I was born in Vernon, British Columbia, and while I was still an infant, my father was transferred to Vancouver, B.C. I completed my high school education and obtained a teaching degree. My father died when I was in elementary school so I started to work in a bakery on Saturdays to help my mother pay for my education. As my father had been the chief telegrapher for the C.P.R., I went to his former superior and was hired as a messenger for my summer holidays. I did this all through high school and managed to earn enough to complete my education.
The summer after my graduation as a teacher, I had to obtain a job. As I had been able to take typing and shorthand, in addition to my matriculation subjects, I managed to obtain a good job with a large insurance firm. I was very up front at the time of my interview and informed the personnel manager that I had no plans to remain with the company after the summer holidays, as I planned to teach school. During the summer, the lady who was a department head had a nervous breakdown. I was called into the Board Room and was asked if I would remain after the summer. As I really liked all the mathematics that I was doing as a calculator of premiums, etc., I decided to accept their offer. The company paid my expenses to attend night classes to become an underwriter. After the lady was ready to return to work, the doctor advised her to not take over the responsibility of her former job as a department head. I remained with the company and circumstances arose so that I decided to move to California. My mother had remarried when I was in college and had moved to California.
During the time I had been on my own, I moved to a different section of Vancouver and transferred to another church. During this time, Jack Fawkes had moved into a house next door to the manse and our minister’s wife suggested that he come over to our Young People’s meeting. I met him while I was playing badminton. He joined in and made the fourth player. He attended church along with the group and then, suddenly, he moved. I never saw him for a couple of years. All of a sudden, he reappeared in our church. At this point in time, I was in the middle of completing my plans to move to the U.S.A. We went out a few times and just as I received my green light to leave, Jack had been requested to return home. Now, I did not know he was from a farming community in Alberta because when I met him, he was attending the University of British Columbia, taking pharmacy. I did not know that he was an ex-Air Force serviceman so had not known about his attending school to obtain his matriculation and then on to U.B.C. He was in his second year and returned to Alberta to assist his father at the same time that I made tracks to start my new life in the U.S.A. Jack and I corresponded for several years and then he came down to visit California and see what it was like. The next year, I came north and visited with Jack and his family on the farm that turned out to be a large cattle ranch.
I will digress a bit as I must mention that the very first letter that Jack wrote to me explained that he had married during the war and had a daughter and then after the war he had a son. He divorced his first wife and was given custody of the two small children. When he was called home, he naturally took the children with him. I did meet the children on my first visit but they were spending the summer with their maternal grandparents in Calgary.
I returned to Fresno, California, and we continued to correspond. The next year, circumstances arose and I took a friend to Canada and we drove up to Edmonton and I visited at the farm for a very few days. Jack and I discussed my returning to Canada and so my friend and I returned to Fresno. I decided to return to Calgary and obtain a job and an apartment. Further circumstances arose and I found out Jack’s mother had just been admitted to the hospital for surgery. I drove right out to the farm and immediately learned how to feed a crew of harvesters! As this was still during the summer, Jack’s children were not at the farm. I remained at the farm and Jack’s mother recuperated from her varicose veins removal and when I announced that I was going to Calgary to do what I had planned, Jack decided that we would get married. So, on December 16, 1957, we took off for the city and telephoned Dr. Switzer of the Central United Church and made an appointment to be married in the chapel. Dr. Switzer had been our minister at Canadian Memorial United when Jack and I first met. So, I became a full-fledged farmer’s wife.
This was quite a change from always living in a large city. I knew that I was physically able to handle the responsibilities but was I mentally prepared? Jack’s daughter was thirteen and his son was ten, so I had a ready-made family! We had a daughter and a son and now had two teenagers, plus two babies. We remained on the farm which was in a tiny town called Namaka located eleven miles south-east of Strathmore, just south of the Trans Canada Highway, until we retired to Canmore in October, 1973.
We have spent twenty-six wonderful years here. We were very involved with the Royal Canadian Legions in Strathmore and Canmore until 1987. In September of 1987, Jack became the president of the Canmore Seniors Association and I joined the Board of Directors as the sports coordinator. I joined the Alberta Seniors’ Citizens Sport and Recreation Association in 1986 and became the provincial secretary in 1991. In 1997, I became vice-president for Southern Alberta and was responsible for the four southern zones. During my tenure in this position, I have travelled throughout Southern Alberta from border to border. In September, 1997, I stepped down from my responsibilities as sports coordinator for the Canmore Seniors’ Association.
As I think back, I realize I started volunteering when I was in high school. At that time, I belonged to C.G.I.T. (Canadian Girls in Training) and became the editor of the magazine, GITOM (Girls in Training’s Own Magazine). I assisted in the preparation and issuing of about thirty-two pages, five times a year. I assisted with all the writing of articles from reporters from other C.G.I.T. groups in B.C. I also participated in the actual printing of the paper. Before I graduated from this organization, I had about twenty or more girls in a Sunday School class and then the same group of girls were in my mid-week C.G.I.T. Group. I also volunteered as a sports director at summer camps for underprivileged children. I considered these camps as a summer vacation after I had worked during my own summer break from school.
In 1980, I decided to really get involved in politics so became a member of our own Bow River Progressive Conservative Constituency Association. Gordon Taylor was the Member of Parliament and I was elected as the secretary of this federal party. I held this position after Gordon Taylor retired and Louise Feltham was elected as the Member of Parliament of our Wild Rose Constituency. I am still a member of the Board of Directors. I was also secretary of the Banff/ Cochrane Progressive Conservative Provincial Constituency Association for Greg Stevens, M.L.A., from 1979 until his retirement in 1989. I remained as secretary after Brian Evans became M.L.A. I am no longer a member of the Banff/ Cochrane Board of Directors.
Jack and I both volunteer for most cross-country ski events that are held at the Canmore Nordic Centre. In 1988, we both were volunteers for the 1988 Winter Olympics. We had a venue in Canmore where the Nordic portion of the Nordic combined competition took place, as well as the cross-country events. I consider this experience as one of the most rewarding and enjoyable of my life. We also had five people as our guests as we were involved in the Adopt-A-Parent program. The year following, our West German guests from Bavaria invited us to visit them and we stayed as their guests in a hotel they owned. At the present time, I am secretary-treasurer of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Royal Canadian Legion, Three Sisters Branch #3, Canmore. I have been a member since 1959 when I joined the organization in Strathmore. I transferred to our local branch in 1974.
Jack and Vera Fawkes dressed to see the Queen, special invitation, 1990
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p. 75-77.
