1969

Above: Carol Lucas, Miss P.N.E., speaking at event with Gizeh Temple Shrine Divan members in background. Gizeh Temple Shrine moved into its new headquarters at the present location in 1969.
[Image: Vancouver City Archives AM281-S8-: CVA 180-3265]

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You’ll note that these years include events listed under “Also in . . .” These are events for which we don’t have a specific date. If YOU know the specific date of an event shown there, please notify us . . . and cite the source! Many thanks!
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January 26 Local Anglicans consecrated the Reverend T. David Somerville as Coadjutor Bishop to Archbishop Godfrey Gower. Nearly 5,000 people attended the service in the PNE Agrodome.

January Kenneth Hare stepped down after seven months as president of UBC and Walter Gage became president again. Gage had been interim president in 1967-68. This term will last to 1975.

February 1 The Nine O’Clock Gun in Stanley Park was “kidnapped” by UBC Engineering students, who returned the 1,500-pound cannon for a “ransom” which was given to the Children’s Hospital.

February 23 The first scheduled hovercraft service in Canada began between Vancouver and Nanaimo. They hover no longer.

March 8 Voters in the school districts of New Westminster, Burnaby, Langley, Coquitlam, Delta, Richmond and Surrey decided in favor of establishing a regional college, the seventh in the province. It would be called Douglas College, named for BC’s first governor. See the August entry below.

March 26 Haberdasher and impresario Harry Mackenzie Hilker died, aged about 89. “He was born c. 1880 in Bruce County, Ont.,” writes Constance Brissenden. “With his son Gordon (John Gordon) Hilker (born September 19, 1913 in Vancouver; died April 28, 1991 in North Vancouver), he formed Vancouver’s first concert agency, Hilker Attractions. From 1936 to 1950 he imported more than 1,000 performers including Yehudi Menuhin, Paul Robeson and Isaac Stern. The company went into bankruptcy September 26, 1950.”

March 27 UBC’s Dr. Leonard Klinck died in West Vancouver, aged 82. He was the university’s first faculty member (dean of agriculture), in 1914, and had been president from 1919 to 1944. Leonard Sylvanus Klinck was born January 20, 1877 in Victoria Square, Ont. He was a graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College in 1903, and of Iowa State College in 1905. He took over the cereal husbandry department at McGill University. He visited Vancouver in 1914 to consult with UBC President Wesbrook, ended up being hired. Aged 37, he was appointed dean of agriculture. After Wesbrook’s sudden and unexpected death in 1919, Klinck became second president. “He supervised UBC’s growth from its early Fairview campus days, the war-delayed move to Point Grey, the controversies of the 1930s, and the trying times of WWII.”

March 29 A nine-year-old boy, Larry Richard Ehrenholz, survived a 1,200-foot fall down the icy slope of Grouse Mountain. A friend with him was killed.

March 31 Vancouver was granted its first legal coat of arms. See this site for the long, interesting and detailed history of how this symbol came to be. Longtime City Clerk Ronald Thompson, during the 1950s and 1960s, had quietly and persistently pushed council to petition the Crown to have its emblem granted as lawful heraldry.

The city has had a coat of arms since its beginning, but until they were approved by the College of Heraldry the arms weren’t official. The first design was supplanted in 1903 by a more attractive and appropriate version by James Blomfield, already celebrated locally for his work in stained glass. (The next time you dine at Romano’s Macaroni Grill on Davie Street in the West End—originally Gabriola, the 1901 mansion of sugar magnate B.T. Rogers—take time to admire Blomfield’s magnificent stained glass portrayal of the Three Graces. Also Blomfield’s work is the Queen Victoria window in St. Paul’s Anglican Church in the West End.)

The new arms were based on the 1903 Blomfield design. Changes included making the central “V” green, instead of red. The caduceus of Mercury was replaced by a Kwakiutl totem pole, one of the most familiar and most dramatic of the art forms of the West Coast First Nations. The upper part of the shield was colored gold and this new area is set with two dogwood flowers. Finally, the word air was added to the motto, acknowledging the increasing role of air transport in the City’s history. Overall, the representation of the symbol painted on the Patent showed a more contemporary styling for the various elements, notably the fisherman and the logger.

