Sinclair, Clarence Friday, 13 Oct 2006
Williams Lake, BC
Clarence Lloyd Sinclair born Sept. 17, 1934 in Lake Francis, Manitoba, passed away Oct.13, 2006 at the age of 72.
Clarence spent many years as a truck driver and loader operator here in the Cariboo. When he wasn't working he enjoyed hunting, camping, fishing and spending time with family.
He passed away quickly and will be greatly missed by his wife Clara; his children Lori Fagg (Ian Sopp), Theron (Shelli) Sinclair, Shannon (Terry) McKeeman and Faron (Karen) Sinclair.
He is also greatly missed by his grandchildren Carrie (Kevin) Benastick; Amanda Bedard; Dustin Micheal and Sheldon McKeeman; Robert Fagg; Blain and Dylan Sinclair; and his great-grandchildren Kyle and Katelyn Benastick.
Walters, Leonard Saturday, 07 Oct 2006
Williams Lake, BC
On Oct. 7, 2006, Leonard Fredrick Walters passed away at the age of 78. We would personally like to thank the staff at Cariboo Memorial Hospital for their excellent care given to him on his final days.
He passed away quickly and will be greatly missed by his children Larry and Louise, Jill, Pati, Bonny and Lee and Shelley, as well as his nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. A service will be held on Nov. 5, 2006 at the Horsefly Community Club.
Miss you dad and will cherish your stories forever. Lee.
Huston, Gordon Wednesday, 04 Oct 2006
Williams Lake, BC
Gordon John Samuel Huston, born April 14, 1936 in Victoria, passed away Oct. 4, 2006 after a short but valiant fight with cancer in Williams Lake. He leaves behind his loving soulmate Becky, his sons Lorne, Grant (Lori) and Brian (Diane) and grandchildren Dustin, Daniel, David, Cassandra and Karly. He had a passion for the outdoors, horses, ball and travelling. Gordy, a "trucker" and a "chucker" will be missed by many friends, family and his daily coffee shop buddies.
All our thanks to the many doctors, nurses and friends that helped and supported him through his illness.
A service will be held Thursday, Oct. 12 at 11 a.m. at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church with a tea to follow at the Sacred Heart Hall across the street.
Solomon, Henry Wednesday, 04 Oct 2006
Williams Lake, BC
What Tsilhqot’in patriarch Henry Solomon wanted most during the past year or so he spent in care at Williams Lake Seniors Village, was to come home to his beloved Snowy Mountain Country of Nemiah Valley.
Last fall he finally got his wish when his body was laid to rest in Xeni Gwet’in, beneath the shadow of sacred Tsylos Mountain.
Henry was small in stature but big where it counts, in his heart.
Born at Toosey in 1929, Henry was 19 years old when he ran into Danny William along the Chilcotin River at Stone Village, and Danny told him there was someone he ought to meet in Nemiah Valley.
So Danny and Henry rode out to Nemiah on saddle horse and found Danny’s sister Mabel fishing for kokanee on the shores of Xeni Biny (Konni Lake). It must have been love at first sight. They were married on July 17, 1949, and went to Quesnel Billy Barker Days for their honeymoon.
Mabel was a single mom with three kids, Wilfred William, Patrick Haller and Donald Haller, but Henry quickly added to this total. He and Mabel had nine children, Margaret (who passed away as a child), Ivan, Ronnie, Emma (Pierce), Dinah (Lulua), Gilbert, Maryann, Bernie and Lenny.
Henry made his living in the tradition of the country, raising a few head of cattle, trapping, hunting, fishing, and guiding hunters and fishermen from the various lodges.
His guiding clients often invited Henry to visit them in the United States, and one fall in the 1960s he took them up on it.
Ronnie tells this story.
“Dad met Bernie Brooks at Tsuniah Lodge when he was up there fishing, and Bernie invited him to come down to California.
Dad didn’t have much money and had to hitchhike all the way. He even had to ask for food on his way down.
“When he got to the American border he crossed on foot. When the customs officer asked him where he was going, Dad said California. He just waved him through. ‘I don’t want to take too much of your time, you got a long way to go, ’ he told him.
“Dad spent some time logging in the redwoods. By the time he got home in March, our brother Bernie was born. When he was told the baby’s name, Dad was pleased. ‘I was going to call him Bernie, ’” he said.
