany, Oberle moved with his family to German-occupied Poland in 1941. There he was placed in a Hitler Youth indoctrination program. Later, he fled the Red Army advance, surviving on grass and stolen eggs while walking 800 kilometres to his home village in the Black Forest. Rejected by his relatives, he immigrated to Canada at the age of 19 and became a logger and then a gold miner.
Oberle entered municipal politics, becoming mayor of Chetwynd. He entered federal politics and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1972 general election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Prince George—Peace River, British Columbia. He subsequently won re-election five times.
In 1985, Oberle became the first German-born federal Canadian cabinet minister when he became Minister of State for Science and Technology in Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's government. He later became Minister of State for Forestry, and then Minister of Forestry in 1990. Oberle retired from Cabinet when Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as Prime Minister, and retired from politics with the dissolution of the 34th Canadian parliament for the 1993 election.
In 2004, Oberle published a memoir of his World War II experiences, Finding Home: A War Child’s Journey to Peace (2004). A second memoir, A Chosen Path: From Moccasin Flats to Parliament Hill, was published in the same year.
Roy Stewart was President of the Interior University Society at one time. The Interior University Society was incorporated in 1987 after organizational efforts initiated by Tom Steadman, Bryson Stone and Charles McCaffray. The society’s objectives were to promote the establishment of a university in Prince George, B.C., later to be known as the University of Northern British Columbia. The first president of the society was Prince George lawyer W. Murray Sadler. The Society launched a membership campaign in 1987, retained the services of Dr. Urban Dahllof to undertake a feasibility study, and conducted a survey to determine the support level in northern B.C. for a university. In October, 1988, the society’s proposals and studies were presented to the provincial cabinet. In 1989, an Implementation Planning Group was established, chaired by Horst Sander. The planning group completed its study and reported to the government in December of 1989, recommending a full-status university be established in the north.
William George was father of Katheleigh George, both of Takla Lake First Nation. He lived in Takla Landing, BC. This material is held by the NBCA under MOU.
During the 1980s, Rip Kitchen supplied the Bear Lake community newspaper with monthly accounts of the history and growth of the area. As one of the pioneer residents of the Crooked River community, Kitchen told stories about its early history in a column entitled "Crooked River Chronicles," detailing the construction of both the railroad and the Hart Highway. From his restoration of early farm equipment and other work around the popular heritage site to his service on its Board of Directors, Kitchen contributed in many ways to the work of the Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage Heritage Society. Kitchen was also active with the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum. Kitchen received the Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History Award 16 February 2003.
Ron A. Sebastian is from the Gitxsan and the Wet'suwet'en Nations. His name is Gwin Butsxw from the house of Spookw of the Lax Gibuu Clan (Wolf Clan). In the early 1970s, Sebastian studied carving and design at the Kitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Native Art at ‘Ksan Village, Hazelton, B.C. His work, which includes wood carvings (masks, bowls, bent boxes, rattles, talking sticks, rhythm canes, murals and totem poles of all sizes), graphic art, and gold and silver jewellery, can be found in museums and private collections throughout North America, Europe and Japan. His larger pieces include three murals, carved together with Earl Muldoe, for the main lobby of Les Terrasses de la Chaudiere, new home of the Department of Indian Affairs in Hull, Quebec ; a cedar panel carved together with brother Robert E. Sebastian for a new school in Takla Landing ; a round mural carved for the Smithers Dze_l_K'ant Friendship Center ; and a totem pole carved for the front of the Two Rivers Art Gallery in Prince George. In 1992, Sebastian carved an elaborate pair of Chief's chairs and a talking stick with a base stand for UNBC. These carvings are used on special occasions (such as Convocation) by the President and Chancellor. The mace, ceremonial chairs and the doors to the University Senate were carved by Ron A. Sebastian, and were presented in early 1992, in time for the inaugural Convocation. The mace/talking stick includes thirteen traditional Indian crests, which represent all the tribes/clans of northern British Columbia. They are, from top to bottom: Wolf, Black Bear, Beaver, Wolverine, Caribou, Mountain Goose, Frog, Raven, Thunderbird, Fireweed, Killer Whale, Owl, and Eagle. In the centre is an additional human face representing all peoples. The mace/talking stick rests in a base of red cedar, carved in the form of a salmon, which is meant to indicate all the people in the region. The chairs include, at top and bottom, a human mask and sun, representing mankind but particularly students and counsellors, while the other symbols again represent the various First Nations peoples in the University’s region. The Chancellor’s Chair includes representations of the thunderbird, frog, beaver, grouse, fireweed, owl, eagle, and killer whale, with arm rests carved in the shape of a wolf. The President’s Chair includes representations of the grizzly bear, wolf, caribou, black bear, crow, frog, moose, and mountain goose, with arm rests carved in the shape of a raven.