The coat of arms has been widely used. A fine decorative version, a sculpture by the late Elek Imredy, is displayed in the Council Chamber.

Robb Watt, Canada’s Chief Herald, described Vancouver’s arms for The Greater Vancouver Book: “The winged rod of Mercury, entwined with snakes (a sign of prosperity), was replaced by a totem pole of Kwakiutl design that included representations of the eagle, grizzly bear and halibut. The blue waves on the shield have been reduced in number, from seven to four, to make room for the dogwood flowers on a golden background. The dogwood is the provincial flower of British Columbia and the totem pole is one of the most recognizable forms of west coast native culture.

“The helmet on top of the shield was redesigned to include a mantle, which resembles a wavy scarf. The oar and tree branch, which were held by the lumberjack and fisherman in the previous coat of arms, were omitted but the axe and oar remained.

“The word ‘air’ was added to the motto, which now reads ‘By sea, land and air we prosper.’ It was added to recognize the increasing amount of air travel and transport that marked Vancouver as a major city on the Pacific Rim.

“The coat of arms is not a registered trademark, although it is registered with the College of Heraldry, and permission to use it must be obtained from the City of Vancouver.”

March A new YWCA building on Burrard opened.

April 16 Albert O. Koch, the “Father” of Congregation Beth Israel, died aboard a ship crossing the Mediterranean, aged 74. He was born May 1, 1894 in Long Island, NY. He came to Vancouver in 1925 from New York via Montreal and launched the National Dress Co., Vancouver’s first garment manufacturing plant. In 1940 he began Lauries dress store chain. He was a founder and the second president (1933-34, 1938-51) of Beth Israel Synagogue at 4350 Oak, and a founder of Beth Israel Cemetery (consecrated July 28, 1946). He sold Lauries January 31, 1969. On his retirement trip to Israel with his wife Henrietta, Koch suffered a stroke and died aboard ship.

April 17 James M. McGavin, bakery founder and executive, died in Vancouver, aged 86. He was born December 28, 1882 in Galston, Scotland. McGavin learned his trade in Scotland, became the bakery manager of the Darvel Co-operative Society in Ayreshire. He came to Canada in 1913, joined the J.A. Stinson Co. of Edmonton, and bought the company in 1914. In 1928 the company was incorporated as A. and J. McGavin, with his brother Allan McGavin, Sr. (born c. 1893 in Kilmarnock, Scotland; died August 29, 1955 in Vancouver). James moved to Vancouver in 1924, and was president of McGavin Bakeries from 1929 to 1947. McGavin built eight plants in western Canada, and also founded Bee Cee Honey (Vancouver), Peace River Honey (Dawson Creek) and Barbara Ann Baking (Los Angeles). A brief note on and a photograph of his handsome Shaughnessy home, built in 1940, is here.

Also April 17 Marathon Realty, then a subsidiary of the CPR, and owner of much of the city’s waterfront, revealed its plans for its False Creek development.

April 27 Joachim Foikis, the “Town Fool,” spent the last of his Canada Council grant on a party in Gastown for Skid Road residents.

April Nancy Greene married Al Raine. In the summer of 1968, Nancy’s web site explains, she had served on Prime Minister Trudeau’s “Task force on Sport,” and assisted the Canadian Ski Team with fundraising and promotion. “This work put her in contact with Al Raine, the new Program Director of Canada’s National Ski Team. They were married in April 1969 and their twin sons Charley and Willy were born in Montreal in January 1970.”

Also in April Construction began on a new $8-million campus to serve about 5,000 students at King Edward Centre of Vancouver Community (City) College.

Also in April A 4.8-km (3-mile) causeway to the man-made island of Roberts Bank, in Delta, opened to provide access to a deep-sea port being developed to ship Alberta and BC coal to Japan.

