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Age a Ee

Norma Bennett?

by Betty Barton

Norma Bennett is a long-time
Terrace resident, although she was
born almost 80 years ago in
Wetaskwin, Alberta; A former co-
owner of The Motel, along with
her husband, Bill (a Seniors Games
runner); and the creator of a com-
pilation of area history, from the
early 1900s.

The Bennetts arrived in Terrace
in 1958. Bill had worked as second
steward on the CPR Coast Princess
Lines before and after the war, so
he was familiar with the area.

‘Norma had been a code and cipher

officer in the Air Force in Ottawa
and remembers Terrace being
described as “the end of the
world".

She and Bill came to Terrace to
look at Tuck’s Auto Court when
they were in the market for a
motel to operate. When the real

estate agent discovered that they

weren’t very impressed with the
auto court, he tried to talk them
into following him to Fort St. John
to look at a mote! there. Norma
said she would have nothing to do
with going there!

That same evening, they went to
The Motel for dinner, the best
place to eat in Terrace at the time.
As soon as they walked in, the
Bennetts knew this was what they
wanted. It was a hot day, the res-
taurant was very crowded and
when they asked the cook-propri-
etor if she’d like to sell, she read-
ily agreed.

For 29 years, until their retire-
ment in 1989, the Bennetts ran The
Motel (now the Old Bridge Prop-
erties). They ran the dining room
for the first seven years after they
bought the business, until Bill

suffered an injury which prevented

him from doing heavy work
around the place for a number of
months.

"It was fun," says Norma, "I
never regretted it."

A teacher in Alberta and an
instructor in the Air Force, Norma
also found the time to substitute

HEART
AND STROKE
FOUNDATION OF
B.C. & YUKON

teach at Skeena high school for a
number of years. .

The origina! idea for a history of
the area was sparked by a B.C.-
Alaska Affiliation meeting in the
old Civic Centre in Terrace in the
early °60s. Norma was asked to
coordinate a display of local his-
tory for the visitors. .

She and her committee built
replica of an old log cabin in the
Civic Centre and decorated it with
old-time newspaper articles from
the Omineca Herald newspaper,
old Sears and Eatons catalogues (a
big hit!), native and new Canadian
exhibits, and histories and photos
of local old-timers.

It was as a result of the inter-
views with the old-timers that Mrs.
Van, Heek at the public library
asked Norma Bennett 10 do a
history of Terrace. She declined
and Nadine Asante took on the
project. Years later, Norma started
a book that turned into a compila-
tion of various people’s research
and recollections of the old days.

With the able assistance of Ken.
Kerr ("I couldn’t have done it
without him," says Norma with
gratitude), Ted Johnston, Ken
Fuergutz, Claire Giggey, Floyd

Frank, Gordon Little, Carl Pohle, _

Edith Kawinski, the Provincial
Archives and "everybody else",
Norma Bennett has compiled three

volumes of local history. "It’s been .

a community effort," explains
Norma, "The book is not mine. It’s
largely the work of the pioneers
themselves. The pioneers have so
many stories, so I took ones that
were representative of the times."

Norma commences her book with
a quotation from Ecclesiastes 3:1:

"To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under

the heaven." The compilation of
historical’ information is divided
into five sections for easy refer-
ence and contains a plethora of
photographs from the era.

The Seasons talks about the
riverboats on the Skeena. Mrs.
Bennett has gathered many ver-
sions of the Mount Royal riverboat

The organizing committee of the 2nd.
Annual Heart & Stroke Foundation
Charity Golf Scramble would like to

acknowledge the generosity of the 160

businesses and individuals who
donated the prizes and the golfers who
participated. |

Special thanks to Bruce Carruthers, Manager of the
Skeena Valley golf Course. We couldn’t have
managed without his guidance and assistance.

Thank you all,

and we will hope to see you all out next year!
All monies raised will go to research
for cardio-vascular disease.

|

Norma Bennett: The pioneers have so many stories...

_ Terrace Review —— Wednesday, September 18, 1991 li

going down in Kitselas Canyon,
including the official transcript of
the accident. She has Provincial
Archives and local photos, never
before published. The Provincial
Archives copied a number of loca!
historic photos for Norma in
exchange for one copy of each for
their files. She has a separate book
indexing each picture in her his-

torical compilation. Each is
labelled with a number and a letter
to denote donor and publisher of
each photograph.

Talking Wire recalls the days of
the telegraph with excerpts from
Robert Ross’s diary. Ross was the
son of Annie Ross, after whom
Rosswood was named. Robert met
Norma Bennett when he visited
from California several years ago.
He had worked for the Dominion
Government Telegraph in this area
from 1910 for more than 10 years.
He sent Norma his diaries from
that time to use in her book.

A picture diary, by Henry Per-
cival Rutter, of the telegraph line
from that same era, was submitted
by Margaret Bartlett of Terrace
and perfectly compliments Ross’
diaries.

OHMS (On Her Majesty’s Ser-
vice) recounts tales of mail deliv-

ery in this area in the early days,
by dog team, riverboat and horse
team.

Rails West relives the year the
Great Pacific Railway first
chugged through Terrace on its
way to Prince Rupert, the end of
the line,

And Good Neighbours weaves a
wonderful web of pioneer life in
Terrace and area. Norma records
the histories of the pioncers, both
white and native, from the begin-
ning to about 1920, with a few
exceptions. To demonstrate the
mood of the (Skeena) River,
Norma chronicled the 1936 flood,
its stories, its tragedies, its newspa-
per coverage in the old Omineca
Herald, and its photos.

Norma says modestly, "I’ve &

written little bridges to give it
more continuity.

"It was like Topsy," she adds, “It :

just growed!"

R.E.M. Lee Hospital
Foundation,

4720 Haugland Ave.
Terrace, B.C. V8G 2W7 —

A thoughtful way to remember is with an In Memoriam
gift to the R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foundation. Donations are
"gratefully accepted al the above address. Please include
the name of the deceased, your name and address, as well
as the name and address of the next-of-kin for an
acknowledgement card. Income tax receipts are available.

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