Elaine A. Myers fonds
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription88370
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1948-1961 (date of originals)
- Collection/Fonds
- Elaine A. Myers fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Physical Description
- 4 photographs (jpeg) : sepia ; 96 dpi
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of four digital copies of photographs; two are Elaine Myers' class portraits while attending Kingsway West and two are of Elaine's father, William Myers, next to the pulpit and the altar of St. Andrews Church.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- 1948-1961 (date of originals)
- Collection/Fonds
- Elaine A. Myers fonds
- Physical Description
- 4 photographs (jpeg) : sepia ; 96 dpi
- Material Details
- Jpegs are copies created by the donor of sepia originals.
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Access Restriction
- No restrictions
- Reproduction Restriction
- May be restricted by third party rights
- Accession Number
- 2013-26
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of four digital copies of photographs; two are Elaine Myers' class portraits while attending Kingsway West and two are of Elaine's father, William Myers, next to the pulpit and the altar of St. Andrews Church.
- History
- Elaine Anne Myers was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, in 1939 and immigrated to British Columbia with her family in 1947. She was the eldest daughter of William Sefton and Edna (nee Howarth) Myers and sister to Hermione Christine, born in 1943. Her father, William Sefton Myers was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, in 1905 and was one of six children. He married Edna Howarth on July 29, 1933. Before immigrating to Canada, William worked as a purchasing agent at Walkers Tannery in Bolton and later became a cabinet maker in the 1930s, building and designing most of the family’s furniture. In September 1947, he and his family immigrated to Canada along with his younger brother, Hermann, and his wife and daughter. The family were granted landed immigrant status upon their arrival at Dorval airport in Montreal on September 25, 1947, and travelled to Vancouver by train, arriving in early October. They shared their first home on Imperial Street in Burnaby with William’s brother Hermann and family, but after several months were able to purchase their own new home on MacKay Avenue just below Victory in South Burnaby. William’s first job was working as a night janitor at the Woodwards Department store in Vancouver. He was later hired as a purchasing agent for the Seagrams Distillery in New Westminster, where he stayed until his retirement in 1970. Elaine’s mother, Edna (nee Howarth) Myers worked in the offices of Pacific Veneer Canadian Forest Products in New Westminster, retiring from there in 1967. The family moved again in the 1950s to a house on the corner of Sussex and Victory and Elaine and Christine attended a variety of Burnaby schools including; Kingsway West, Nelson Avenue and McPherson Park Junior High. The family were parishioners of All Saints Anglican Church in Burnaby where Elaine also attended Girl Guides. Elaine’s father fulfilled his dream of designing and building the family home when he purchased property on London Street in New Westminster. The family moved to New Westminster and lived in a small house on the property while William spent three years completing their new home. Elaine commuted to Burnaby by the Interurban train in order to complete her studies at McPherson Park Junior High before enrolling at Duke of Connaught and graduating from Lester Pearson in New Westminster in 1957. In 1961, William Myers built the sanctuary lectern, pulpit, and altar for St. Andrew’s Church on Smith Avenue in Burnaby his brother Hermann’s parish. By the mid-1960s, William and Edna Myers moved from their home in New Westminster to White Rock. Edna Myers died on April 23, 1969. William built the ambry for the church of St. Mark as a memorial. William remarried Ruth, a widow, in 1971, and they resided in White Rock until Ruth’s death in 1983. William died in White Rock March 26, 1991. Elaine Myers married Gordon Wilfred Atkinson in 1961; they had four children and lived in the Dunbar area of Vancouver before they separated ways in 1988. Elaine completed her Bachelor of Arts degree as a mature student at University of British Columbia in 1984 followed by the completion of her Master’s degree at University of Toronto in April 1996, and PhD (Doctorate of Philosophy) in 2007. She has lived abroad in Jerusalem and the United Kingdom, working on a variety of research projects. Elaine Anne Myers passed away on February 19, 2015.
- Media Type
- Photograph
- Creator
- Myers, Elaine A.
- Notes
- Title based on contents of fonds
- Photo catalogue 580
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