May 2 Surrey’s Municipal Council held a meeting in the original Town Hall. Since 1881 Surrey’s population had grown from a few hundred to more than 90,000.

June In 1968 the National Harbours Board Police had been changed from separate port police forces to be unified into one force. Vancouver was the last port during this re-organization to be brought into the centralized system. In June, 1969 the security guard force that had been in place here was replaced by sworn Police Officers.

July 20 US astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

July 21 The Vancouver Sun and the Province both issued special supplements commemorating man’s first moonwalk the previous day.

July 29 Arthur Clarke became the first black man to become a Vancouver police officer.

August 31 The Vancouver Mounties came to an end. Only 1,101 fans saw their last game. After 11 seasons and two second place finishes, the Mounties would find a new home in 1970 in Salt Lake City. For an interesting history of the club, see Bob Mackin’s article in the Courier here.

August Early stirrings of what would become Greenpeace International began in Vancouver. The US announced this month that they planned a one-megaton nuclear bomb test in October on Amchitka Island, in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Bob Hunter, a columnist with The Vancouver Sun, wrote that such a test might trigger an earthquake and tsunami. A protest against the test, organized by Gwen and Derrick Mallard (who had formed SPEC, the Scientific Pollution and Environmental Control Society, in 1968), was held at the US consulate general in Vancouver. “Attending this protest,” wrote Greenpeace historian Rex Weyler, “were Bob and Zoe Hunter, Irving Stowe, Bob Cummings, Lille d’Easum, Paul Watson, Ben Metcalfe, Rod Marining, Paul and Linda Spong, and others who would eventually form the core of Greenpeace.” For a detailed chronology of Greenpeace’s formation, see Weyler’s web site here.

August Douglas College’s first principal was appointed. His name was George C. Wootton, dean of divisions at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in North York, Ontario. Wootton was a graduate of North Vancouver High School and the University of British Columbia. While earning his doctoral degree in engineering, Wootton served as president of UBC’s graduate student association. After graduating, he worked for five years at the Canadian Atomic Energy Commission. He would serve as principal of Douglas to September 1979. A scholarship has been established in his name, “made available to graduating students in any program who have shown superior scholastic ability and significant participation in college or community activities.” Wootton was further honored by Kwantlen University College (which had hived off from Douglas) when the Board of Governors established the George C. Wootton Award “to recognize outstanding dedication, service and contribution to the university college system.”

September 2 The phenomenon that would become the Internet was activated. From the web site: “The vital first step in getting a computer to talk to another computer was taken Sept. 2, 1969, when Kleinrock and his team succeeded in hooking up their computer to a refrigerator-sized switch, or router, known as an Interphase Message Processor. ‘So at that time you had a computer talking to a switch for the very first time, and without that you could not have computer talking to computer,’ Kleinrock said. Although the UCLA conference honors Sept. 2 as the birthday of the Internet, some people think the date should be Oct. 20, the first time one computer actually talked to another.”

September 8 Artist Frederick Horsman Varley died in Toronto, aged 88. He was born January 2, 1881 in Sheffield, Eng. He attended Sheffield School of Art (1892-1900) and Academie royale des beaux-arts in Antwerp, Belgium (1900-02). He came to Canada in 1912. A hometown friend, artist Arthur Lismer, found him a job in Toronto as a commercial illustrator. Varley was acclaimed for war paintings commissioned by Canadian War Records. A founder of the Group of Seven, in May 1920, he taught at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts from 1926. In 1933, with J.W.G. MacDonald, he began the B.C. College of Arts.

“Varley,” art reviewer Tony Robertson has written, “had such a powerful influence in the ten years he lived and worked in Vancouver that few of his students were able to shake off the dominance of his vision. He loved and painted the landscape with passionate intensity. His work, striking in its distinctive use of a luminous emerald green all his own, conveys an intense feeling for the inner meaning of the landscape.”

September 24 The Lougheed Mall opened in Burnaby. We also have September 25.