Mary Millicent Fallis was born in 1912 in the Okanagan region (possibly) of British Columbia to Mable Lavinia (née Hockin) and the Rev. George O. Fallis. Her father was a Methodist minister in Penticton until 1913 when he moved his young family to Kamloops. During the autumn of 1915, the Rev. Fallis C.B.E., B.A., B.D., D.D. left his Kamloops pastorate to go oversees with the Canadian Expeditionary Force as their Chaplain. Her mother took Mary, then three years old, to Grand Pré, Nova Scotia where they stayed with her maternal grandparents the Rev. Arthur and Mrs. Annie Marie Hockin and her aunt Hilda. While the spring of 1916 saw the birth of her brother George, the summer saw the Fallis family move once again after Mary’s grandfather accepted his last Methodist pastorate in the town of Berwick, Nova Scotia just prior to his retirement.
Following his 1920 (?) discharge as Senior Protestant Chaplain from the Chaplaincy Corps, Col. the Rev. George O. Fallis moved his family from the East Coast back West where, in 1923, he became the founder of the Canadian Memorial Chapel. Mary entered Grade 8 in Vancouver, B.C. After highschool she attended the University of British Columbia (UBC) where she majored in English, minored in French and was strongly involved with the Home Economics Club, the Women’s Track Club, and the Letters Club. Upon her graduation from the Faculty of Arts in 1932, Mary Fallis taught English for a number of years. As a UBC alumnus she was also actively involved with the UBC Alumni Association, the University Women’s Club and the UBC Senate.
In 1969, Mary Fallis moved to Prince George to become one of the founding members of the English Department at the College of New Caledonia. Upon her retirement in 1972 she remained in Prince George where she could further her passions for exploring the Canadian wilderness, photography, gardening, and environmental activism. In April 1985 Mary received an Award of Merit in Recreation from the City of Prince George for her tireless campaign efforts towards the preservation of parklands and wilderness areas in the Prince George region (most notably Moore’s Meadow and Cottonwood Island Park). Her hobby of nature photography assisted in these environmental campaigns as she was known to have used her beautiful images as a presentation tool to help convince City Council of the value of parks and nature preserves. Several of Mary's photos have also been used as illustrations in publications such as Wild Trees of BC by Sherman Brough (1998) and Ocean to Alpine edited by Cam and Joy Findlay (1992).
Mary Fallis joined the Vancouver Section of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) in 1949 and remained an active member for the next 50 years. In 1999 Mary was made an ACC Life Member. Over the years she took part in14 ACC Camp outings: 13 of which being held in the Rockies, as well as, the 1967 ACC Centennial Camp beside the Steele Glacier in Kluane Park, Yukon. She also involved herself in other ACC–Vancouver Section activities such as maintaining its archives, book restoration and library development. She put in several season’s work as Photographic Chairman of the ACC-Vancouver Section photo competitions in the early 1950s, and for the ACC-National Club black & white and colour competitions, 1954-1958.
As something of a bibliophile, Mary’s extensive library grew to include many works by Canadian, and especially Western Canadian authors. Mary Fallis is perhaps best remembered, however, as a naturalist and gardener; capturing her passion for the flora and landscapes of northern British Columbia through her photographic lens. In 1994 Mary Fallis was made a Friend of the University of British Columbia: she died on 8 September 1999 after suffering heart failure and additional health complications. Following her death, the estate of Mary Fallis donated her extensive library collection to the UNBC Library. The estate also generously transferred a large portion of Mary’s photographic and textual materials to the University. This photographic collection now comprises part of the Mary Fallis fonds.
In tribute to her life, the Friends of Mary Fallis established a memorial scholarship in her name for future English students at the University of Northern British Columbia. Endowment funds for this scholarship resulted from the proceeds of a 9 April 2000 concert at Vanier Hall which saw the performance of Mary’s niece, Canadian operatic singer Mary Lou Fallis
Louis Dixon was a Justice of the Peace.
