The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 81

‘TERRACE STANDARD

SECTION B .
JENNIFER LANG ce
638-7283 -
ee eee

INSIDE
COMMUNITY
EVENTS B2

| Showcasing
our heritage

MY. POINT. OF VIEW
ARON STRUMECKI

When fate intervenes

FTER I made the decision to move

back to Terrace, I got a lot of ques-

tions, but most of were the same.
“Why would you want to move there?”

Everyone thought I was crazy, but deep in-
side, I knew it was something had to do.

Vd moved away almost ten years ago, ta
the mighty Okanagan, everyone’s favourite ho-
liday destination. It’s been a long time. I may
have grown up in Terrace, but it was in the
Okanagan that I matured. In Penticton © fin-
ished high-school. In Kelowna I finished uni-
versity. In the Okanagan I found life, love, lib-
erly, and a lot of good friends. It was there I
broke my first story.

I alse found a lot of nepotism, poor paying
jobs, and a brutally competitive job market. To

people, and J didn’t know the right people.
Eventually, after I finished university, my
little group of friends started going to go our

Calgary, but most of them ended up in Van-

city, or wanted to go there, and I thought I
wasn't far behind.

I started looking at job listings, grad
schoals, and rent prices in other cities. I told
myself I would figure out where I’d go by the
end of the summer, and I even looked into

: Tight.
T couldn’t make up my mind.
That’s when the hand of fate intervened.

figure otit what to do with myself, when I met
"some. peaple from Terrace, Peter and Dorothy.
We talked for a while, including my interest in
travel. That’s when Peter suggested that
maybe F should consider coming home.

‘He'd actually been to Terrace
and he liked it. He talked like the
whole fown was run by hippies.’

It hit me like a ton of bricks,

Move back to Terrace?

I thought he was crazy. After all, the natural
progression of things is thal people from smal-
ler cities leave for the bigger ones, they don't
move back It’s like a law of evolution isn’t it?

But by the time I got back to Kelowna the
-idea had firmly planted itself in my head. 1
Started getting nostalgia attacks every time I
Saw grey Clouds overhead. I started longing for
those long, drizzly, rainy days best spent by
the fire. ] felt the sudden urge to run out in the
middle of rainstorms, just to feel the water on
my head.

What fresh horror was this?

Could I sink any lower?

But indeed I could,

E did.

When I started going on nature hikes 1 knew
I was done for.

Since 1 left, [ naturally kept an ear open for
news from the old home town, but no-one
knew where it was, No one, that is, except one
of my dissident friends, He’d actually been to
Terrace and he liked it. He talked like the
whole town was tun by hippies.

He made Terrace sound fun, so obviously
the guy knew nothing about the place where I
grew up. If Terrace would be a star, it would
be the furthest possible place from the centre
of the universe.

1 tried desperately to block out of these trai-
torous thoughts out by dreaming of exotic, and
warm far-away places. But the fuzzy feeling

there were no jobs in the North, especially if
you’se a writer, but every journalist worth his
salt knows you've got to spend time ‘in the lit-
tle-leagues before you can go to bat for the
majors. My work I can do anywhere, -

For some odd, unknown, gad-forsaken rea-
son, I really did miss my ald home town, and I

seen Since I moved. J had to po back If only for
a little whiie.
So I moved.

Now that I’m here, I haven't regretted the

decision at all. I’ve only been back a month,

' but I already feel like I'm part of the commun-

_ ting reacquainted with friends and family, and
. enjoying everyone’s warmth and hospitality.
I guess what they say is. true - you can take
the boy out of the country, bul you tan’ t take
- the country out of the boy.

hippies | are.

separate ways. Some went east to Montreal, or .

teaching English overseas, but nothing seemed

1 was in. Vancouver at the time, trying to

didn’t go away.’I tried to telling myself that.

really missed my family. A lot of them I hadn’t :

‘ity, and in a very strange, twilight zonish feel- .
* ing, it’s like I’ve never left. It’s been great get-

pet anywhere, you had to know the right |

couver, Everyone seemed to be moving to. the ,

_

“Now ail T have to do is Figure where the -

By JENNIFER LANG

IN REAL ESTATE terms,

they’re known as “Old
Timers”.

Home decor magazines
call them “character
homes.”

Bul to two local history
buffs, Helen Haselmeyer-
and Yvonne Moen, they’re
an enduring symbol of Ter-
race’s pioneer history and
are worthy of our apprecia-
tion and understanding.

Their brand-new book,
This Old House, is a com-
pendium of more than 80
local homes that were
built pre-1940 and are still
standing proud today.

“There’s quite a lot of
history in here,” Moen
Says.

Many of the homes in
the book have been lov-
ingly cared for over the
years. Others haven't fared
so well.

“I hope that anyone that
owns these homes takes
pride and actively restores
them.” Moen advises,
“Give them some tender
loving care!”

Along with descriptions
and photographs of the
homes, the authors man-
aged to track down the
names of the original ow-
ners,

The oldest home docu-
mented in the book be-
longed‘to the Franks, early

settlers in the area. Built
by Henry Frank in 1908,
the home survived a de-
vastating flood in the

. Skeena River that washed

away a neighbouring
homestead and some 30-
odd acres of property.
Today, aged 93, it still
stands next to the Skeena

. River, on Frank Street.

Curicusly, a number of
the homes described in
This Old House are no
longer in their original lo-
cations.

“A lot of them have
been moved all over
Terrace,” Moen says,

That’s a tradition that
continues to this day -
consider the recent arrival
on Medeek Ave, of a home
from the former Alcan
company town of Kemano.

But that modern-day ef-
fort pales in comparison to
the story of how E.T. Ken-
ney hired Fred Gibbs to
haul prospector Jack Bell’s
1920 miner’s cabin. down
from Thormhill Mountain to
the shores of Lakelse Lake
to be reassembled.