September A massive flood in Harvey Creek severely damaged creekside Lions Bay homes. Writes Lions Bay resident Max Wyman, “A report commissioned by the Improvement District and Dawson Developments discovered that the primary causes of the flood were abnormally heavy rainfall, a land slippage that had dammed the creek and inadequate construction and maintenance of logging roads. In response to a demand from the Improvement District, all logging licences in the Harvey Creek basin area were subsequently cancelled.”

October 22 Finning Tractor & Equipment, started in 1933, was incorporated as a public company. Today, it’s known as Finning International Inc. (2004 revenue was just over $4 billion.) There’s an interesting company history at this site.

October 29 Violet Alice Dryvynsyde, educator and author, died in Vancouver, aged 69. She was born November 4, 1899 in Port Fairy, Australia. She came to Vancouver with her family in 1930. After her husband’s death in 1940, she founded—with six students—the private Athlone School for Boys. By 1969, the school, at 49th and Arbutus, had 230 students. In 1952, her novel Provoke the Silent Dust won third prize in a literary competition sponsored by the Australian government. The novel’s plot involved a pioneering girl who went to Australia determined to avenge slights on her character by English society by raising a strong family.

Also October 29 Lester Pearson, prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968, was named an honorary member of the Vancouver Club.

November 23 Gizeh Temple (the Shriners) had moved from Victoria to Vancouver in 1942. Today, after much ceremony, Gizeh Temple Shrine moved into its new headquarters at the present location. There are approximately 3,500 Shrine members of 45 clubs in B.C. and Yukon. Ten of those clubs are in the Lower Mainland. All clubs in British Columbia and the Yukon come under the jurisdiction of the Gizeh Temple Shrine. “The name Gizeh,” writes researcher Barbara Rogers, “was chosen in accordance with the Shrine rule that, ‘every Temple shall select an Arabic or Egyptian name.’ It was an appropriate choice; since no other temple had a name beginning with the letter ‘G,’ a letter with important significance in Freemasonry; and Gizeh being one of the most ancient and famous Egyptian pyramids.”

December 1 Vancouver was awarded an NHL franchise and history began for the Vancouver Canucks. Their first game would be October 9, 1970.

December 2 Impresario Lily Laverock died in Duncan, about 89. She was born in Edinburgh, c. 1880. She came to Vancouver as a child with her parents. She was the first woman to graduate in moral philosophy from McGill. She was the first woman (1908) employed as a general reporter by a Vancouver newspaper (The World). On October 4, 1909, when the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club was formed, she was the chief organizer and the first secretary-treasurer. She moved to the News-Advertiser in 1910 and became editor of the women’s page. “Her pen was ever ready in the cause of women’s suffrage.” She never married. Quiet, shy, ethereally attractive, she made her greatest contribution to local fame when she became an impresario. An avid arts supporter, she promoted her first Celebrity Concert in 1921. The world-famous performers she brought to the city in the 1920s and 1930s make for an eye-popping list: Kreisler, Heifetz, Melba, Gigli, Casals, Chaliapin, Maurice Ravel at the piano . . . and on and on. She packed the Denman Arena with acts like the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Belgian Royal Symphonic Band. WWII ended her impresario efforts. Today, despite her immense contribution to the city’s cultural life, she’s almost totally forgotten.

December 4 An old ladder and pumper truck that joined the Essondale fire department in 1929 was retired today after 40 years of service. It was driven into retirement at the Provincial Museum in Victoria by A. P. Lowry, a former chief, accompanied by the chief of the time, Stanley Lowrey. Along the old truck’s route on both sides of the water local fire departments provided escorts. The letters M.H.F.D. on the side of the truck stood for Mental Health Fire Department.

December 6 The Bloedel Floral Conservatory opened at Queen Elizabeth Park. They expected about 3,500 people to visit on opening day, but more than 11,000 showed up. It’s still a great place to visit, especially on a wet, chilly winter day. Dozens of species of colorful birds fly freely through the foliage, from tiny, flitting Button Quail and Gold-breasted Waxbills to the big Moluccan Cockatoo, the Blue and Gold Macaw and Rosie the Parrot, who can imitate the sound of a cell phone and does a pretty good cough.

