Pathways & Crossroads

Bert arrived in this world on a summer day in 1929 in St. Paul, Alberta. He was the youngest son, born into a large French Canadian family who, once Bert joined the gang, had nine living children. Bert’s eldest sister was already 21 years old when he was born! His father, Emile, grew up in Quebec but moved west after he finished college where he met Eleanor and they settled in St. Paul where Emile bought and ran a hotel. Bert was born right at the beginning of the Great Depression in Canada and by the time Bert was 4 years old, Emile had lost the hotel business and the family decided to make the move to British Columbia.

Emile and Eleanor brought eight of their nine children (6 boys, 2 girls) as well as another young man who wanted to make the trip with them to British Columbia. They decided to locate in the Fraser Valley as Emile had heard of work surveying and logging.

Times were tough in BC and the first home the family found was located at an old logging campsite above the McConnell Creek area near Mission, BC. Here, Eleanor was faced with very rustic conditions in which to raise her family. The cabin the family occupied didn’t have a kitchen so Eleanor cooked outside…providing meals for 11 people each day! This was a big change from the large home they had left in St.Paul’s.

A short time later, Emile found a property with a small one- bedroom home on it that he was able to purchase. He built a ‘shack’ behind the house that served as the bedroom for all the boys. This was to become the family’s home for the rest of Eleanor’s life and until Emile moved into Bert and Margaret’s home after Eleanor’s death.

Bert started school when he was 6 years old at the one room McConnell Creek School. His family spoke only French at home so he had no English at all when he began school. His brothers who attended the same school would speak to him in French and get him into ‘trouble’ by misinterpreting what the teacher had said to him. Bert’s older brothers were a pretty rowdy bunch but Bert and his next oldest brother, Leo were more quiet. The whole situation must have been pretty frustrating for both the teacher and Bert!

Bert’s teacher soon realized though that Bert had an abundance of artistic talent. He spent quite a bit of school time drawing scenes on the blackboard and creating the backdrops for all the school plays. Bert liked school but when his teacher wanted him to play a ‘girl’ in the school play, Bert said, “No Way!”

Bert’s artistic talents likely came from Eleanor who loved to draw, paint, make artificial corsages and take inspiration from her love of growing flowers and taking walks in the woods. As her youngest child and we think her favourite, Bert was allowed to stay home from school and spend time with Eleanor for pretty much any reason.

All of Bert’s family was very musical. Emile played the fiddle and all the boys played either the fiddle, banjo, guitar or harmonica. Bert played the guitar, harmonica and had a great singing voice. With so many people living in the house, most nights included music and lots of loud talking in French.

Bert attended McConnell Creek School until grade 8 when he left school because he would have had to go to Dewdney School which was an impossible distance away from where the family lived. But Bert’s love of reading was well ignited during his time at McConnell Creek School as he loved reading and learning his whole life.

After he left school, Bert went to work with his dad in the bush making shingle bolts that would be sawed into roofing. Once he was old enough he went to work at Stave Lake Cedar sawing cedar shakes and shingles for roofing. From this beginning, his life’s work would be based in the shake and shingle industry in BC.

For fun, he continued with his guitar playing and he and his brothers played for dances at the McConnell Creek School. Bert did the singing. His love of the guitar lasted for a lifetime. I am pretty sure a guitar was involved when he met Margaret and won her love.