Page 4 Friday, august 15, 2014
daily bulletin
Local NEWS
Meadowbrook memories; North Star Motel turns 50 ANTHONY DR ANSFELD For the Bulletin
50 years ago today, my Dad Tony Dransfeld broke ground to construct the North Star Motel out in Meadowbrook. We built North Star in six months, 12 Units plus the Lodge (our living quarters were upstairs) Elmer Higgins of Wycliffe cleared the site, which was heavily treed. Elmer, who has recently passed away, was a master Dozer Operator. He worked the blade like a surgeon, talent like that is truly a gift... . Dad purchased all of the lumber from Joe Downey in Cranbrook, who ran a sawmill where Gyro Park now sits., in the south part of town. The mill was called Silver Springs. Now Dad was best friends with Milo Fabro, who owned the sawmill in Kimberley, but he got a better price from Mr Downey............ Bruno Rinaldi and Johnny Bay (who hails from Meadowbrook) in-
stalled the North Stars heating and all of the plumbing. Great workers and great people The two of them put in long hours working so we could open for business in February. Johnny Bay resides up at Gardenview, while sadly Bruno has passed on. Frank Sandor (owner of Sandor Rental Cranbrook) did the cement finishing. Was he ever good at his craft, a real pro. My father brought in some rare Arizona Sandstone for Al Silver, a talented bricklayer who built and designed an exquisite Fireplace and chimney. That Fireplace is alive and well today in the present day North Star Motel, which has been beautifully maintained and certainly improved by the current owners Torben and Trish Winther. I stayed at the North Star Motel two winters ago (feeling nostalgic) and was pleasantly surprised how it has been kept.
We opened for business on February 15th 1965, right in the midst of our ski season up at North Star Mountain. Dad had a big North Star Motel sign made in Toronto. Wwe were farming 200 acres 40 miles north of TO. We sold out and packed up to move to someplace called Kimberley B.C. The sign had a large Red Star at the top of it and was only replaced last year. 49 years of winters and summers. North Star Motel now has a beautiful wooden carved sign. Mrs Duvall from Meadowbrook ( passed) was our head of housekeeping and unofficial manager. A person of integrity and complete honest, her children live in the area. North Star Motels most famous guest ? Well that would probably be Eric Clapton blues guitarist and musician. Eric came to Meadowbrook to visit his mom Pat, who had a home behind North Star on Manor
Rd. Pat moved back to England before she passed away, I did ask her once which room her son stayed in and Pat thought it was 6. Clapton would walk up to his moms house, a very short stroll from the Motel. We also hosted the Nelson Maple Leaf Senior A Hockey Club when they came over to play our Kimberley Dynamiters. When the playoffs rolled around , it was always a bit tense, for, inasmuch as The Maple Leaf Executive (Art O’Brian and Peter Godfrey) always gave me tickets, yet I cheered for the Dynamiters. By the way Nelson left their rooms spotless., our best team guests by far. It is funny how you remember things like that. 50 years has sped by very quickly. Tucked away up the hill in Meadowbrook, the North Star Motel remains the best kept secret for good acommodation in and around Kimberley, a scant three minutes to the Sully Pub too.
The North Star Motel now, top, and 50 years ago, above.
Photos submitted
The Way it Was Courtesy of the Kimberley Heritage Museum archives
KIMBERLEY NEWS August 11, 1955 “Royal Bank Plans Kimberley Branch”
Further evidence of Kimberley’s business development is seen in the announcement this week that the Royal Bank of Canada is
shortly to open a branch in Kimberley. Work is to start soon on construction of temporary quarters for the bank on Wallinger Avenue at the rear of Lloyd’s Hardware, The bank will occupy this site until such time as an entirely new building is completed to stretch from the corner of Spokane and Wallinger to the lane adjacent to the
post office. The bank will then take up permanent quarters on the site now occupied by Martin Agencies. Announcement of the entry of the Royal Bank into this city’s business life was made Wednesday by P.M. Irwin, manager of the bank’s Cranbrook branch. See Page 5
Rescued cub euthanized From Page 1 “My heart is in pieces knowing what pain he must have endured. His right leg was shattered at the elbow destroying his growth plates. His upper jaw was badly fractured and he lost all his front teeth. As this was also a yearling and not a cub of the year, that meant he lost his permanent teeth. We all agreed that these injuries would not allow a return to the wild and even a life in human care would
mean a life in pain and subsequently decided to let him go. “Still, trying to rescue him was the right choice, as left in the wild he would have died a long painful death of infection and starvation. Thanks to all that cared enough not to let that happen.” Stephanie says that all the funds raised so far for the bear’s care will still go to the Wildlife Society to help then with their animal rescue work.