The conservatory was built thanks largely to a $1.25 million donation through the Bloedel Foundation from lumber magnate Prentice Bloedel and his wife Virginia, and smaller amounts from the city and provincial governments. Mayor Tom Campbell officiated, joined by Mr. and Mrs. Bloedel and Bill Livingstone, the Vancouver parks board assistant superintendent “responsible for the main creative inspiration.” This is Canada’s largest single-structure conservatory. Its domed design is based on the geodesic principle, which utilizes a structural space-frame to support the roof, enabling a large interior volume to be enclosed without the need for internal supporting columns. The Conservatory dome consists of 2,324 pieces of 12.5 cm (5 in.) diameter extruded aluminum tubing and 1,490 triodetic plexiglass “bubbles.” The bubbles were designed by Thorson and Thorson, structural engineers.

“More than 300 varieties of tropical plants are on display,” the Sun’s Lorne Mallin wrote, “from Africa, Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, Java, Colombia, West Indies, China, Egypt, Fiji, Arizona, Florida, California and Hawaii.” Supervisor Alex Downie oversees the constant work necessary as the seasons change (lots of poinsettias at Christmas time, for example) or as plants grow too tall to fit under the geodesic dome. Today, some 500 species of jungle and desert plants bloom year round in the moist heat, a fine home for those tropical birds.

Canadian Pulp and Paper donated $5,000 to build a wooden pedestrian bridge spanning a 16-metre-high waterfall inside the conservatory.

The Bloedels’ gift included the striking Henry Moore bronze sculpture, Knife Edge – Two Piece, seen in the conservatory plaza. Moore created it in 1962, and authorized three castings of the work. The first stands on Nelson Rockefeller’s New York estate and the second outside the House of Lords, London, England. Knife Edge was the first non-commemorative sculpture accepted by Vancouver’s park board.

A life-size bronze family, Photo Session, by American artist Seward Johnson, is another sculptural feature at the conservatory.

The fountain and water features atop the reservoir at Queen Elizabeth Park were designed by landscape architect Bob Royston of San Francisco, described as “father of the post-war ‘California style,’ a relaxed, informal approach to landscape.”

December 10 The Seafarers’ Society of BC was formed. It appears to be no longer extant.

December 19 It was announced that Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside, diplomat and executive, had become a Companion of the Order of Canada, “for service at the United Nations and in public administration.” He had just stepped down as co-chair of B.C. Hydro, and was now Chancellor, Notre Dame.

Also in 1969

Construction began on Pacific Centre, the most ambitious construction project undertaken in Vancouver up to that time.

Vancouver’s Tatlow Park (Point Grey Road at Third Avenue) was the setting for much of Robert Altman’s movie That Cold Day in the Park, starring Sandy Dennis.

G.P.V. (Philip) and Helen B. Akrigg, British Columbia historians, produced a marvellously useful book, 1001 British Columbia Place Names, a fascinating trove of information about how our cities, lakes, mountains and more got their names. It was published by Discovery Press, owned and operated by the Akriggs. They would publish a second, expanded version in 1997. See this site.

Bob Prittie was elected mayor of Burnaby. He will serve to 1973. The city’s very attractive main public library was named for him. Tom Hawthorn explains why at this site.

Jimmy Christmas, mayor of Coquitlam, first elected in 1945, died in office after almost 25 years as mayor.

Two major tugboat firms, Straits and River Towing, combined to form RivTow Straits Ltd. Its successor, RivTow Marine, was bought in 2000 by the Dutch firm Smit International.

Terry Blythe, who would become the chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department in 1999, and who would serve three years in that post (to be succeeded in August, 2002 by Jamie Graham), started with the VPD on foot patrol in the Downtown Eastside and on Granville Street. Blythe is the son of a retired Vancouver police officer who served for 32 years.

Barking, Essex-born Norman Ruff became a political science professor at the University of Victoria. He’s quoted frequently in B.C. newspapers because of his clear, forthright and non-partisan views on provincial politics.

