Photograph of the view of the new 10th Avenue connector from Gord Thorneycroft's garage. Thorneycroft holds a mug and is silhouetted by the light coming from outside, where the Bombardier SkyTrain plant is visible in the distance.
Photograph of the view of the new 10th Avenue connector from Gord Thorneycroft's garage. Thorneycroft holds a mug and is silhouetted by the light coming from outside, where the Bombardier SkyTrain plant is visible in the distance.
Collected by editorial for use in a February 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Gord Thorneycroft says he used to be able to enjoy his morning coffee looking out onto a quiet, tree-lined lane while working in his garage behind his home on 9th Ave. But workers building the new 10th Ave. connector tore out the trees last September, the City of Burnaby isn't making any promises to erect noise barriers, and his lane has become a thoroughfare to the Bombardier Skytrain plant."
Collected by editorial for use in an April 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Andrea Noonan, of rapid transit staff, gets a closer look at an architect's model of the Sperling Station for Skytrain's Millenium Line, currently under construction along Lougheed Highway."
File contains photographs of Pierre Hebert, the plant manager at Bombardier's new SkyTrain manufacturing facility in Burnaby. Photographs depict Hebert posing with the shell of a new SkyTrain car and inspecting the inside of the under-construction car.
File contains photographs of Pierre Hebert, the plant manager at Bombardier's new SkyTrain manufacturing facility in Burnaby. Photographs depict Hebert posing with the shell of a new SkyTrain car and inspecting the inside of the under-construction car.
Collected by editorial for use in a March 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-2108-1: "Pierre Hebert, the plant manager at Bombardier's new Burnaby facility, with one of the shells for the new Skytrain cars being built at the plant."
Caption from metadata for 535-2108-2: "Pierre Hebert, plant manager at Bombardier's new Skytrain manufacturing facility in Burnaby, inspects the hollow shell of one of the new series of cars to be built at the plant."
File contains photographs of employees of businesses affected by the SkyTrain construction along the Lougheed Highway. Photographs depict Javed Mufti setting up a patio umbrella at the Cactus Club, and Tanya Frackladge, a manager at the Canadian Tire at Lougheed and Rosser, tending to plants outsid…
File contains photographs of employees of businesses affected by the SkyTrain construction along the Lougheed Highway. Photographs depict Javed Mufti setting up a patio umbrella at the Cactus Club, and Tanya Frackladge, a manager at the Canadian Tire at Lougheed and Rosser, tending to plants outside of the Canadian Tire.
Collected by editorial for use in a May 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-2422-1: "Javed Mufti, of the Cactus Club, says he's worried his restaurant's patio business will disappear as the Skytrain construction moves west along the Lougheed."
Caption from metadata for 535-2422-2: "Tanya Frackladge, a manager at the Canadian Tire at Lougheed and Rosser, says she's had plenty of time to tend to the geraniums since the highway was shut down for Skytrain constructions."
This portion of the interview is about the interurban tram service in Burnaby, how it was used, the interurban routes, reasons for closing the interurban and later building Skytrain, and attempts to purchase an old tram car for Heritage Village
This portion of the interview is about the interurban tram service in Burnaby, how it was used, the interurban routes, reasons for closing the interurban and later building Skytrain, and attempts to purchase an old tram car for Heritage Village
Date Range
1930-1990
Photo Info
Burnaby Alderman, Bill (William) Lewarne, [1973]. Item no. 231-012
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.
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.
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.
Collected by editorial for use in a February 2005 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader.
Originally photographed in and used in a December 2002 issue of Burnaby NewsLeader.
Caption from metadata: "Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan isn't happy that Translink has announced its priority for its next rapid transit project would be a Vancouver-Richmond link, rather than the previously-announced Skytrain extension to Coquitlam Centre from Lougheed Town Centre."
Photograph of Bombardier employees in matching T-shirts exiting a SkyTrain MK II car that will be part of the new Millennium Line. The car is on display inside of Bombardier's assembly plant in Burnaby.
Photograph of Bombardier employees in matching T-shirts exiting a SkyTrain MK II car that will be part of the new Millennium Line. The car is on display inside of Bombardier's assembly plant in Burnaby.
Collected by editorial for use in a January 2001 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Bombardier employees stream off the first fully-completed SkyTrain MK II cars for the new Millenium line, which were unveiled Tuesday at the company's assembly plant in Burnaby."
File contains photographs of the new Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain station just before the opening of the Millennium Line. Photographs depict Benson Chin, staff of the Millennium Line, posing in the station and an unidentified worker polishing glass underneath a sign for the station.
