Photograph of Bertha Shankie sitting on a bench in a garden. She is holding two cats and there is a dog sitting at her feet. The family's Barker Avenue home and yard is visible behind her.
Handwritten text in white on back of photograph reads: "Do you know Who this [?] / Looks pretty cranky".
Scope and Content
Photograph of Bertha Shankie sitting on a bench in a garden. She is holding two cats and there is a dog sitting at her feet. The family's Barker Avenue home and yard is visible behind her.
Group photograph of one woman, three girls, and two boys. Bertha Gray Shankie, her daughter Janet (Shankie) Bower, and son, Thomas "Ramsay" Shankie, Betty and Tommie Watt are arranged standing in two rows under a blossoming tree beside a house. The date is in white text and appears to have been add…
" […] 1930" written in white on front left of photograph.
Scope and Content
Group photograph of one woman, three girls, and two boys. Bertha Gray Shankie, her daughter Janet (Shankie) Bower, and son, Thomas "Ramsay" Shankie, Betty and Tommie Watt are arranged standing in two rows under a blossoming tree beside a house. The date is in white text and appears to have been added to the photograph later.
History
Janet and Ramsay Shankie were the children of Bertha and Thomas Shankie, Burnaby,who lived at 3718 Barker Avenue (after 1960-5515 Barker Avenue). Ramsey Shankie later married Ina Stanley, daughter of Frank Charles Stanley and Esther Love, daughter of Jesse and Martha Love.
Photograph of "Campend," the Shankie family home. Janet Shankie is standing in the gateway. The house was formerly numbered 3718 Barker Avenue and later renumbered 5155 Barker Avenue. An annotation at the bottom front of the photograph reads, "Campend 1938."
Photograph of "Campend," the Shankie family home. Janet Shankie is standing in the gateway. The house was formerly numbered 3718 Barker Avenue and later renumbered 5155 Barker Avenue. An annotation at the bottom front of the photograph reads, "Campend 1938."
Photograph of clinker boat beside exterior of house wall with cedar shakes and windows. Framing supports are attached to the wall. Vegetation in foreground. The house could be the Shankie family home on Barker Avenue.
Photograph of clinker boat beside exterior of house wall with cedar shakes and windows. Framing supports are attached to the wall. Vegetation in foreground. The house could be the Shankie family home on Barker Avenue.
This portion of the interview is about Reidun Seim talking about the families and the vineyard and apple orchard on Aubrey Street. She tells stories about picking wild blackberries near Aubrey and raspberries grown on her parent’s farm, and about her mother’s large garden and kale grown for chicken…
This portion of the interview is about Reidun Seim talking about the families and the vineyard and apple orchard on Aubrey Street. She tells stories about picking wild blackberries near Aubrey and raspberries grown on her parent’s farm, and about her mother’s large garden and kale grown for chicken feed.
Recording is of an interview with Reidun Seim conducted by Kathy Bossort. Reidun Seim was one of 23 participants interviewed as part of the Community Heritage Commission’s Burnaby Mountain Oral History Project. The interview is mainly about Reidun Seim’s memories about her parent’s farm on Curtis Street, events in her childhood, and the people who lived in or visited her neighborhood. She takes us on a tour of her neighborhood in the 1940s, telling us stories about families who lived on Curtis Street on and east of 7300 block, including people who lived on Burnaby Mountain in the old Hastings Grove subdivision above the end of municipal water service at Philips Avenue. She describes changes to Curtis Street, particularly after it provided access to Simon Fraser University in 1965. She also talks about her teaching career, and about how she values the green space and conservation area on Burnaby Mountain.
Biographical Notes
Reidun Seim was born in 1931 in Vancouver B.C. to Sjur and Martine Seim. Sjur and Martine Seim emigrated to Canada from Norway in 1930, and after settling in Vancouver, moved to an acre of land and a new home at the base of Burnaby Mountain in 1932. Sjur attended UBC to learn about poultry farming and began his own chicken and egg business in 1935. The farm animals and large garden also contributed to the family’s livelihood and self-sufficiency. The Curtis Street neighborhood was a lively place and extended well up Curtis Street on the west slope of Burnaby Mountain, where Reidun would babysit for families. Reidun attended Sperling Avenue Elementary School (Gr. 1-8), Burnaby North High School, and Vancouver Normal School for teacher training in 1950-1951. She began teaching primary grades in Port Coquitlam at James Park School. Most of her career was spent in North Delta, teaching at Kennedy and Annieville schools from 1954-1958, appointed Primary Consultant (1958-1960) and Primary Supervisor (1960-1985), before retiring in 1986. Reidun lived at home with her parents on Curtis Street, commuting to Delta, and continues to live in the original farmhouse.
Kathy Bossort is a retired archivist living in Ladner, BC. She worked at the Delta Museum and Archives after graduating from SLAIS (UBC) in 2001 with Masters degrees in library science and archival studies. Kathy grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and, prior to this career change, she lived in the West Kootenays, earning her living as a cook for BC tourist lodges and work camps. She continues to be interested in oral histories as a way to fill the gaps in the written record and bring richer meaning to history.
Photograph of Janet Bower (nee Shankie) in Scottish regalia. The house was formerly numbered 3718 Barker Avenue and later renumbered 5155 Barker Avenue.
Photograph of Janet Bower (nee Shankie) in Scottish regalia. The house was formerly numbered 3718 Barker Avenue and later renumbered 5155 Barker Avenue.
Photograph of young boy, Thomas Ramsay Shankie, and his sister, Janet Shankie Bower, pictured in the garden beside the family home on Barker Avenue. Ramsay is on the left and is playing the violin.
Photograph of young boy, Thomas Ramsay Shankie, and his sister, Janet Shankie Bower, pictured in the garden beside the family home on Barker Avenue. Ramsay is on the left and is playing the violin.
Photograph of Ramsay and Janet Shankie in a garden, standing in a metal bathtub with a rooster standing next to them. The children are wearing bathing suits. A leafy tree and the Shankie family home on Barker Avenue is visible in the background.
Handwritten text in white on front of photograph reads: "9th Aug 1931".
Scope and Content
Photograph of Ramsay and Janet Shankie in a garden, standing in a metal bathtub with a rooster standing next to them. The children are wearing bathing suits. A leafy tree and the Shankie family home on Barker Avenue is visible in the background.
Group photograph of six children standing together outside the Shankie home on Barker Avenue with a blossoming tree in the background. Thomas Ramsay Shankie stands on the far left and his sister Janet Shankie stands on the far right. In between them are three smaller boys and one smaller girl.
Group photograph of six children standing together outside the Shankie home on Barker Avenue with a blossoming tree in the background. Thomas Ramsay Shankie stands on the far left and his sister Janet Shankie stands on the far right. In between them are three smaller boys and one smaller girl.
Photograph of Ramsay Shankie holding a violin. Ramsay is wearing a light coloured shirt, a v-neck sweater and striped trousers. The Shankie family home on Barker Avenue is visible behind.
Handwritten text in black on front of photograph reads: "April 1934".
Scope and Content
Photograph of Ramsay Shankie holding a violin. Ramsay is wearing a light coloured shirt, a v-neck sweater and striped trousers. The Shankie family home on Barker Avenue is visible behind.