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Laurence J. Peter family fonds
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription88409
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1949
- Collection/Fonds
- Laurence J. Peter family fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 p. of textual records.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of one Share Certificate for the Lochdale Co Operative Association.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1949
- Collection/Fonds
- Laurence J. Peter family fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 p. of textual records.
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Access Restriction
- In Archives only
- Accession Number
- 2013-29
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of one Share Certificate for the Lochdale Co Operative Association.
- History
- In 1941, Laurence J. Peter began his career as an industrial arts teacher at Lord Tweedsmeer High School in Cloverdale, after an illness kept him out of World War II. It was here that he met his future wife, Nancy M. Bailey, who was the vice principal of the school. The couple married in 1943 and made their way to Burnaby in 1947 after purchasing a one-acre lot in Burnaby from Mr. Wright for $1,000. When the couple purchased this lot, Nancy was teaching English at Burnaby South High School, while Laurence was teaching Woodwork at New Haven Borstal Home for Boys in the Provincial Corrections system. The lot was located in the historic neighbourhood of Lozell’s at 7229 Lougheed Highway and was renumbered to 7449 Lougheed in 1958. Laurence and Nancy had four children, two boys (John and Ted) and two girls (Alice and Margaret). When they first purchased the lot, they built a small house where they lived with their eldest son, John, until the completion of a larger house in 1949. Their second son, Ted, was born a few weeks before the completion of the larger house and was brought into the new home from the hospital. Their daughters were born over the next few years. Laurence and Nancy had built the larger house using a technique of peeled plywood core logs. Laurence and his cousin, Hewton Peter, who owned the lot next door, designed and built a machine to build exterior walls for their houses using plywood cores. In 1947, plywood cores were turned (peeled) down to six inches in diameter and then discarded to be chipped for the pulp industry. To build the house, the cores were splined together and stood on end making a vertical log house. Only three houses were ever built using their invention. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom house was completed in October 1949. The exterior of the house was never painted, just brushed with linseed oil. The traffic of the Lougheed Highway was not heard inside the house due to the six-inch walls and was very economical to heat in the snowy winters of the 1950s. Over the years, the couple worked on finishing the interior of the house, which included an intricately carved eight-foot-wide oak mantelpiece carved by Laurence. Parts of the mantel were reclaimed from the demolished old Hotel Vancouver and cobblestones reclaimed from the interurban tracks were used for the fireplace and stonework around the property. The family raised goats for milk and chickens for eggs and maintained a large vegetable garden and fruit trees on the property. When the goats and chickens were not needed anymore, Laurence slaughtered them for meat which they stored in a freezer at the Lochdale Co-operative until they were ready to consume them. The family was actively involved in the Burnaby community with Laurence and Nancy taking part in local politics and community activities and their children participating in Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and music lessons. All four children graduated from Burnaby North High School, and in 1970, Ted and Alice completed their studies at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). They worked at local jobs in the community, including building the Burnaby Mountain Golf Course. Laurence moved on to take a position as a Mental Health Coordinator (Special Counselor) in the Vancouver School System, and in 1959, Nancy joined the staff at the newly opened Burnaby Central Senior Secondary School as a math teacher, later becoming the head of the Mathematics Department. The couple continued their education at summer school at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, where Nancy completed her Master's Degree in 1964 and Laurence his Doctoral degree in 1963. Laurence joined the faculty of the University of British Columbia in 1965 and later received the WSU Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1980. The couple separated in 1965 and Laurence moved to California in 1966 to teach at the University of Southern California. Laurence became widely famous in 1969, after the publication of his bestselling book, "The Peter Principle," which has been translated into more than 38 languages. Following this publication, he went on to author eight more books and published several texts in the field of ‘Prescriptive Teaching’. He died on January 12, 1990, at the age of 70 at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, and is honoured with a plaque as part of the Literary Landmarks program of the Vancouver Public Library located at the Metro Theatre, 1370 Marine Drive. Nancy continued to teach at Burnaby South, until her retirement in 1978 after 30 years as head of the Mathematics Department at Burnaby Central. She was an active member of the Burnaby Historical Society for many years. She passed away in Nanaimo near her family on April 21, 2013, at the age of 97.
- Media Type
- Textual Record
- Creator
- Peter, Laurence J.
- Notes
- Title based on contents of fonds
- MSS186-001
Pixie McGeachie collection
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription97228
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1961-2001
- Collection/Fonds
- Pixie McGeachie collection
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Physical Description
- 30 cm of textual records.
- Scope and Content
- Collection consists of papers collected by Pixie McGeachie during her tenure as archivist for the Burnaby Historical Society Community Archives, as well her writings.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1961-2001
- Collection/Fonds
- Pixie McGeachie collection
- Physical Description
- 30 cm of textual records.
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Record No.
- MSS065
- Reproduction Restriction
- May be restricted by third-party rights.
- Accession Number
- 2011-04
- Scope and Content
- Collection consists of papers collected by Pixie McGeachie during her tenure as archivist for the Burnaby Historical Society Community Archives, as well her writings.
- History
- Doreen "Pixie" McGeachie was a resident of Burnaby for over sixty years. She served as the editor for the Burnaby Examiner newspaper and wrote a column entitled "Burnaby History" for The News. In 1974 she authored her first book titled "Bygones of Burnaby" which was one of the first to develop anecdotal stories about pioneer life in Burnaby. She authored "Burnaby - A Proud Century" in 1992 and in 2002 she wrote a biography of the city's namesake in the book "Land of Promise: Robert Burnaby's letters from Colonial B.C." Pixie also contributed many hours of volunteering; helping to establish Burnaby's first museum Heritage Village in 1971, serving as President of the Burnaby Historical Society from 1991-1993. She served a six year term on Burnaby's Heritage Commission leading the charge to preserve many historic sites throughout the city, and during her twenty years as the Community Archives volunteer archivist for the historical society, she succeeded in gathering thousands of rare and valuable historic photographs and documents which now forms the core of the photograph collection on the Heritage Burnaby website (as these items were donated by the Society to the City Archives in 2007). The City of Burnaby awarded Pixie McGeachie the Kushiro Cup as Citizen of the year in 2002. In 2006 she received a Heritage BC project award for leading the Friends of Interurban 1223 project, and in 2008 Heritage BC recognised her again by presenting her with the Ruby Nobb Award. Pixie McGeachie passed away in August of 2010. On 24 September, 2011, the City of Burnaby dedicated the reading room at the City Archives in honour of Pixie and formally named it the Pixie McGeachie Reading Room in recognition of her years of service to the community.
- Media Type
- Textual Record
- Creator
- McGeachie, Doreen “Pixie”
- Notes
- Title based on collector of subseries
- MSS065