October 29, 2019
Hello Members & Friends,
October has been a very busy month for us – thus, two newsletters in October!
Our Board voted to reprint 150 copies of Report # 16 for a price of $1515.15 so cost of the books will remain the same – $12.50 for members; $18.75 for non-members. Don’t you like all those 15’s? Jo Ann and I will be travelling over to Kelowna tomorrow to pick them up – should be a glorious day to travel.
Our AGM was held on Sunday, October 20th in the Grand Forks & District Public Library’s meeting room. We had 16 interested members in attendance. Might have to look for a different venue with easy access for next year as the room was a little small for mingling. I’ve attached the Minutes from the meeting and President Joan Heart’s report. Our Executive remains the same: President, Joan Heart; Vice-President, Cher Wyers; Treasurer, Jo Ann Sergeant; Secretary, Doreen Sorensen; Directors, Irene Perepolkin and Mickey Keller-Nadon. Al Donnelly, Randi DeLisle and Laura Lodder put their names forward as Area Representatives and at our next meeting on November 20th they will be voted on board as Directors. Joan surprised me with a certificate of recognition for the work I do for the Society (and for my German chocolate cake!).
The following day we received the State of Title Certificates for Gladys Floyd’s property at Jewel Lake. Gladys is still alive and well – in fact, her birthday is tomorrow – October 30th. Gladys has entrusted us with the care of her cabin and we will maintain it as a historic site. BC Assessment has contacted us – they will maintain the current status as a primitive cabin. We are hoping to have our Annual Picnic there next June and will open the cabin for viewing. We have some tidying to do in the spring and some yard work. Joan, Al, Cher and I drove up to Jewel Lake yesterday to check the cabin. Al has volunteered to drive by perhaps once a week and we are
enlisting friends at Jewel Lake to help keep an eye on the cabin. It was pretty cold there yesterday– the stove cannot be used as there are some chimney issues and right now it is not attached. We gathered up the guest books for Gladys. Following our trip to Phoenix Cemetery Joan, Cher and I chose some flowers for Gladys and we dropped by her home to thank her for her trust in us. She was happy to have the guest books back. We’ll plan a work session in late spring.
I approached the Boundary Woodworkers on Saturday to ask if they would be willing to build us more fences and pickets for Phoenix Cemetery. I took an older version of the Phoenix booklet which noted that Thomas Williams and John Evans shared a picket fence. They were both from the same area in Wales. That fence has completely disappeared and the trees that were planted on their graves are very large -Thomas Williams’ tree was cut down in the late 70’s I think. Measurements were taken and we also chose some more graves we would like to see enclosed. Bob McTavish put our permanent information signs in the receptacles on the kiosk. We are very grateful to have the Boundary Woodworkers as partners in our efforts to maintain the Cemetery.
Klaus Bialon has done a lot of upkeep this year – he plans on repairing/replacing the steps down into the cemetery this coming spring/summer. We still need to get some brush out and cut down the willow tree at the front fence of the Upper Cemetery. We’ll need a truck to carry the brush and branches away – expect a request from us next spring.
We voted at the AGM to change the status of Phoenix Cemetery to Inactive and I sent a letter informing them of this decision. I heard yesterday that our letter was received and the status of Inactive is now in effect.
We also voted to become an Affiliate member in the BC Museum Association and this was completed. Our Annual Societies Report was filed so we are ready to begin a new year!
Will write to you in December. Hoping you are all keeping well and warm. Perhaps we’ll meet at one of the Christmas Craft Fairs we’ll be attending.
Doreen Sorensen
Secretary