- Sunday, March 29, 1992 - North Shore News

J oshua Hill celebrates
90 years with open house

MARCH 18 marked the en-
try into another decade for
West Vancouver’s Joshua
Lawrence Hill.

By Kevin Gillies
Contributing Writer

Larry, as his friends call him,
turned 90 more than a year after
having open-heart surgery to
replace a defective valve.

To celebrate the occasion, the
Hills hosted an open house at

- their Kings Street home.

“I was quite happy to see the
people who came out to see me,”
Larry said. ‘‘The old-timers.”

“We are still amazed about the
turnout. There was more than we
anticipated,’’ said Helen Hill,
Larry’s wife of 51 years. ‘‘There
were many old-time friends. We
were glad they remembered.”’

The tireless North Shore pioneer
is in excellent health, and as sharp
as a tack, according to his son
David.

“He walks four to five miles a
day,” the younger Hill said. ‘‘He
never smoked, and he never
drank.”

Larry was bom in Northern
Ontario in 1902, and came west
with his mother, three brcthers

. and four sisters.

After a short stay in Calgary,
his family moved to B.C. where
he has lived ever since.

Following his teens, he moved
up to the Peace River District
where he homesteaded on four
sections of land with his brothers

- from 1923 to 1935.

In 3935 he returned to West
Vancouver to meet his brother
and family.

Around this time he worked a
short stint on the West Vancouver
ferries that ran from Ambleside to
the foot of Columbia Street in
Vancouver. The ferries ran before
Lions Gate Bridge was built.

In the late *30s, he and his un-
cle built a house on the corner of
15th Street and Kings Avenue in
West Vancouver, and he has lived
there ever since. _

At the beginning of the Second
World War, Larry signed up with

the Canadian Navy for the dura-
tion of the war. He spent that
time on the fairmile ships, chasing
submarines in the North Atlantic.

On July 15, 1940 he married
Helen Elizabeth Stevenson who
had attended Hollyburn School.
Helen is now 84,

When he returned home from
the war, he delivered maii in West
Vancouver from 1948 to 1970.

One of his life’s loves was being

WEST VANCOUVER'S Lawrence Hill marked his 90th birthday by

a cub and scout leader from 1954
to the late ‘60s. Other loves in-
clude animais and gardening. He
hasn’t done any gardening since
the operation, though.

“I’ve often heard about his
award-winning pigs and his cow
from the Peace River days,”’
David said.

“It’s not every day you become
90,” Larry said. ‘‘All this notorie-
ty and publicity is embarrassing.”

MEWS photo Cindy Goodman

drawing on memories of days past. The photo, taken June 12,

1945, shows Hill — just out of the Navy — with his wife Helen:
Hill also remembers when nething surrounded his new!y-built

Kings Avenue home.

Clearance Sale!
1991 Models Must Go!

Mason Deluxe Open Arm
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Sale $288

includes carrying cover and accessories

This machine is priced to clear! Ali machines
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Features include: built-in tensions, buttonhole,
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Baby Lock
Four Thread Serger

Made in Japan

Reg. *789

Saie $399

* Free iessons with every purchase

* Easy terms

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Eleanor Godley is on vacation

Vintage Years returns April 5

One crder, one invoice... for up
to 18 newspapers covering Hope
to Whistler Call your display
advertising representative for
more information on how you
can expand your markst.

north shore:

STants Apput bs.

Waich for our Storewide Sale flyer in
this newspaper Wednesday, April 1.
It's jampacked with savings on fashions,
housewares, plus a lot more.
And during the sale, we guarantee you the
lowest prices in Western Canada.

WOODWARDS