Sculptor Alan Chung Hung, 23, came to Vancouver from Canton, China. In 1973, he would graduate in sculpture at the Vancouver School of Art. His most well-known work here is the iron Gate to the Northwest Passage in Vanier Park. He died July 21, 1994 at age 48. More here.

The two bronze lions in front of the office building at 1155 West Pender have an interesting history. They were commissioned from sculptor E. Schulte Beecham in 1914, but not installed until 1920. Then in 1962 they were sent to New York to be stored. They were replaced this year.

Fountain of the Pioneers, in silicone bronze, was installed at 500 Burrard Street. “The sculpture,” writes Elizabeth Godley, “thirteen feet high, was designed by Seattle sculptor George Tsutakawa. In a 1969 Province interview, the artist said that a fountain involves three elements: heaven, earth and water. ‘What really makes a fountain is water, the most elusive and mysterious element of all’.”

A future opera star, a Spanish tenor named Placido Domingo, sang in Manon, a Vancouver Opera production. He had appeared here in 1968 in Tosca.

Judith Forst, born in Fraser Mills, Coquitlam, was awarded a five-year contract with the Metropolitan Opera Association of New York. She would become a world-renowned mezzo-soprano.

Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS), which had suspended operations in 1963, was revived as a semi-professional company.

A “pop culture phenomenon” appeared at the Vancouver Playhouse with George Ryga’s Grass and Wild Strawberries, a musical about the hippie culture featuring live music by The Collectors (who later became nationally famous as Chilliwack). Apparently many unsatisfied Playhouse subscribers left the theatre at intermission, their places then being taken by local hippies flocking to the empty seats to watch the second act.

Vancouver Cablevision (later Rogers Cable) initiated the Lower Mainland’s first community cable channel. Radio man Vic Waters, along with partners Dave Liddell and Gerry Rose, operated the service on a shoestring budget—and the attitude was rather casual. Martin Truax, who joined in 1970, recalls Waters getting calls from viewers who said they missed a show: “Vic would say, ‘No problem. I’ll just run it again for you right now!’”

1969 was a fruitful year in publication. These first appeared:

BC Naturalist It’s issued six times a year by the Federation of British Columbia Naturalists. The magazine’s motto today: “To know Nature and to keep it worth knowing.”

BC Studies A quarterly published by the University of British Columbia. It focuses on all aspects of human history in British Columbia (and is a terrific source for this web site).

B.S.D.A. News, produced six times a year by the Building Supply Dealers Association of British Columbia, New Westminster.

Hollandse Krant, a monthly publication in Dutch with news of Dutch speakers in B.C. and The Netherlands.

Journal of Business Administration, published semi-annually by the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, UBC.

The Midden, published five times a year by the Archaeological Society of British Columbia.

Where Vancouver, a monthly publication with news for tourists and visitors with articles about where to dine and shop. Found in hotels and tourist information offices.

Drew Burns took over the Commodore Ballroom, which had opened in December 1929 as the Commodore Cabaret.

Swangard Stadium, named for journalist Erwin Swangard, opened in Central Park in Burnaby. He had raised nearly $1 million for its construction. The stadium is the centre for professional soccer in B.C.

Dorothy Lidstone of North Vancouver won the world archery championship at Valley Forge, Pa. She beat a field of 40 women from 27 countries with a record 2,361 points, 110 points more than the previous world record.

The Vancouver Mounties baseball team, which had been revived for the 1965 season (after folding in 1962) folded for good at the end of the 1969 season.

Golf Hall of Famer Carol Mann won her fourth straight tour title when she captured the Canadian Open title at the new Shaughnessy, the LPGA’s first official event in Western Canada.

The Stanley Park Seawall had had 1,200 lineal feet added in 1968. The work was financed with an annual $70,000 allotment. This year that money paid for just 350 feet.

Vancouver International Airport announced it could now handle “jumbo jets,” Boeing 747s.

