NEWS photo Paul McGrath

Sunshine Girl

TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Tasha is a student at Emily Carr and part-time model. She intends to pursue a

-career as a graphic artist.

Friday, July 10, 1992 — North Shore News — 11

WV Opens new museum

THE RECENT opening of Gertude Lawson House as West Vaucouver’s Museum and Archives seerned to have been planned to please the person who was there in name only.

After a lull of some years, in- cluding months of restoration of the stone clad home located at the corner of 17th Street and Es- quimalt Avenue, the house once again resounded with the laughter and chatter of people and the festive sight of Scottish Country Dancing.

“Life was never dull in this house —- Gertrude loved parties,”’ recalled her niece, Gertrude

, Wilson.

Although Lawson passed away in 1990, last week’s celebration coincided with the 100th birthday of this beloved daughter of West Vancouver pioneer John Lawson.

The opening ceremony was held outside on 17th St., but rain forc- ed West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager to abbreviate his speech and invite everyone inside to explore the new museum.

_Lawson’s other niece, Nancy Marjoribanks, confided that she suspects that the rain was some- how her aunt's doing, because it smacked of her sense of humor.

So the house was crowded with people again, just as it must have been when. Lawson brought her aging parents ‘to live there and made some rooms available to other relatives and unattached ladies of limited means.

Present at the opening was Bet- ty Kirk, who celebrated her wed- ding reception about 50 years ago in the house and then spent the first couple of years of married life in one of the rooms upstairs.

She suspects that Lawson often slept on the couch for lack of a room of her own.

Although the restoration of the Lawson house opened up many of the small original rooms into brighter, farger spaces, Wilson said Lawson would have been pleased with the changes and her

Sea Fest ’92 celebrates community

THE 1992 VANCOUVER Sea Festival, ‘‘a celebration of a community by sea,’’? is scheduled to run from Thursday, July 16 to Sunday, July 19. .

More than 50 community groups will participate in 120 nautical events centred around the English Bay, False Creek, Gran- ville Island, Kitsilano, and Jericho

areas.

_Said Bob Scragg, 1992 Sea Fes- tival chairman, ‘Festival orga- ‘nizers want to bring the Sea Festi- val back to its roots, when it began 29 years ago as a communi- ty celebration.’” He added, ‘*‘Our goal is to involve every aspect of .the community in our scope. So far, there has been tremendous support from community groups, sports clubs, marine organiza- tions, local merchants, the hospi- tality industry and the Canadian Navy, to name a few.’’

Some of the events inciude a demonstration bathtub race in the False Creek harbor; multi-huill, sailboat, outrigger, and canoe regattas; parasailing, windsurfing, jet and water-ski displays; marine-model seminars; kite

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shows; nautical art exhibits; oyster eating contests; seaside barbecues and a community sandcastle com- petition at Spanish Banks. Thursday, July 16 and Friday,

- July 17, will be Children’s Days at

this year’s festival. Some of the activities to take place are: water safety demonstrations; a family- oriented sea-walk; a marine pet-

‘ting zoo; and the Travelling Road

Show, featuring a 30-foot-high “Ecosaurus”’ near Science World. The highlight of the four-day event will be the Sea Festival Land/Sea Parade, sponsored by Clearly Canadian Beverage Corp. and CKNW/98 — which will pro- vide a live broadcast of the parade

from the festival.

More than 40 entries ranging from marching bands to a ‘‘smok- ing dragon’’ are registered for the land parade.

The sea parade (a flotilia of ©

marine crafts) will meet the land parade near the foot of Beach Avenue. At that time, an official on the HMCS Oriole, a visiting naval training ship, will take the salute to begin the sea display. Organizers expect the marine parade to attract more than 200

-Vvessels.

Those interested in becoming a Sea Festival volunteer can call the Sea Festival office at 684-3378.

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home’s new purpose as a public facility.

“She wanted her house to bea people placc,’’ said Wilson.

Lawson enjoyed ‘ife and helped others enjoy their lives.

“Her life is an example of how a single individual could improve the quality of life for everyone in her corner of the world,”’ said Wilson.

Arriving in Vancouver when she was about 10, Lawson pursued an adventurous life that took her up to Barkerville to teach and later on a trip around the world in 1926 with another teacher.

The stone house, which Lawson saved and planned for, was her next ‘‘big idea.’

“In all the years she lived in the house, 1 don’t believe the doors were ever locked,”’ said Wilson.

Lawson was also described as a joyous person who loved dancing and pretty clothes. She also had a strong sense of duty and a desire to fight injustice.

According to Sager, the municipality’s decision (to pur- chase her home and the communi- ty’s decision to restore it and turn

it into a museum, ‘‘shows our desire to preserve what is best in our community.”’ .

West Vancouver bought the’ property for $1.2 million, saving it from development as an apart- ment building.

The lot is located across the street from the municipal hail and may be a key part of a future civic centre at-the site.

The West Vancouver Museum and Archives Society provided much of the volunteer effort that enabled the fundraising .and renovation work to be undertak- en.

Society president Peter Halli paid homage to the West Van-

.couver Rotary Club, which years

ago set a goal to start the museum and archives society and = sup- ported the subsequent search for and development-of a permanent facility.

Thanks also went to the young people of the Rotoract Club for their volunteer work, deputy pro- vincial archivist Gary Mitchell for his assistance, architect Michael Barnes for his ‘“‘painstaking’’ ef- forts, Kay Meek for her generosity in providing the museum fur- nishings, former: municipal man- ager Terry Lester and several others who had contributed.

The Lawson family contributed $100,000 to.the $500,000- Tenovation project, which was largely financed by donaticn and government grants.

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