Lois Ruth Boone is a Canadian politician who served as MLA for Prince George North from 1986 to 1991, and Prince George-Mount Robson from 1991 to 2001, in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. She is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party.
Born in Vancouver, BC on April 26, 1947, Lois Ruth Boone began her political career as a School Trustee in Prince George in 1981 and later joined the British Columbia New Democratic Party. She served as MLA for Prince George North from 1986 to 1991, and Prince George-Mount Robson from 1991 to 2001, in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. She held a number of political positions in the Executive Council of British Columbia, including Minister of Government Services, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Minister of Transportation and Highways, Minister for Children and Families and Deputy Premier.
After stepping down from provincial politics, Lois was re-elected as a school trustee for School District #57. In October 2010 Lois announced she would seek the NDP nomination in the by-election in the federal riding of Prince George-Peace River. At the November 23rd, 2010 School District #57 public board meeting, she announced she would not be seeking renewal of her position as vice-chair of the board nor would she be seeking re-election as a trustee. Lois Boone lived and worked in Prince George for over 40 years.
Paul Ramsey is a Canadian academic and politician. A member of the New Democratic Party, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Prince George-North in 1991 and re-elected in 1996, serving until 2001.
Ramsey was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in English in the United States before moving to Canada to attend the University of British Columbia. Ramsey held teaching and administrative jobs at institutions in the United States and Canada before becoming an instructor at the College of New Caledonia in 1975. He entered politics via his involvement in the CNC Faculty Association where from 1987 to 1989, he served as president of the College-Institute Educators Association of British Columbia.
His first cabinet appointment was as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Forests. In September 1993 he was appointed Minister of Health and Minister Responsible for Seniors where he served until February 1996 when he became Minister of Education, Skills and Training. From June 1996 to January 1997, he was appointed Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks. In January 1997 he returned to the Ministry of Education, Skills, and Training where he remained until February 1998 when he became Minister of Education. On September 21, 1999 he was appointed Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations and on November 1, 2000 he added the role of Minister Responsible for Northern Development.
Ramsey is currently a Visiting Professor in Political Science at the University of Northern British Columbia and has a wife and two grown children.
In 1931 John D. Galloway wrote “Placer-mining in British Columbia”.
Joe Mandur's Haida name is 7iidgyaa Kauyss, which means "Our Precious One". He was surrounded by fine native carving at an early age. Since that time he has continued to explore the carved form in traditional and non-traditional media, always showing a deep respect for the traditional elements of Haida design.
June Swanky Parker is a Prince George artist and member of the "Milltown Six"- a group of female artists from Prince George including: Doris Ditarro, Caroline Moorehouse, Ann Bogle, Vivian Antoniw, Ruth Hanse.
Jack Corless was the son of prominent businessman Richard Corless who owned many businesses in Prince George including an undertaking parlor and a Hudson-Essex Car Dealership. In his youth, Jack was a prominent local athlete whose position on the Prince George Lumberman hockey team was well known by many locals. The Corless family home was located at 1276 4th Avenue in Prince George, and remained so until 1947. Upon his retirement, Jack Corless self published two autobiographical publications entitled “Lucky Jackie: Diapers to Rifles” and “Lucky Jackie: Zombie to Decorated.” The first monograph describes Mr. Corless’s childhood years in Prince George c.1920s-30s while the second describes his years overseas in the Royal Canadian Army during WWII.
Bertha Schenk was from Georgetown, Ontario.
Stuart S. Holland was Associate Engineer for the Department of Mines.
Dr. Theresa Healy, Northern Health’s Regional Manager for Healthy Community Development, Theresa has adjunct positions at UNBC in the School of Environmental Planning and in Gender Studies and is a frequent lecturer in History. In 1996, Dr. Healy taught History 407. As part of this local history course students collected oral histories on specific subjects, transcribed interviews, and wrote papers based on these interviews. Dr. Healy collected and edited these student projects and published them as "Work in Progress: A Collection of Local History Essays by Students of History 407" (Prince George: UNBC, 1996).
Michael Franklin Harcourt (born January 6, 1943) served as the 30th Premier of the province of British Columbia in Canada from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th mayor of BC's major city, Vancouver from 1980 to 1986.
Harcourt was Student Council president at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School and studied at the University of British Columbia where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. Harcourt served as a Vancouver Alderman from 1973 to 1980, and as Mayor of Vancouver from 1980 to 1986. As Mayor, his term in office was dominated by planning for Expo 86, an event that saw many new developments come to the city.