The Dinsmore Bridge opened over the Middle Arm of the Fraser River. This two-lane, $845,000 low-level structure connected the densely populated part of Richmond to Sea Island and the airport. It supplemented, and is south of, the preceding Middle Arm bridge, and has no movable span.

The CNR replaced the old Burrard Inlet and Tunnel Company bridge across the Second Narrows of Burrard Inlet with a larger, heavier bridge built onto the reinforced and modified pillars of the old one. The new bridge had a vertical lift span which is usually partially raised, allowing free movement of most marine traffic. The CNR line passes over the CPR at the south end and continues south through a tunnel to join the CNR main line near Brentwood shopping centre.

The Sisters of Providence, who had been administering St. Paul’s Hospital, appointed a lay administrator and the medical staff to run the hospital.

The Rotary Foundation was established. It sponsors a variety of fundraising methods to enable Rotarians to continue with their admirable record of community service.

The Sapperton Fish and Game Club began, with great success, to restore salmon stock in the Brunette River, flowing out of Burnaby Lake. The river had been badly polluted.

W.J. VanDusen, forestry industry executive, retired from the board of MacMillan Bloedel, aged about 80. He had been with the firm and its predecessors for 50 years.

The value of annual trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange exceeded $1 billion for the first time.

Muni Evers, a pharmacist, was elected mayor of New Westminster. He would go on to serve seven terms up to and including 1982.

Service Corporation International (Canada) Inc. acquired Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby.

Harold Merilees, most well-known as head of the Vancouver Tourist Association (precursor to Tourism Vancouver) and founder of the Sea Festival, was elected as the Social Credit MLA for Vancouver-Burrard.

Freelance art director Frank Palmer and Simmons Advertising’s Rich Simmons form a new company called Trend Advertising. It will eventually become Palmer Jarvis Communications.

The Crane Story, a 60-page publication chronicling the life of Charles Crane, appeared. In 1931 Charlie Crane became the first blind/deaf person to attend a Canadian university when he was accepted at UBC. The book was written by Laurie Bellefontaine who used the Crane Centre extensively as a UBC student in the mid-1980s. See the 1968 chronology for more detail.

Sometime in the late 1960s Dr. Laurence Peter, a UBC professor, and Ray Hull, a Vancouver freelance writer, happened to be standing beside each other in the lobby of the Varsity Theatre on West 10th Avenue looking at a poster for an upcoming movie. They began chatting about it casually, but when Peter learned Hull was a writer he told him of an idea he’d had for a book. Hull was fascinated, and told Peter he’d help him write the book. The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong came out in 1969 and rocketed to the top of the best seller list. More than 35 years later we all still know the principle: “In any hierarchy, a person tends to rise to the level of his incompetence.” Thus, every position will eventually be occupied by someone who is not quite capable of the job.

Maria Lewis, a dancer who had had a notable career in Montreal and Toronto, formed the Maria Lewis Ballet Ensemble. For several years her senior students performed under that name. In 1974/5 the former board of directors of the defunct Ballet Horizons would approach her and ask her to form a new company to be called the Pacific Ballet Theatre. See 1975 for more.

Toronto-born (1945) writer Michael Walsh, who would become a long-time film critic for The Province, came to B.C. He would write The Canadian Movie Quiz Book in 1979, and contribute the section on Vancouver-made films for The Greater Vancouver Book (1997).

In 1969, film production began here in earnest, with Robert Altman’s That Cold Day in the Park. In director Altman’s first Vancouver feature, a lonely, delusional spinster (Sandy Dennis) picks up a young drifter (Michael Burns) in Kitsilano’s Tatlow Park. Another major production: Robert Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces with Jack Nicholson and Karen Black.

Other movies made locally this year included (comments are by Michael Walsh):

Great Coups of History Written and directed by Ron Darcus, this told the story of a single mom (Delphine Harvey) who reminisces about a life spent trading on her female charms, while her teenaged daughter (Janie Cassie) struggles with her own budding sexuality.

The Mad Room Directed by Bernard Girard, this was a remake of 1941’s Ladies in Retirement, the story of a lady’s companion (Stella Stevens) whose teenaged siblings are suspects in the murder of her employer (Shelley Winters).

