One of my part time hobbies is making tribute DVD's for family and friends for birthday and other occassions. I have an addiction to old photos and the history surrounding them.
I have the honour to work on one at the moment for a friend of my sister-in-law. Her grandmother was born 100 years ago on June 7 in a small, remote fishing village off the coast of BC. This lady has seen so much in her last century that I am in absolute awe of her legacy.
She was born in a time when First Nations people were barely recognized in their own ancestral homes, and their culture was not only shunned but it was illegal for them to have their ceremonies. A simple Potlatch would have the missionaries running for the police to throw them in jail. She and her brothers were sent to Residential schools as young children for re-education.
Vi was born before the first radio communication, was 10 years old when the first World War broke out and 30 years before Elvis was born.
I am having a challenging but enjoyable time trying to get her life into a picture filled tribute to her life. What she has seen in her century of life is nothing short of amazing. And she still goes on. She lives on her own and has no plans to slow down. A few years ago, they visited a few homes for the aged, but she became even more resolute that this was not where she was headed.
An article was written about her in 2003 in the local paper:
Thomas J. was a veteran of the First World War, who served overseas with the 54th battlaion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in France, where he was eventually wounded. His job was to take supplies to the soldiers in the trenches and it was during one of those trips that he was wounded. Luckily, his wife says, he fell on top of his horse, which took him back to the Army camp.
Now 98, Violet still has the bullet that went through her husband's chest, just missing his heart. The rough pointed piece of metal looks more like a small arrowhead when she takes it out of the pillbox where it's kept.
Sadly, she lost her husband 35 years ago now.
As I go through her scrapbooks, and her pictures, I am just amazed by her life and what she has seen and been through. The place she was born is now long abandoned and is not even on a map. It's a window into the past that we have such rare opportunities to see.
