Repository

Burnaby Village Museum

Collection/Fonds

Burnaby Village Museum fonds

Series

Museum Oral Histories series

Subseries

Many Voices Project Interviews subseries

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

1 sound recording (wav) (61 min., 37 sec.) + 1 sound recording (mp3) (61 min., 37 sec.)

Material Details

Interviewer: Eric Damer Interviewee: Norman Dowad Location of Interview: Burnaby Village Museum Interview Date: August 14, 2023 Total Number of tracks: 1 Total Length of all Tracks: 01:14:37 Digital master recording (wav) was converted to mp3 for access on Heritage Burnaby

Scope and Content

Item consists of a recording of an oral history interview with Norman Dowad conducted by Burnaby Village Museum Registrar, Eric Damer on August 14, 2023. 00:00:00 – 00:14:38 Norm shares biographical information about himself and background information on the Dowad family. Norm conveys information about his grandfather Samuel Dowad's immigration to Canada and his father Wilfred Dowad's military service and successes as a property developer. 00:14:39 – 00:17:26 Norm provides background information on his mother’s side of the family. 00:17:27 – 00:31:36 Norm talks about his childhood, growing up in the Deer Lake neighbourhood, his early education in Burnaby and sports that he played. 00:31:37 – 00:39:59 Norm talks about his educational experiences attending Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia and Osgoode Hall law school and information regarding his law career. 00:40:00 – 00:45:03 Norm reflects on his childhood growing up in Burnaby and on his experiences and relationships as a student and in his career as a lawyer. 00:45:04 – 01:01:37 Norm talks about his siblings and shares information about family property development projects as well as career and business successes. In closing he talks about research that he’s done through Archives Canada on his grandfather Sam Dowad and father Wilfred Dowad.

History

Interviewee biography: Normam Dowad was born and rasied in Burnaby. Norm graduated from Burnaby Central Secondary School, Simon Fraser University for one year, and obtained his law degree from York University. Norman began practicing law in 1974 years and has his own law practice that he operates out of Vancouver as of 2023. Interviewer biography: Eric Damer is a Burnaby Village Museum Interpreter, Museum Registrar, Researcher and Blacksmith. Eric pounded hot steel for the first time in 1977 in junior high. Fifteen years later, he joined Burnaby Village Museum where he has smithed for three decades. He also provides historical research for museum exhibits and special projects. Outside the museum, Eric is a social historian with a special interest in educational history.

Creator

Burnaby Village Museum

Subjects

Agriculture - Farms

Education

Persons - South Asian Canadians

Migration

Sports

Sports - Football

Wars - World War, 1939-1945

Names

Dowad, Norman W. "Norm"

Dowad, Samuel Esper "Sam"

Dowad, Wilfred "Wilf"

Dowad, Naomi "Mamie" David

Dowad, Martha Elias Shaheen

Dowad, Kathleen "Kay"

Rideout, Dr. John Anthony

Burnaby Central Secondary School

Douglas Road School

W. Dowad Limited

Responsibility

Damer, Eric

Geographic Access

Buckingham Avenue

Deer Lake

Street Address

5533 Buckingham Avenue

Accession Code

BV023.16.16

Access Restriction

No restrictions

Reproduction Restriction

No known restrictions

Date

[1890-2023] (interview content), interviewed 14 Aug. 2023

Media Type

Sound Recording

Historic Neighbourhood

Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)

Planning Study Area

Morley-Buckingham Area

Notes

Title based on contents of item

Transcription available

Less detail

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

Subjects

Recreational Activities

Persons - Children

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

Series

Centennial Oral History project series

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.

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