This portion of the recording pertains to popular culture. Julia (Kong) Poole discusses popular music of the time, including a popular local band. John discusses his involvement in Drag Racing. John and Julia discuss the difference between the generations (seeing interest in the wars being stronger…
This portion of the recording pertains to popular culture. Julia (Kong) Poole discusses popular music of the time, including a popular local band. John discusses his involvement in Drag Racing. John and Julia discuss the difference between the generations (seeing interest in the wars being stronger now than it was before). Julia mentions the Communist takeover in China.
Date Range
1964-2012
Photo Info
Julia Kong (later Poole) while at Burnaby North High School, [1968]. Item no. 549-058.
Recording is an interview with John Poole and Julia (Kong) Poole conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, November 24, 2012. Major themes discussed are: education and recreational activities of the ninteen-sixties.
Biographical Notes
Julia Kong's father moved his family to Capitol Hill in 1953 when Julia was two years old. Julia attended Capitol Hill Elementary and later Burnaby North High School, where she was active in student politics and as a cheerleader. Outside of school she participated in Girl Guides, was an active swimmer, and volunteered in various capacities. After graduation, Julia studied to become a teacher, which included a practicum at Capitol Hill Elementary, and then began a career in education.
John Poole, whose father had transferred to the Burnaby RCMP in 1961 when John was ten, attended Burnaby North High School at the same time as Julia, but had earlier attended Schou Street and Lochdale Elementary Schools. John was active in baseball, soccer, and Boy Scouts, and took a keen interest in cars. After high school he opened a transmission shop in Abbotsford before settling into a career with the Vancouver Fire Department.
John and Julia married at the Burnaby Village Museum church in 1980 and began their family roots with their first home on Capitol Hill. They later moved with their three children to Surrey where Julia continues to work for the Surrey School district and John is enjoying his retirement.
Eric Damer is a lifelong British Columbian born in Victoria, raised in Kamloops, and currently residing in Burnaby. After studying philosophy at the University of Victoria, he became interested in the educational forces that had shaped his own life. He completed master’s and doctoral degrees in educational studies at the University of British Columbia with a particular interest in the history of adult and higher education in the province. In 2012, Eric worked for the City of Burnaby as a field researcher and writer, conducting interviews for the City Archives and Museum Oral History Program.
Collected by editorial for use in a March 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "For Burnaby's Michael Valiante, the wait for his first season as a full-time driver in the Formula Atlantic racing series ends this weekend, in Monterrey, Mexico."
Photograph of racecar driver Michael Valiante speaking to an official wearing a headset. They stand outdoors and a crowd has gathered by them, in the background.
Photograph of racecar driver Michael Valiante speaking to an official wearing a headset. They stand outdoors and a crowd has gathered by them, in the background.
Collected by editorial for use in a January 2004 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Michael Valiante is preparing to graduate from the Formula Atlantics racing series. He's signed a deal with Walker Racing for the team to seek sponsorship that would give him a drive in the Champ Car series."
Photograph of Michael Valiante with the Players team at the Molson Indy in Vancouver. Unidentified team members, photographs, and spectators in the stands are visible behind Valiante.
Photograph of Michael Valiante with the Players team at the Molson Indy in Vancouver. Unidentified team members, photographs, and spectators in the stands are visible behind Valiante.
File contains photographs of Burnaby racecar driver Michael Valiante competing in the Skip Barber Dodge support race at the Vancouver Indy, around False Creek in Vancouver. Photographs depict Valiante racing, racing, and speaking with friends and family.
File contains photographs of Burnaby racecar driver Michael Valiante competing in the Skip Barber Dodge support race at the Vancouver Indy, around False Creek in Vancouver. Photographs depict Valiante racing, racing, and speaking with friends and family.
Collected by editorial for use in a September 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-2678-2: "Burnaby racer Michael Valiante, competing in the Skip Barber Dodge support race at the Vancouver Indy, emerges from the car transporter, that also serves as the drivers' dressing room, unlike the glamorous, big-money world of the CART series drivers on the other side of False Creek. Valiante's first race weekend at home, in front of friends and family, went bad with five laps remaining, when he was squeezed into the wall while trying to lap a slower car; he was running third at the time."
Photograph of Kaija Kalevala posing with memorabilia, including photographs and an autographed checkered flag, from her career as a race car driver in Finland and at the Digney Speedway in Burnaby.
Photograph of Kaija Kalevala posing with memorabilia, including photographs and an autographed checkered flag, from her career as a race car driver in Finland and at the Digney Speedway in Burnaby.
Collected by editorial for use in a March 2004 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Kaija Kalevala, who's about to turn 80, reminisces about her career as a pioneer race car driver in the 1940s in Finland, and then at the old Digney Speedway in South Burnaby. She was the first woman to race at the Speedway and her fellow racers presented her with an autographed checkered flag when she retired to take up truck rodeo."
File contains photographs of racecar driver Marc De Vellis. Photographs depict De Vellis in a garage, polishing his racecar and adjusting part of the car with a wrench.
File contains photographs of racecar driver Marc De Vellis. Photographs depict De Vellis in a garage, polishing his racecar and adjusting part of the car with a wrench.
Collected by editorial for use in a January 2001 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-1576-1: "Burnaby's Marc DeVellis puts a final shine on his newly-acquired Formula Mazda race car, which he'll be racing in this season's Best Western Mazda Racing series."
Caption from metadata for 535-1576-2: "Burnaby racer Marc DeVellis has been busy rebuilding a recently-acquired Formula Mazda racing car in his dad's auto shop in New Westminster. He'll be racing the car in this season's Best Western Mazda racing series, a support event to the American LeMans racers."
File contains photographs of Roger Edwards, a car racer and former street racer. Edwards poses with his car on Lowland Drive and shows one of the new pieces he will be installing in his car.
File contains photographs of Roger Edwards, a car racer and former street racer. Edwards poses with his car on Lowland Drive and shows one of the new pieces he will be installing in his car.
Collected by editorial for use in an August 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-2615-1: "Roger Edwards is now retired from street racing. But on streets like this one, Lowland Drive, is where some racers still come to drive."
Caption from metadata for 535-2615-2: "Roger Edwards pulls out one of the new performance pieces he will be installing on his car, all to make it go faster. Edwards is hoping to race in Mission in the fall."
Collected by editorial for use in a September 2003 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Antonia Beck, with a little help from her five month-old daughter, Silvia, Paul Beeman, of Donn Dean Collision, and Anne Baker, of Allegra Printing and Imaging, plot their route for the second annual South Burnaby Neighbourhood House Car Rally."