He was first elected to the British Columbia Legislature in the 1986 British Columbia provincial election. He became the leader of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia (NDP) and the Leader of the Official Opposition in the following year.
He was named as a special advisor to Prime Minister Paul Martin on cities on December 12, 2003. In November, 2007, he received an honorary doctoral degree in Law (LL.D) from UBC. In February, 2009 he was appointed Associate Director of the new UBC Continuing Studies Centre for Sustainability.
Prentiss Nathaniel Gray was born 2 July 1884 in Oakland, California. He graduated from the University of California in Berkeley in 1906, distinguishing himself academically, athletically and socially. As captain of the University Militia, he was sent on guard duty to San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake and fire. Unable to campaign because of this, Gray was nevertheless elected President of Associated Students in his senior year. Following graduation, he began working for his father’s shipping business, the California and Oregon Coast Steamship Company. He married Laura Sherman in Washington 27 May 1908. Their eldest child, Barbara was born in Northern California in 1914, and their son, Sherman was born in New York in 1918. In January 1916 he was hired as part of the American relief effort to oversee the food supplies for Antwerp. He remained in Belgium after the American declaration of war to conduct the final inventory and to balance the books, and was decorated with dozens of medals from different countries as a result. In 1920, Gray established P. N. Gray & Co., an export-import grain business. In 1923, Gray, with no banking experience, organised, staffed, and launched the J. Henry Schroder Banking Corporation in New York. During the 1920s, Gray quickly ensured Schroders prominence in the underwriting business. In the 1930s, he successfully shifted the focus of Schroders to financing foreign trade, and by the 1940s, the New York Schroder Bank was twice the size of the original J. Henry Schroder & Co. in London. Gray had an informal agreement with Frank Tiarks, managing partner of Schroders in London, that his vacation time would be unlimited as soon as the New York bank made its first one hundred thousand dollars profit. Gray’s hunting trips became longer and more elaborate as time progressed, culminating in a full year’s safari in Africa. Gray established an official measurement and scoring system for trophy animals, serving as the first editor of the Boone and Crockett Club’s Records of North American Big Game. Gray was fascinated with hunting from an early age, and began recording his trips in detail for his interested sisters during a hunting trip to the Stikine River and Cassiar Mountains in 1904. He continued this tradition throughout his life, documenting his expeditions in writings, illustrations, and photographs. Following his death at age 50 in a boating accident in the Florida Everglades, Gray's hunting and exploration journals and photographs were published by the Boone and Crockett Club in the form of two books, "From the Peace to the Fraser: Newly Discovered North American Hunting and Exploration Journals, 1900 to 1930" and "African Game-Lands: A Graphic Itinerary in Kenya and Along the Livingstone Trail in Tanganyika, Belgian Congo, and Angola, 1929". Gray Pass, a low-altitude pass through the Rockies, was named in his honour following his discovery of it during an expedition through Peace River country.
Born in Ontario on April 9, 1875, Alan Kirby “A.K.” Bourchier was Hugh Taylor’s cousin, related through Hugh's mother Lucy (nee Bourchier) Taylor. Mr. Bourchier and his wife Lillian were early pioneers of the Central Interior: moving to Alberta in 1902 and continuing on to South Fort George in 1906. Working for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, A.K. Bourchier operated a supply freight transport business via scow and crew on the Fraser River in support of the railway construction camps. From 1911 to 1912, the Bourchiers operated a store at Tete Jaune while it was still a thriving construction camp.
A.K. Bourchier also served as Justice of the Peace for South Fort George. In 1913, Stipendiary Magistrate T. Herne took a six month leave of absence for which he was never officially replaced. Instead Mr. Bourchier, as Justice of the Peace for South Fort George, and Mr. Perkins, Justice of the Peace for Fort George, were expected to absorb Herne’s extensive magisterial responsibilities. Given the massive workload now beholden to both men, and the keen need for law enforcement in the Central Interior, Bourchier resigned from his position as Justice of the Peace in protest of the lack of government support.
At about the same time, the South Fort George townsite was placed on the open market and Mr. Bourchier was commissioned to clear lots during these boom days. Later, with Mrs. Bourchier, he ran the South Fort George post office for a short time and from ca.1915 through to the late 1930s, Mr. Bourchier also operated as a local auctioneer and appraiser. In March 1917, it is also reported that A. K. Bourchier took over the business of the Northern Hotel at South Fort George.
