Japan repeats as champion page 32
Granddaughter and grandma art show page 29
Thursday July 25, 2013
Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
Mom missing 52 years says she was never hiding Yukon family has embraced addition of Surrey woman by Sheila Reynolds SATURDAY WAS a momentous day for Surrey’s Linda Evans. For the
Lucy Johnson (nee Carvell), shown here in a picture from the 1960s, disappeared from Surrey 52 years ago, but was located living in the Yukon last week.
first time in 52 years, she got to speak to her mom. As first reported in The Leader last week, Evans found her birth mother, Lucy, living in the Yukon after she all-but-vanished more than five decades ago. Evans was a child of about seven when she last saw her. The phone conversation on Saturday, said Evans, was a bit awkward at first – she didn’t know quite what to say, while her mom, who is now 77, seemed to still be in a bit of shock. “Then she said, ‘you have about 200 relatives up here. I can hardly wait til you come up here,’” said Evans. The short talk provided long-awaited comfort for Evans, 58, who believed for years that her mother was dead. “I felt so much better,” she said. “I thought she didn’t want to see me or anything. It turned out great.”
The conversation was short, but sweet. “I said, ‘I love you,’ and she said, ‘I love you.’” Evans’ mom was last seen in Surrey in 1961. She was known as Lucy Ann Johnson. Her maiden name was Carvell. Surrey RCMP highlighted her case in its Missing of the Month series in late June as part of a renewed public appeal to generate tips on her whereabouts. It was one of the detachment’s oldest missing persons cases. After a story ran in The Leader and other media in early July, Evans began her own search. Knowing Lucy was born in Alaska and had lived there and in the Yukon until 1953, Evans placed advertisements in some northern newspapers in the hopes someone knew her. It listed her grandparents’ names, as well as Lucy’s date and place of birth. Rhonda (who didn’t want her last name used) was at work last week in Whitehorse when her brother called her. He had seen Evans’ small ad in the Yukon News and wanted her to check it out.
See LUCY / Page 3
Closures could extend life of Pattullo
Repairs may be an inconvenience for drivers, but will help aging bridge last a few more years by Mario Bartel A LITTLE INCONVENIENCE for weekend drivers will
mean a little more life for the aging Pattullo Bridge. The bridge was closed to all traffic, including cyclists and pedestrians from Friday at 9 p.m. to early Monday morning, so work crews could make repairs to the road surface. Similar closures will occur Aug. 9-12 and Aug. 23-26. Bob Moore, the bridge operations manager for TransLink, said the repairs are the kind of routine maintenance that might cause lane closures on other bridges, but the narrowness of the 76-yearold Pattullo necessitate closure. “We can’t do any of the repairs with traffic on
the bridge,” said Moore during a tour of the site on Saturday. “It’s not safe.” The repair work consists mostly of replacing sections of the deck where the asphalt road surface has separated from the concrete beneath it. The resulting potholes and cracks not only make for an uncomfortable drive, they can also lead to structural problems that could compromise the bridge if they’re not fixed, said Moore. With barriers and flaggers diverting traffic away from the bridge, the four crews working 10-hour shifts around the clock identified problem areas by dragging a heavy chain along the roadway, listening for the higher-pitched sound that indicates See REPAIRS / Page 5
Letters 6 Editorial 7 Arts 29 Sports 32
MARIO BARTEL / BLACK PRESS
Construction crews jackhammer the road surface in the slow lane at the south end of the Pattullo Bridge on Saturday (July 20). The bridge was closed to all traffic over the weekend, and will be for two more weekends in August.
Classifieds 37
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