ad fines “The » ‘verdant

: - directly inta. the small, pers
7 “darkness 0! of the 1c living-roo ni.

gs the house gives the yard a an
pression of unfettered gtowth. .

“Chis r’s and’ changed | his
birthplace: to » Briglebagoney,
‘Scotland’ :
_ingratiate. himself. with, a

“order _to

: 7 was: known as Mac all
ke the eens there” ,

foot.
. cabinet of tiny drawers.

Are. you"
° Benealogy?”

_ -that_ wasn't really. a: Out--comes—another-
e, he Says, for he was half-

‘He motidns | to’ an “eight-"
high» wooden. filing,

“Molluscs,”
largest private collection of: ;
land and -frésh water :snails .
around. Donated it. to the -

on . museum in Ottawa,” ef le,
fe Porental Scottish employer. _ ~

he. says, “the |

4 “How - about - genealogy?
interested”

doting ‘the’ war, you could .
“have gota lot here for $ 10, mes

wire spectacles, |

“to a picture in his:book, “that

= dismater, %.

‘He reaches for. a pair o
one arm. .
_ which is coiled with. 2 masking
“tape. °

. “Here.” he says, . pointin,

was one of the trees Thad to’:

“strapbook, this one wider:
and thicker than the first.

' almost in disbelief at his own...
’ _accomplishment, 7

He shakes his head 7 again,

“Osteoporosis,”
) say it’s arthritis.”

Whether osteoporosis Or.
arthritis, it is not surprising.

', On Feb. 24 Walter Draycott
_~will celebrate his 96 - bir-
thiay. And that, ‘he says:

“ matter-of-factly, : is why he.
-Méver .receives : visitors

| ‘before noon. we
“When: you' get to ‘be 96;
you. don’t’ make = ap-
pointments in the morning
‘cause “it takes you ail
morning just to get up.” The
man’s shoulders bunch up

the first time, wrinkles
- appear on his round, ruddy
face.

‘Draycott, a bachelor,
artist, writer, philatelist,
Pleistocene geologist and
‘military topographer,

oldest and dearest residents.

Lynn Valley”, published last
August, is just one of the
many ambitious projects
Draycott has. accomplished
over the years.

Using his own diary,
photographs and maps, he
has recorded in painstaking
detail the area’s first .
Pioneers, schools and in-
dustry.

Draycott was born in 1883
in Belgraye, England to a
Scottish mother and an
English father. But, he says,
when jobs were scarce in
_ northern Ontario he rolled

“plains, “though ‘some. ‘aay 7

around his neck and he |
allows: a Jittle chortle. For -

is -
surely one of Lynn Valicy’s ..

His book “Early Days in ~

: eyes are. “hidden:
| momentarily behind his

% “squinting, laughing face. -

=. open: life”, was =

meticulous. sketcher as a

And... that,
coupled with: his ; geographic
landed him a

position _as~-a’ military:

_tepographer in - the. Boer

“Oh, do I have’ a lot of |

snake stories about those
days,” he grimaces and with

the slightest prodding relates -
the ‘night that a- ‘gargantuan —

“snake slithtered: ‘across ‘his
smeck while: he was dozing.
He, shudders remembering’
it. His: white, wispy hair.
flickers over his ears as he

. Shakes his head.
During his next -war, in

WWi1, Draycott was

arrested, gassed and

wounded three times while
serving as the Canadian
army's only official sketcher.

He lugs out a scrapbook,
one of dozens lying among
the myraid of dusty books
that cram the wall shelves
and side tables and tumble
out of the cardboard boxes
surrounding his desk.

The scrapbook holds his
collection of hand-drawn
Christmas cards, The scenes,
in pen and ink or pencil,
show forests and rivers with
animals frolicking in the
foreground. In a delicate
Old English script, Draycott
_had written messages on all
‘the cards.

In the soft light from. the.
small lamp we muse over the |
pages. His eyes move back |

and forth across the post-
card-size drawings, _ still
appreciating, still
questioning their execution,

r Wessex: “from: » Woden ~ ‘to.

“Dozens of yellowed pages”

‘are opened to reveal a family”

tree . par’=:excellance..
“Genealogy of. the: Kings « of

Ecgbert” it says.-Hundreds |
of names follow, ... all in”

' Draycott’s tiny, neat Old
= English script. ~

the only. one. cof oe
to have “a bent

-Draycott has traced his’.

‘family back to about 950 —
~ A.D...

He motions to_
precious binder. “There is an ~
awful lot of work in that,” he
says.

Draycott’s adventures in
Lynn Valley began in 1911.
After travelling across...
Canada he-landed in Van-*

~ a different” light. ~ “When » I

‘the ..

woe

“When. you are young;” he r
says; “you ate. not exactly

think now.of making a home 7
out of this bush...” ;

A fluffy, grey cat springs

across. thé ‘room. The: fur-
“‘nace* kicks: in’ and: ‘the old. -
man smiles at the'comforting
whirring noises it makes.

“Buy that was a long. time
ago," "hesays.

rkable gentlemen hes a book on the market
‘on the early days of Lynn alley. ug

couver and was in the ™

process of planiiing a return *

to. England when he received >

an invitation to visit an Irish
acquaintance on the North
Shore. ;

And, he says, that was
that. There was big land
boom going on and Draycott
was persuaded to buy three
lots for $200 each.

“At least he said I had
bought three lots. but I
couldn't find them,” Draycott
shoulders bob up again and
he chuckles. “They were so
far back in the bush I
couldn't get to them.”

He shakes his head and
smiles, “A few years later,

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Solid Gold

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the |

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north vancouver _

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