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Tuesday July 2, 2013
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Surrey mom’s disappearance still a mystery – 50 years later
‘I’m proud of my life in Canada’ ‘Bulldog’ baseball player Yuta Kikuzaki returns to Japan after two seasons with the Whalley Chiefs
Lucy Ann Johnson ‘vanished’ in the early 1960s
by Rick Kupchuk
by Sheila Reynolds
HE DIDN’T come to Canada for
LINDA EVANS was only a child of seven or eight years old when her
mom disappeared, so she doesn’t remember much. Her mother, Lucy Ann Johnson (nee Carvell) went missing in the 1960s. But as a kid, Evans never knew any more details than that – except that her dad didn’t want to talk about it. “It’s like she vanished into thin air,” says Evans, who is now in her late 50s and is Johnson’s only surviving child. Johnson is one of the Surrey RCMP’s oldest missing person cases. Police say though she was originally reported missing by her husband in 1965, investigators later learned from a neighbour that she hadn’t been seen since September 1961. Her husband, Marvin, later admitted she actually had gone missing in 1961. Believing the young mom may have met with foul play, police did a thorough investigation which included excavating the family’s property near 103 Avenue and 145A Street in North Surrey. According to the RCMP, neighbours had previously seen Marvin digging a septic field in the yard. Lucy Ann Johnson No evidence was ever found to support the theory that Lucy was a victim of crime. Charges were considered against her husband, but again, there was insufficient evidence. Lucy was born in 1935 in Alaska, married Marvin in Blaine, Wa. in 1954, and settled in Surrey a year to two later. The couple had two children, daughter Linda, and a son named Daniel. Linda still lives in Surrey, while Daniel, she says, passed away in his late teens. According to police, Marvin was listed as first mate on a tugboat, but was unemployed in 1961. He remarried and continued to raise the children with his new wife. He passed away in the late 1990s. See RCMP / Page 5
baseball. But after two seasons playing for the Whalley Chiefs, Yuta Kikuzaki didn’t want to leave. “I’m so sad,” said the 18-year-old Japanese exchange student, who left for home Monday (July 1) to write entrance exams for university. But the righthanded pitcher didn’t rule out coming back. “If the team makes the playoffs, I will come back for one week,” he promised. It’s unlikely he will be back for the postseason. The Chiefs aren’t likely to qualify for the B.C. Premier Baseball League’s playoffs this Yuta season. But they Kikuzaki also aren’t likely to forget Kikuzaki, who impressed his teammates on the field, and became their friend off it. Kikuzaki wasn’t thinking about baseball when he came to Canada in the winter of 2011. He did play while he was in Japan, but put the game on hold after an arm injury.
“Sands was great... I couldn’t speak English when I started.”
BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER
Japanese exchange student Yuta Kikuzaki, who pitched for the Whalley Chiefs for two seasons, headed home yesterday to write entrance exams for university. During his time in Surrey, Kikuzaki impressed his teammates on the field, and became their friend off it.
Editorial 6 Letters 7 Life 17 Classifieds 21
See BASEBALL / Page 4
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