After the death of Deputy Sheriff Andrew Siddal in January 1942, A.K. Bourchier became Acting Deputy Sheriff. He served in this capacity under M.C. Wiggins until the latter retired as county sheriff in August 1943. That same month, Mr. Bourchier was appointed sole Sheriff of the vast area of the Cariboo/Central Interior until the eventual appointment of another sheriff across the Rockies in Dawson Creek.
Alan Kirby Bourchier died of an undisclosed illness at the Prince George Hospital in January 1946 at the age of 71.
Elsie L. Gerdes was the Manager of the Northern Interior Health Unit in Prince George and a founding member of the Interior University Society (IUS). She became President of the IUS in November 1988 and resigned in May 1989 in order to participate on the Implementation Planning Group for the proposed new northern university established by Stan Hagen, Minister of Advanced Education and Training.
Al Elsey arrived in the Bella Coola region in 1951. An avid fisherman and hunter, he was drawn to the excitement of the teaming wildlife, and the fierceness of the steelhead. Elsey was the first guide to fish on and bring clients to the now famous Dean River to fish for steelhead salmon. He acquired a Bolex camera in the early 1960s and began filming around the Bella Coola, Dean River and Chilcotin regions during excursions with his guiding outfit. The result of these recordings are in this collection. Elsey currently resides in the Bella Coola region.
Mike Evans (PhD McMaster 1996) taught at the University of Northern BC, the University of Alberta, and then joined Okanagan University College, later UBC Okanagan (2005). His primary research relationships are with people in the Métis community in Northern BC, the Métis Nation of BC, the Urban Aboriginal Community of the Okanagan Valley, and the Kingdom of Tonga (in the South Pacific). Dr. Evans has been involved in several community based research initiatives, and in particular has a long-term relationship with the Prince George Métis Elders Society. Together with Elders and community leaders in Prince George he put together a Métis Studies curriculum for UNBC and a number of publications including What it is to be a Métis (Evans et al 1999), A Brief History, of the Short Life, of the Island Cache (Evans et al 2004).
He is currently working with the Elders Society and Stephen Foster and Colleagues from UBC Okanagan, UNBC and the University of Alberta on a participatory video project. As Research Director for the Métis Nation of BC, he serves on the Métis National Council National Research Initiative, helped form the Research agenda for the Métis Nation of BC, and has worked extensively with colleagues at the MNBC on a number of research projects over the last few years. He has supervised graduate students working on urban aboriginal issues and topics related to community based Métis history and geography across Western Canada. He is currently Associate Professor and Head in Community, Culture, and Global Studies at UBC Okanagan.
Herb Daum was the webmaster of the Cassiar Community Website.
Born in 1953 in Alberta, Dale lived in Prince George from 1978 to 2006, serving in many high-profile positions. From 1983 to 2001, McMann was the CEO of the Prince George Region Development Corporation. Dale McMann was one of the founding members of the Interior University Society (IUS) and served on the first IUS Executive. The Prince George Regional Development Corporation was the group which gave the Interior University Society the seed money to get started.
Dale McMann is very involved in softball organizations. By 1986, Dale was serving as president of Softball B.C. and in 1990, he was elected president of Softball Canada, and kept that position for 11 years. Dale also served as the International Softball Federation vice-president/North America for 16 years (1993-2009). While handling those posts, Dale was integral in planning and decision-making for World Championship and Olympic competitions. Dale’s input was crucial as the ISF established its headquarters in Florida. Dale McMann was inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Currently, McMann serves as the Executive Regional Director of BC Housing, and has since 2005. Previously, he was the Regional Director of the British Columbia Buildings Corporation (2001-2005).
E. N. Clark and Leo Marchant were two British newspapermen who travelled on foot from sea to sea across Canada. They left Montreal, Quebec on the 8th of August 1908 and arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia approximately 121days later. According to a travel journal written by Sinclair Thomson Duncan (1911), “the two men set out on the journey without money and food, so that highway- men would find nothing on them to rob, and they carried no firearms or any kind of dangerous weapons. With the exception of tramps, who gave them some trouble, they were allowed to pass along unmolested, and received enough to eat as they passed from stage to stage on the railway track.”