22 - Sunday, October 31, 1993 - North Shore News

The story of an award-winning
Savamist chief and his wife

THE VINTAGE YEARS |

CHERCHEZ LA
femme.

~" Behind every successful

man, remember,.there’s a
strong-minded, loving lady
with an ironing board and a
supply of caicium pills and a
fixation about early-to-bed.
_ And ashe stridesto
. glory, she’s putting the
dishes in the sink and get-
ting out the vacuum cleaner.

-She'‘doesn’t feel sorry for
herself and you'd better not
try to either —- this man is
‘her life and her job; and he
_carries her heart with him in
his lunch-bucket. .

“1t’s pretty. old-fashioned,
 Lfear, but it’s till alive:

He’ been named Senior
Of the Year by the Brock |

House Society, the 10th time
they have so honored one of

our outstanding senior citi-

zens, °.

. There’s a prize goes with
the honor-— the Hongkong
.Bank of Canada contributes
~ $10,000 tax-free — plus the
Brock House Society Medal.

Chief Simon is pretty .
pleased, and his beautiful
wife Emily smiles all over
herself.

* She knows what he can
do; she knows how hard
he’s worked to establish a

“fiaison between his people
and ours.:

' She’s watched him
agonize over wasted lives
and radiate hope when good
responses change his day.

They’ll celebrate their
golden wedding anniversary
next June.

Their family of nine
children has been extended
by 32 grandchildren and 22
great-grandchildren, with
another waiting impatiently
in the wings.

Emily’s just a small, slight
lady, but a testament to her
strength of mind and will is
the lovely story of how they
came to marry all those
years ago.

Chief Simon lived in his
boyhood with his grand-
mother, Mary Capilano, on
the shore close to where
Vancouver Wharves is now.

He describes days hunting
berries for his grandmother,
going fishing, clamming,

‘

64 T hey'll celebrate their golden

wedding anniversary next June. ¥9

and helping her paddle the
catch over to English Bay
where she could sell what
they’d gathered and caught.

From.there, when he
came into his teens, he’d
walk after supper to the
North Vancouver Ferry slip
and make his way into the
city.

Once there he’d find a
game of something; he was
a fine athlete and did some
boxing, too. Or he’d get
into a dance hall (for a
quarter!) and dance away
the hours.

Then he’d have to hike _
down to the ferry for the -
walk back home; more than

-a.couple of miles.
This walk both ways took :

him past Emily’s house —
she lived near the spired
church on the reservation —

 and-Emily’s daddy would .

watch him going to and fro,

Because Emily: worked as
.a domestic in Vancouver,
her father worried on her
Jone day: off when she would
be going back to the city in
_ the dark.” “

He fi gured this burly
“young chap would make a-
‘useful companion and of-

‘fered him acup of tea from

time to time.
It worked.
Emily:liked Simon and
Simon liked Emily.
But spring came and with

_ it came the salmon run, and

Simon announced he’d be
leaving for Alaska on a fish
boat.

“Then so will I,”
countered Emily. ‘‘I will go
with you.”’

Simon was appalled.
They’d have to marry, he
said, frantically; he couldn’)

afford that. He hadn’t got
any money for weddings.

“*T have,’ said Emily,
calmly. ‘I’ve been saving
my work money.”’

And so they’ll tell you the
first Love Boat to Alaska
left port in June 1944, con-
trary to other people’s cal-
culations.

The boat belonged to a
man and wife with five
children aboard. Simon and
Emily slept on deck.

He’s many years old, is
Chief Simon Baker, going
to be 83-in January, and his
eyesight and his hearing and
some of his arteries aren’t
quite up.to snuff any more,

‘ but he is far from being an

old man.
He's full of honors, but
his people and their condi-

tion and their future are as

much as ever his concern,
He’s met with kings and

‘Queens and spoken to

distinguished bodies all over

_ the world, in Germany and

Japan and the United States

"and New Zealand and

Australia, spreading infor-
mation about the Squamish
Nation and their culture and
the common issues that bind
us all.

’ “And he’s still as con-
cerned as he ever was,
because the anticipated
self-government is not just a
piece of celebratory cake.

- We surely hope he lasts
for further guiding through
the complications that their
new status will bring.

And Emily — she has to
last with him, to bring it full
circle.

Our best wishes to two
winners.

ARDAGH HUNTER TURNER

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