Dinah recalls that Henry also went to Kentucky on that trip where he worked with horses.
“Dad loved horses. He always entered the Mountain Race at the Williams Lake Stampede, and he used to ride over the mountains to Lillooet and enter the mountain race there as well. He used to take Ivan to Lillooet with him.”
She says Henry’s favourite time of the year was the fall when he guided hunters.
“He loved the mountains and enjoyed taking hunters out for sheep and goats.”
Dinah recalls one time Henry took the whole family to Bella Coola one summer.
“We took the wagon and horses to Anahim Lake for the Anahim Lake Stampede, then caught a ride with somebody to Bella Coola. We spent the summer there with Billy Andy.”
Dinah says Henry was one of the victims of Indian residential school. But his career there was short and infamous.
“He kept running away. He got severely beaten with straps but he kept running away anyway. He was only there until Grade 3.”
Despite only being in school for a few years, Henry learned wisdom. Gilbert says his dad taught him to honour other people.
“When I came to him really angry, he said that person is the same as you. He put me in that other person’s shoes. I became ashamed of myself and released my anger right away.”
Gilbert recalls a story of Henry trapping across Chilko Lake with Mabel’s dad, Sambulyan.
“They had to cross the lake in the wintertime, sail right across in a dugout canoe. They had to deal with big waves and sailed right over to Franklin Arm.”
But when they got there, none of the animals were coming into their traps.
“My dad had some bad karma and Sambulyan made him swim in Chilko Lake. Dad didn’t want to, he said his feet were getting kind of stuck. But the animals were avoiding their traps because of his bad karma. So Dad dunked himself in the lake. Otherwise they would have starved and died.”
Henry was raised at Toosey by his grandmother Galin. When you went into Henry’s house in Nemiah Valley there was huge poster of Galin on the living room wall. It was an impressive photo of an old woman standing with a stick.
As legend tells it, Galin and her sister were the two sole survivors of the smallpox epidemic that killed everyone else in the village at Puntzi Lake. They were just small children living in a pit house. Eventually they were brought to Toosey near Riske Creek and raised there.
“So Dad said he learned lots of stuff from his grandmother, ” Gilbert says.
One thing that impressed Gilbert about his dad was how Henry treated American draft dodger Frank Dannenbaum who came to Nemiah Valley in 1971, aspiring to live a natural life in the wilderness. Henry gave him the name “Chendi” which means “jackpine” in the Xeni Gwet’in dialect.
“He started respecting Chendi the way he lived, ” Gilbert recalls. “He asked my dad how to make a snare to catch a coyote or a rabbit and he showed that to Chendi.”
When the police and immigration officers arrived in Nemiah and arrested Chendi for being in Canada illegally, Gilbert says his parents were very sad about it.
“He was just making a living on the land and not bothering anybody. When Chendi came back he and my parents were hugging each other. Us kids we looked at that and it made us see things different, through his eyes. My dad was different than most people I see.”
Chendi describes Henry as the kindest man he ever met.
“Without Henry suggesting I go down and camp at Bisk’yhenu on Chilko Lake, I don’t know where I’d be.”
He recalls one story he heard of Henry roping a moose one time in a hay corral then throwing it down and slitting its throat.
Dinah says Henry was famous for his story telling.
“He picked up a lot of stories from Sambulyan and passed it on to the next generation. He would always recognize the people who gave him the stories.”
Henry had an indomitable spirit. I was in Nemiah Valley one time attending the funeral of Lilly Lulua who had died much too early in life. The house where the women were preparing food and everyone was visiting was quite solemn and sad.
Then Henry came in.
Suddenly he whooped, like he was chasing cattle or scaring up wild horses, and instantly the dark cloud of despondency dissipated. Henry’s lighthearted interjection rearranged the mood that day, shifting the emphasis to celebrating life.
And that’s how one of the largest memorial gatherings in recent memory in Nemiah Valley remembered Henry Solomon on October 10, 2006, when they brought him home to rest for the last time.
Griffith, Vernon Tuesday, 03 Oct 2006
Williams Lake, BC
Vernon Richard Griffith, born Nov. 2, 1931 was a husband, father, grandfather, friend, lodge member, union organizer, political motivator, outdoors man, aviator, beekeeper, prospector, traveller...
All of these roles he leapt into with enthusiasm and a smile.
