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![Burnaby Alderman, Bill (William) Lewarne, [1973]. Item no. 231-012 thumbnail](/media/hpo/_Data/_Archives_Images/_Unrestricted/205/231-012.jpg?width=280)
Interview with William A. Lewarne by Rod Fowler March 14, 1990 - Track 2
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/oralhistory442
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date Range
- 1893-1944
- Length
- 00:05:35
- Summary
- This portion of the interview is about Bill Lewarne’s parents’ history (Ethel Leer and Alfred Lewarne) and growing up in South Burnaby.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Summary
- This portion of the interview is about Bill Lewarne’s parents’ history (Ethel Leer and Alfred Lewarne) and growing up in South Burnaby.
- Date Range
- 1893-1944
- Photo Info
- Burnaby Alderman, Bill (William) Lewarne, [1973]. Item no. 231-012
- Length
- 00:05:35
- Names
- Lewarne, Ethel Leer
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Alta-Vista (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Planning Study Area
- Sussex-Nelson Area
- Interviewer
- Fowler, Rod
- Interview Date
- March 14, 1990
- Scope and Content
- Recording is of an interview with former Mayor William “Bill” Lewarne, conducted by Rod Fowler. Bill Lewarne was one of eleven participants interviewed as part of the SFU/Burnaby Centennial Committee's oral history series titled, "Voices of Burnaby". The interview is mainly about Bill Lewarne’s business and political careers, and memories of growing up in South Burnaby in the 1930s. Bill Lewarne talks about his parent’s origins, his family and community struggles during the Depression, the interurban, his education, war service, and joining his father's business. He describes the start, operation and expansion of the family ice cream business, and how business life compared to political life. The interview explores the role of politics in community affairs, his political activities, the history of the BVA, and his involvement in various community organizations. To view “Narrow By” terms for each track, expand this description and see “Notes”.
- Biographical Notes
- William Alfred “Bill” Lewarne was born in Burnaby in 1926 to Ethel Cecilia Leer (1899- ) and Alfred Lewarne (1893-1962). The family, Ethel, Alfred and their three children Patricia, Beverley and William, moved to a house on Nelson Avenue in Alta Vista in 1931. Ethel still lived in the family home in 1990. Bill Lewarne attended Nelson Avenue School and South Burnaby High School (1932-1944). His father Alfred worked at Colony Farms as a dairy inspector and then for the Port of Vancouver Dairy before being laid off early in the Depression. The family struggled until in 1936 Alfred started his own ice cream business. After graduation Bill was in the army for two years, taking a refrigeration course under the veteran’s training benefit, before joining his father’s business. Three generations of the family operated the successful company, expanding from wholesale, retail and distribution of ice cream products into refrigerated warehouses and the wholesale ice business, until the business was sold to its competitor Dairyland in 1989. Bill Lewarne entered politics in 1965, first with the Nonpartisan Association (NPA) and then as a founder of the Burnaby Citizens Association (BCA). He served as an alderman on Burnaby Council 1973-1975 and 1977-1981 and as Mayor 1981-1987. In 1979 he ran for provincial office for the Social Credit Party against Rosemary Brown but lost. Bill Lewarne married June Lawrence and they had three children Robert, Leslie and Janice. He was active in many organizations: Burnaby/Willingdon Liberal Association, Seton Villa, Irish Fusileers of Canada, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, and the Burnaby Hospital Foundation, and continued to be active on the Board of the BCA. Bill Lewarne died in 1995.
- Total Tracks
- 14
- Total Length
- 1:34:40
- Interviewee Name
- Lewarne, William A. "Bill"
- Interviewer Bio
- Rod Fowler returned to university as a mature student in the 1980s after working about twenty years in the field of economics and business computerization in England, Europe and Western Canada. He graduated with a BA from SFU in both History and Sociology in 1987, his MA degree in Geography in 1989, and his PhD in Cultural Geography at SFU. He taught courses in Geography, Sociology, History and Canadian Studies at several Lower Mainland colleges, before becoming a full time member of the Geography Department at Kwantlen University College.
- Collection/Fonds
- SFU/Burnaby Centennial Committee fonds
- Transcript Available
- Transcript available
- Media Type
- Sound Recording
- Web Notes
- Interviews were digitized in 2015 allowing them to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council.