The Plastic Mile (aka The Finishing Touch and She’s a Woman). Directed by Morrie Ruvinsky. The story of an unhinged director (Jace Vander Veen) who raped his leading lady (Pia Shandel) during the making of his magnum opus, this controversial “art movie” added new sex scenes to each successive version.

Terry Jacks and The Poppy Family had a smash hit (it reached #2 in the US) with Which Way You Goin’ Billy.

The Vancouver Early Music Society was formed by Jon Washburn, Ray Nurse, David Skulsky, Hans-Karl Piltz and Cuyler Page. Its purpose was and is “to foster interest in medieval, renaissance, and baroque music.”

Winnipeg-born (1950) writer Terri Wershler (among her books: The Vancouver Guide, which has sold more than 100,000 copies) came to B.C.

After 11 years the Vancouver International Festival, debt-ridden, came to an end.

There were significant changes to the Criminal Code of Canada. Public gaming by the provinces as well as the federal government was now permitted. Pari-mutuel wagering on horse races, small lottery schemes for charitable purposes, and limited gaming at agricultural fairs continued to be allowed.

Another Criminal Code change: homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada.

The Anglo-British Columbia Packing (ABC), a major player in the coastal canning industry from 1891, was sold.

John M. Buchanan, who had been elected UBC chancellor in 1966, retired.

The Ross Street Gurdwara (Sikh temple) was built. Writes architectural historian Dr. Harold Kalman, “This deceptively simple landmark is the central house of worship for Vancouver’s large Sikh community. A simple white block is capped by a series of stepped, diagonally interlocked square sections, and crowned by an open steel onion-shaped dome. The design was influenced by the formal geometry of Indian religious symbols. The Khalsa Diwan Society occupies the lower floor.” This architectural gem originally stood unpainted and in isolation, but by 1995 was brightly painted and crowded by look-alike additions to the east.

A multi-storey extension to the Vancouver Vocational Institute’s downtown building was built.

The book Empires and Nations appeared, containing essays published in honor of retired UBC history professor Frederick Soward. He taught there from 1922 to 1966, and was head of the history department from 1953 to 1963. Fourteen Canadian historians contributed, and there was a preface by Lester Pearson, a lifelong friend of Soward’s.

The Great Northern Cannery, which had been active since 1891 near Sandy Cove in West Vancouver, closed. The site was purchased by the federal government for the Pacific Coast fisheries research station.

Vancouver’s Elaine “Mighty Mouse” Tanner retired from competitive swimming at age 18, having set five world records and won three Olympic medals. She is the best woman swimmer in Canadian history.

A garden shop owner named Bill Vander Zalm became mayor of Surrey.

The last pick-up of milk cans in Surrey. From now on milk from dairy farms went by tanker truck.

Delta’s second Municipal Hall, built in 1913, became the Delta Museum and Archives.

Delta got a new coat of arms. “The green field,” writes Canada’s Chief Herald Rob Watt, “represents Delta’s rich farmlands. In the centre, the silver disc represents the sun, enclosed by the silver triangle, referring to the Greek letter. The crest is composed of the red and white mural coronet, symbolizing a Canadian district municipality and the upper half of a silver ship’s wheel, for water based commerce. The two silver horses represent Delta’s foundation industry, agriculture, and its ongoing importance to the community as well as the corporation’s strength. Each horse is distinguished by collars and medallions referring to two industries, grain growing and fishing.

“The compartment symbolizes the municipality; green fields bordered by the sea and the River and includes symbols for the Fraser and Boundary Bay. The motto, Ours to Preserve by Hand and Heart, invites citizens to conserve and strengthen Delta’s special qualities.

“The coat of arms has been widely used to identify Delta’s property and services. When the new municipal hall was completed June 5, 1994, computers were used by designers to create a magnificent one-storey high relief sculpture in concrete of the coat of arms on the exterior wall of the Council Chamber. It is easily visible from Highway 10 to motorists en route to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen.”