File contains photographs of the new Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain station just before the opening of the Millennium Line. Photographs depict Benson Chin, staff of the Millennium Line, posing in the station and an unidentified worker polishing glass underneath a sign for the station.
Collected by editorial for use in an August 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-2620-1: "Benson Chin, of the Skytrain Millenium Line, checks out the view from the new Lougheed Town Centre station. The Skytrain extension is scheduled to open August 31."
Caption from metadata for 535-2620-2: "Workers are busy putting the final polish on the Lougheed Skytrain station along the new Millenium Line, which is scheduled to open August 31."
Photograph of Wanda Chow, Greg Knill, and David Weir, all Burnaby NewsLeader employees, posing outside of the Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain station with a car and a map before a morning commute.
Photograph of Wanda Chow, Greg Knill, and David Weir, all Burnaby NewsLeader employees, posing outside of the Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain station with a car and a map before a morning commute.
Collected by editorial for use in a September 2002 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "The NewsLeader's commuting team gets ready to face the challenges of morning rush hour. Wanda Chow plots her driving route on a map, editor Greg Knill reviews his notes for his bus route, and David Weir checks to see how long until the next Skytrain."
File contains photographs of Burnaby RCMP and other police interacting with people the RCMP suspected of crimes on the SkyTrain. Photographs depict Burnaby RCMP Sergeant Barry Hickman searching a suspect's mouth and two unidentified officers looking at an unidentified person's ID, with the SkyTrain…
File contains photographs of Burnaby RCMP and other police interacting with people the RCMP suspected of crimes on the SkyTrain. Photographs depict Burnaby RCMP Sergeant Barry Hickman searching a suspect's mouth and two unidentified officers looking at an unidentified person's ID, with the SkyTrain visible in the background.
Collected by editorial for use in a January 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata for 535-3074-1: "Sargeant Barry Hickman, of the Burnaby RCMP, searches a suspect's mouth during a crime crackdown along Skytrain on Wednesday. Hickman says drug dealers often hide their drugs in their mouths, under the tongue."
Caption from metadata for 535-3074-2: "Police forces from Vancouver to Surrey, combine with Skytrain constables and immigration officials to crack down on crime and drug dealing along Skytrain."
File contains photographs of auditions for slots for busking at the SkyTrain. Photographs depict performers playing guitar, harmonica, and other instruments in front of a backdrop showing a Skytrain, and the judges and other performers watching the auditions.
File contains photographs of auditions for slots for busking at the SkyTrain. Photographs depict performers playing guitar, harmonica, and other instruments in front of a backdrop showing a Skytrain, and the judges and other performers watching the auditions.
Photograph of the manager of Jolly Genie's, a children's restaurant and playpark, adjusting one of the restaurant's window displays. The SkyTrain track, under construction, is visible in the background.
Photograph of the manager of Jolly Genie's, a children's restaurant and playpark, adjusting one of the restaurant's window displays. The SkyTrain track, under construction, is visible in the background.
Collected by editorial for use in an October 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Mandy Campbell, the manager at Jolly Genies, adjusts one of the restaurant's window displays, in the shadow of the new Skytrain extension."
Collected by editorial for use in a January 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Worker checks the progress of one of the Skytrain extension project's concrete support pillars being built along the Lougheed Highway, near Lougheed Mall."
Photograph of Jeet Mandiar, the owner of Flowers Flowers, checking a bouquet of flowers next to the open trunk of a car. A large construction site on North Road, for the construction of the SkyTrain Millennium line, is visible behind him.
Photograph of Jeet Mandiar, the owner of Flowers Flowers, checking a bouquet of flowers next to the open trunk of a car. A large construction site on North Road, for the construction of the SkyTrain Millennium line, is visible behind him.
Collected by editorial for use in an April 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "Jeet Mandiar, the owner of Flowers Flowers, on North Rd., checks a bouquet before it is sent out for delivery. The Skytrain construction on North Rd. has severely affected his business, and the traffic congestion has made it difficult for his drivers to make their deliveries on time."
Photograph of a traffic flagger holding a stop sign in front of the SkyTrain erector and other construction equipment involved in the construction of the Millennium line. The flagger is standing at a construction site along Lougheed Highway at Bell Avenue.
Photograph of a traffic flagger holding a stop sign in front of the SkyTrain erector and other construction equipment involved in the construction of the Millennium line. The flagger is standing at a construction site along Lougheed Highway at Bell Avenue.
Collected by editorial for use in a March 2000 issue of the Burnaby NewsLeader
Caption from metadata: "A traffic flagger is dwarfed by the Skytrain erector, which is placing the first sections of concrete guideway along the Lougheed Highway, at Bell St."