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Who is...

Casey Braam? ©

' by Betty Barton

_Comelius (Casey) Braam is a
retired millwright, a long-time
Terrace resident and an artist.
This week, a collection of Mr.
Braam’s pen and ink drawings are
being sold as a fundraiser for a
number of local projects, including
the CT scanner and the Child
Development Centre. The Terrace
Olden Days Colouring Book was
also designed to delight children,

‘provide inspiration to artists and to
‘remind us of the rich history of

this area. This collection of four-
teen drawings recalls the days of
old in Terrace and the northwest
including; the first school in Ter-
race at Eby’s Landing, the old
water tower and army barracks at
the top of Kalum St. on the bench,
Lakelse Avenue in the mid "50s, a
riverboat at Eby’s Landing, the old
Kalum Hotel now situated at Heri-
tage Park, and the old log Orr
home on Walsh Avenue.

Casey explains, "I’ve always
liked historic buildings. I’ve saved
clippings of old photographs from
the local néwspapers and I collect
old books. From these, I sketch the
buildings in pencil."

Casey modestly pulls out a draw-
ing of the Gouda town hall in
Holland that he drew at age 13.
His eldest daughter Mary Anne

retrieved it out of her grandfather’s’

things in Holland when he died.
She presented it to her father as a
Christmas card that year. When
he first begins a piece, Casey says
he examines the photograph and
corrects the distorted lines of the

- time tong past comes alive through

‘Terrace. Casey’s wife, Phillipina,

"

buildings caused by the old camera
lenses. Then he adds light, shadow
and wind, and the feeling for a

ihe delicate strokes of his fine
crow quill pens and india ink on
paper. Casey has also worked in

charcoal, pencil and oils, but still .

feels he does his best work in pen
and ink.

Casey Braam, his wife Phillipina
and two of their eight children
moved to Terrace from a fruit
farm in Creston in March of 1954
and before that, from the Nether-
lands in 1952, All except two of
their grown children still live in

felt a strong pull to family mem-
bers living in Prince Rupert and

ihen Terrace. The family drove to.

Terrace on gravel road from
Williams Lake.

Casey's first job in Terrace was
at Sande’s Sawmill, "a good place
to work", says Casey. Not many
people quit, so it was hard to get
in. He began as a very temporary
millwright’s helper to Charlie
Houlden. The job became perma-
nent. When Charlie quit, Emie
Sande asked Casey if he thought
he could do the job. Always up for
a challenge, he said yes. “I was the
carpenter, electrician, millwright
— had never had anything to do
with it before," laughs Casey. His
artist’s eye has held him in good
stead in everything he’s done. He
worked at Sande’s as a millwright
until after the mill closed in 1966.
Casey stayed on to take out the
machinery which was later sold.

In the spring of 1967, Bill

a.

—

Check out. the parts.
& service specials ._

—

~

A special supplement to the Terrace Review and Prince Rupert This Week,

ban.

Riverboat Days guide 21

| el

THE TERRACE OLDEN DAYS COLOURING BOOK is a collection of some of the talented historic
sketches of local artist and historian Casey Braam.

McRae offered him a position at
Skeena Forest Products sawmill.
He stili hadn’t dismantled ‘all the
equipment from Sande’s mill, but

old Emie Sande encouraged him to

take the new job and then sug-
gested that he continue with
Sande’s after hours, until the work
was done. He managed both jobs
for a few months. Skeena Forest
Products changed hands quite a
few times, (it is now known as
Skeena Sawmills) but Casey con-
tinued to Work there until retire-
ment in 1987.

Since retiring, Casey has delved
into a long-time pastime of draw-
ing-in his tiny studio in their home
in the winter months. He does
crafts including building windmills,
and building and painting wooden

butterflies in the summertime. On

a tour of his neat and airy work-
shop near the house, he demon-
strated the sounds of a wonderful
band organ, often used in River-
boat Days parades, that took him
350 hours to build.

A man of many talents and
patience, he spends whole days at
his drawing table, especially if it’s
snowing or cold, and never he tires
of it. When he was working full-
time, he never seemed to get more
than ten minutes at a time to work
on his art..He claims that you
could tell where he stopped and
where he would begin again. Now
his drawings flow much more
smoothly, he says.

Patrons of the arts in Terrace will
already be familiar with the unique

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Braam pen and ink drawings, both
historical in perspective and of
nature, as well. Each November,
he sells at the Christmas Craft Fair
in the Skeena Mall. He says he |
does his best business there.
People especially like his old
churches and drawings of buildings
that no longer exist. Casey Braam
has done more than 350 pen and
ink drawings and he keeps meticu-
lous records of when, to whom and
for how much, cach drawing is
sold.

Braam is currently writing the
Braam family history as a legacy
for his children and his children’s
children. He began the work with
an old manual $30 typewriter. He’s

cont'd pg 22