Images
![Burnaby Alderman, Bill (William) Lewarne, [1973]. Item no. 231-012 thumbnail](/media/hpo/_Data/_Archives_Images/_Unrestricted/205/231-012.jpg)
Audio Tracks
Track two of interview with Bill Lewarne
Track two of interview with Bill Lewarne
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/hpo/_Data/_Archives_Oral_Histories/_Unrestricted/MSS187-019/MSS187-019_Track_2.mp3Richard Hardy family fonds
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/archivedescription97229
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1912] (date of original) -1989
- Collection/Fonds
- Richard Hardy family fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 cm of textual records; 27 b&w prints; 1 col. prints; 7 b&w neg.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of photographs of the Ward and Hardy famillies in their daily lives and work, including photographs of teachers and students at South Burnaby High School, and special events such as the Burnaby Civic employees union picnic, the Diamond Jubilee Parade, Princess Margaret's visit and Ma…
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date
- [1912] (date of original) -1989
- Collection/Fonds
- Richard Hardy family fonds
- Physical Description
- 1 cm of textual records; 27 b&w prints; 1 col. prints; 7 b&w neg.
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Accession Number
- 2014-16
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of photographs of the Ward and Hardy famillies in their daily lives and work, including photographs of teachers and students at South Burnaby High School, and special events such as the Burnaby Civic employees union picnic, the Diamond Jubilee Parade, Princess Margaret's visit and May Day at Central Park. The fonds also includes ephemera documenting Katherine (Hardy) Raasheer's student life at a variety of Burnaby schools and programs from the opening of the Burnaby Municipal Hall in 1956 and a Corporation of Burnaby Service Awards ceremony in 1964.
- History
- Richard Hardy was born in Fishborn, Alberta, on November 3, 1910. In 1922, his family moved to the home of his maternal grandparents at 1127 Edmonds Avenue in Burnaby. His parents, John Harrison Hardy and Gertrude Hephezebarh (nee Ward) moved to Burnaby with their four children: Edith; Richard "Dick"; Geoffrey; and John Edward "Jack". Gertrude was born in Barrie, Ontario. John Harrison Hardy was born in Yorkshire, England, and came to Canada in 1899, settling at Pincer Creek area of Southern Alberta. In about 1910, Richard's grandparents, Col. James Edward Ward and his wife Hephzibah (nee Hale) moved from Alberta to Burnaby. Col. Ward was the postmaster in the Lozell's area of Burnaby and was a city councillor for the District of Burnaby in 1915. Dick was enrolled at Edmonds Street School for his elementary school years, and later attended Burnaby South High School for two years, taking a commercial course. The family attended St. Alban's Anglican Church. While Richard was a student, he and his brother Geoff delivered newspapers in the area, making about $12 per month. In 1911, Dick joined the Burnaby Boy Scouts and continued to be involved for the next 40 years. In 1927, at the age of 17 years, Dick began work for the Corporation of the District of Burnaby as an office boy in the Treasurer's Department and retired as Tax Collections Supervisor in 1973 after 45 years of service. From September 1942 until his discharge in 1946, Dick served in WWII in the Canadian Army. His brother, Jack, served in the Canadian Air Force and was killed in April 1943. In 1933, Dick's parents moved back to Alberta with three of their children, leaving him in the family home on Edmonds Street. In 1939, after courting, he and Mabel Lilian "Mabs" Young of New Westminster married. Prior to her marriage, Mabs was employed as a teacher at the Burnaby South High School. Mabs and Dick had two daughters, Lynne (b. 1941) and Katherine (b. 1947). The family lived on Edmonds Street until 1947 when they moved into their second home in Burnaby at 2006 Buller Avenue (now 7185 Buller Avenue). In 1960, Mabs and Dick moved to their third Burnaby home, located at 4337 Wildwood Crescent. Mabs died in 1980. Dick continued to live in Wilwood Crescent house until 1983, when he moved to an apartment for one year but, missing his garden, he bought a small house with a large yard located at 8452 16th Avenue. He stayed in this house from 1985 until 1998 when he could no longer live independently. He moved to assisted living at Canada Way Lodge then to the nearby George Derby Centre where he lived for a few months before dying in August 2001. Dick loved to hike and camp and enjoyed his family and his garden.
- Media Type
- Textual Record
- Photograph
- Notes
- MSS183, photo catalogue 570