Vern passed away Oct. 3, 2006 at Cariboo Memorial Hospital.
Vern is the eldest son of Wilbert and Marjorie Griffith, with one brother Delbert Griffith and one surviving sister Joanette (Griffith) Normanton.
On July 19, 1954 Vern and Irene Mary Jane Burke wed and celebrated over 52 happy married years. From this union came one son, Lloyd, and four daughters, Wanda, Cindy (Shaw), Reta and Georgina (Nichols).
One of his proudest claims was being a grandfather to three grandsons -- Mitchell, Kerry and Dale, and three granddaughters -- Natalie, Hailey and Mallory.
Vern grew up on farms where he was particularly interested in woodwork and trapping. His love of the outdoors was inspired by his beloved uncle Jim Lattimer and Vern passed this love on to his own children and grandchildren.
One of Vern’s first jobs was as a carpenter helping to construct the NATO Air Base in Moose Jaw. Later, while working as an apprentice linesman for National Light and Power, Vern met his future wife, Irene Burke, a student teacher from Gainsborough.
While employed with National Light and Power, Vern became extensively involved with trade unions and politics, serving as Moose Jaw Labour Council president; helping to amalgamate CCL and CIO and serving on the CCF federal constituency executive.
In 1954, at 23, Vern ran as alderman for the City of Moose Jaw and lost by only 314 points.
In the fall of 1955 the family moved to Vantage, Saskatchewan, where Vern was an agent for Ogilvie Flour Mills.
In 1960 the family loaded all their worldly possessions in their 1948 Dodge and a small homemade trailer and headed to B.C. where Vern found work in Williams Lake with the B.C. Power Commission.
After the commission was downsized Vern went to work as a tail sawyer at the Regal Lumber Mill. Vern was instrumental in organizing a union at the mill. The IWA recognized his abilities and put him to work as a regional organizer.
In 1970 Vern gave up the nomadic life as an IWA organizer and returned to his first love, working with wood. He joined the local Carpenters’ Union and worked in mines, pulp mills, malls, schools, hospitals, etc. He also operated his own construction company until he retired in 1994. He served as president and business agent of the Carpenter’s and Joiners Union for 23 of the 24 years he was a member. He served on provincial apprenticeship and educational committees, and was a guest speaker at conventions.
Vern always strived to recognize, support and improve the life of the working man. His staunch defense of what he felt was right and his ability to view all sides of the situation gave him an advantage in negotiations.
Vern enjoyed a wide range of hobbies including ballroom dancing. When he and Irene first started dating they were chosen to represent Moose Jaw in a major ballroom dancing competition in Regina.
Vern was also a polished pool player and enjoyed curling. As a boy he dreamed of playing the fiddle. At a bonspiel in Assinaboia his team placed second and won two cases of motor oil. Vern sold his half-case of oil for $10. and spent $9.99 on a fiddle, lesson book, and pitch pipe. With time and a lot of help from a blind musician named Jerome Kunz, Vern learned to play and mastered many tunes.
In 1974 Vern learned to fly and took great pleasure in flying his children around the Cariboo-Chilcotin in his co-owned Taylorcraft.
At one time Vern also had up to 50 beehives in his apiary.
For a number of years Vern umpired the ladies softball league.
His youngest daughter Georgina watched him in his role as “Vampire” -- her word for umpire, and occasionally questioned his calls on her favourite teams. He was always a good sport.
His love for the outdoors included trapping, camping, fishing, fly-fishing, and hunting. He never missed an opening day of hunting season and enjoyed three fly-in hunting trips in Northern B.C.
Vern possessed extensive knowledge of the history and geography of the Cariboo-Chilcotin and took great pride in his community. He enjoyed sharing his knowledge of the Cariboo and it’s rich history.
Reading allowed Vern to knowledgeably discuss many different interests and to travel the world and beyond. Some of these topics would include astronomy, geology, local lore, history, and more recently forensics, which was his grandson’s profession.
Vern was an active member of the Williams Lake Elks Lodge for almost 40 years and enjoyed being able to give back to the community. Vern, with Irene at his side, were an impressive team when it came to selling raffle tickets for fundraising draws.
Vern was immensely proud of all of his family and their accomplishments be it sports, academic, or career advancements.
He will be sorely missed for his wisdom, advice, caring, smiles and big hugs by his family and they can take comfort in the fact that he richly touched so many lives.