Moen and Haselmeyer,
who paired up on a com-
panion book, How Our

Streets Were Named, spent

two years researching and
writing This Old House.
Their tasks included
talking to old pioneers and
their adult children about

BEAUTIFULLY PRESERVED HOME: Yvonne Mosn stands in front of a house
once owned by former Skeena MLA Duddley Little and his wife Mary, a town
councillor, Built in 1938, it ramains a shining example of Terrace's heritage.

their former family homes.

Moen . credits
people with providing the
assistance needed to com-
plete the book.

Remarkably, none of.
the homes in the book are.

on the city’s list of de-
signated heritage sites, a

distinction given to just -

two local sites, the old ce-
metery and Heritage Park
Museum.

That list used to include
the small house at the cor-
ner of Kalum and Lakelse
that’s currently home to
Cafe Mecca because it's

an old RCMP building

built in 1912.

those |

“There were 100 in B.C,
of the same design. This is

_the only one left.”

But when the property
owner wanted to sell, the
city took it off the heritage
list. :

“Once a house has been

. Gesignated as a heritage

building, it should be left
so,” Moen says..“It really
annoys me.”

She thinks the time. is
ripe for showcasing our
town’s history, including
our heritage buildings, as
part of a larger strategy to
diversify our resource-
based economy by appeal-
ing to tourists.

One idea is to offer

tours of heritage homes

here this summer,

Meanwhile, although
Moen and Haselmeyer
aren’t planning another
joint project, there’s no
chance either one will run
out of local history pro-
jects to chase any time
soon.

“There’s so much out
there!”

Moen and Haselmeyer
will be at Coles books in
the Skeena Mall Feb. 24
from 12 to 4 p.m. promot-

“ing their books and a var-

iety of local history baoks.

mw City souvenir

MAYOR JACK TALSTRA hands out City of Terrace pins to some young
Sparks in council chambers. The mayor has proclaimed Feb. 18-25 Scout-
Guide week in Terrace. Planned events include a flag-raising at city hail Feb.
18, a church service and informal campfire, World Thinking Day Feb. 21,
when scouts and guides wear uniforms to school, and the Hike For Hunger
Feb, 24, in support of tha Terrace Churches Faod Bank.

City loses longtime resident

MANY HOME owners and
church goers in Terrace
owe a debt of gratitude to
Fred Gibbs.

Fred, who passed away
Feb, 2 at Terraceview
Lodge at the age of 94,
built a number of homes in
Terrace and Lakelse Lake.

An active member of
the Pentecostal church for
many years, Fred was in-
‘strumental in the construc-
tion of three Pentecostal
church buildings in Ter-
race.

Fred lived at Terrace-
view Lodge following a
stroke he suffered three
years ago, His wife Helen
would visit him daily,

Fred and Helen, mar-

‘ried in Terrace in 1935,
celebrated thelr 65th wed-
ding anniversary on Sept.

25, 2000,

Fred Gibbs

Fred was born Sept. 10,
1907 in Macaulay Town-

ship, Ontario, The eldest: of

six children, he worked his

way ‘west, arriving in Ter.
fee in n 1932, .

He found work at.

George Little’s sawmill.
Later, he became self

employed as a carpenter, a .

job that saw him involved
in the construction of
homes and buildings in
Terrace, including his
own, in 1932,

Throughout his life he
remained a generous man
who always helped others
out in any way he could.

He enjoyed hunting,
trapping and fishing,

Fred and Helen Gibbs
raised four children, and
have two grandchildren.

Memorial services were

held at the Terrace Pente-

costal Assembly Feb. 6.

“His family planned to

scatter his ashes Feb. 7 on

‘Baldy: Mountain, a favour-

{te hunting spot. —

Around Town

February is Heart month
VOLUNTEERS for the
Heart and Stroke Founda-
tion are pounding the pave-
ment once again to keep the &
beat going for research. :

They'll be going door-to-
door canvassing this month
as part of a range of activi- J
ties tied to Heart and Stroke §
Month.

“We're asking people to
give generously to support
research,” said local
campaign organizer Sonja
Comerford.

“Heart disease and slrakes are by far the number
one killer.”

She said statistics indicate 40 per cent of the
Canadian population will be directly affected by
heart disease, and 60 per cent will be indirectly af-
fected.

‘Sonja Comerford

Forum to address
HIV/AIDS rate in women

OUTDATED ATTITUDES that persist in our rural
communities are contributing to the fact that het-
erosexual women are still contracting HIV and
AIDS at an alarming rate, say the organizers of
three forums planned for Terrace Feb, 15 and 16.

The local working group that’s organizing the
Aprons and Heels workshops decided to focus on
women because HIV/AIDS is still seen as 3 men’s
disease. In the north, where there are fewer ser-
vices, women with the disease are less likely to
get the support they need, says Sarah Moreau of
K’San House Society.

“Many people in our community have miscon-
ceptions about HIV/AEDS, how it is transmitted
and whe is at risk,” says Carol Harrison, a public
health nurse wha points to the high rates of teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease seen
here as indications that young men and women are
engaging in unprolected sex.

Correction

THE LOCATION for the Kermode Aleohal and
Drug program's Rising Spirit
Four workshop is the Elks
Hall. The two and a half-day
workshop will feature facili- J
tators Lee Brown and Chief
Leonard George. Topics in- §
clude community develap-
ment on alcohol and drugs, §
prophecies, abuse, healing
and spirituality, The work-
shops take place from 8:30 ie
am. to 4:30 pm. Feb. 21 &
and 22, and from 8:30 ©
a.m. to noon Feb, 23, To
register or for more infor-
mation, call 635-7670,

Leonard George