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Leah Tremain Lives by a credo that pushes her to success in business and martial arts
HEIDI CUFF
wants art to infect everything
ROBERT WALKER
Reflecting on his time with the Canadian Air Force
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ON THE COVER: Campbell River’s Leah Tremain is a businesswoman who has proven she can get back up off the mat after being knocked down. And that’s not just a metaphor as the CEO of Tremain Media Inc. is a World Master Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion. Photo by Karen McKinnon
Leah Tremain Lives by a credo that pushes her to success in business and martial arts
HEIDI CUFF
wants art to infect everything
ROBERT WALKER
Reflecting on his time with the Canadian Air Force
Wave is produced by: Wave magazine is published quarterly by Black Press. The points of view or opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher of Wave. The contents of Wave magazine are protected by copyright, including the designed advertising. Reproduction is prohibited without written consent of the publisher.
[2] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
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contents NOVEMBER 2016 | ISSUE #17
22
5
HEIDI CUFF
wants art to infect everything
10
LEAH TREMAIN
lives by a credo that pushes her to success
5
18
28
CAMPBELL RIVER’S CENOTAPH Remembering the community’s war dead
22
10
ROBERT WALKER
Reflecting on his time with the Canadian Air Force Hardwood Plywood Doors Paint Accessories
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An Advocate for the Arts
Campbell River’s Heidi Cuff wants art to infect everything, in the best possible way
F
Story by Mike Davies
or someone who admits she has trouble drawing even the most simple of stick figures, Heidi Cuff has certainly embedded herself pretty deeply in the Campbell River arts scene since her arrival in our little city seven years ago. Cuff is the marketing and programming director for the Tidemark Theatre Society, she sits on the board of directors for the Campbell River Art Gallery and has recently joined up with the Campbell River Arts Council to help with administering their programming, as well. She sure took that proverbial long and winding road to get there, though. Cuff grew up in “Cottage Country,” as most people in Ontario call it. She just called it “home.” Her life was full of music and dance and theatre and love. “Both of my parents were musicians and artists,” Cuff says. “My
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mom was actually an art teacher. They met playing in a band,” she adds with a laugh. Her mother was also active in the local community theatre. Her aunt worked in the music department at the University of Toronto. Her grandmother taught piano lessons to the neighbourhood children when Cuff was growing up. “So I guess you could say it was just very much a part of my upbringing. It was always just there.” She joined every theatre troupe she could throughout her childhood and got involved with every production she could find time for. You might say she was the stereotypical “theatre geek.” And while she wouldn’t say she was discouraged from finding a path within the arts – her parents, like all parents, would have been supportive of whatever career path she chose – she does admit, “it was kind of drilled into me when I was young that I was probably going to have to, at some point, find a real job,” she says with a laugh. “That the arts as a hobby was great, but that I should probably look into something more lucrative as a career.” Which led to her enrollment in the social work program at Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario. Wait – wasn’t she supposed to take something lucrative?
Photo: Mike Davies
“Yeah, well, I think somewhere in the back of my mind my hope was that eventually, somehow, I could incorporate the arts into some facet of therapy or other social benefit, because I’d seen throughout my life how the arts could make a difference in people’s lives in terms of giving them an outlet – giving them some hope or courage or, you know, even just somewhere to vent.”
[6] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
You see, Cuff had been heavily invested in the production of a program through her high school in Huntsville called the Black Hole Cabaret, where students could come and put on performances in various genres as an outlet for their creativity, “and what struck me about that experience was that a lot of kids who were having problems or came from broken homes or abusive situation could really shine through this. They received so much love and support and encouragement through the artistic community, and because of
“
Heidi Cuff (left) is presented with flowers and a birthday cake by Isolde N. Barron (centre) and Peach Cobblah (right). Barron and Cobblah thanked Cuff for being instrumental in bringing the Queens, Kings and Things drag talent show to the Tidemark Theatre.
I fell in love with Campbell River when I first got here because there is such a thriving artistic community here...
that, they were able to pull themselves out of addiction – or gave them the strength that was needed to get through their problem, whatever it happened to be.
“So,” she continues, “if I wasn’t going into the arts, I thought maybe I could go into social work or psychology or something and incorporate the arts into helping people heal.”
“
Photo: Kristen Douglas
She ended up leaving the social work program, however, after speaking with some of her professors about the emotional impact some of the work was having on her. “I was asking them about some of the stuff we were having to deal with in our practicums, and how I was taking a lot of that home, emotionally, and I wasn’t sure I could handle doing that as a career,” Cuff says. “I guess I’m a bit sensitive, and a couple of my professors were very honest and said they thought I’d
probably be very good at it, but that I would also probably burn out after five or ten years if I was already, you know, crying myself to sleep at night and I’m not even really in the field yet.” She had a friend in California, “who needed a roommate,” she says with a shrug, as if it was the most natural decision in the world. And so she’d moved, over the course of a decade or so, from stereotypical high-school theatre geek to stereotypical out-of-work actor bumming around L.A. going to auditions and not getting any roles. “I worked some really crappy jobs working the circuit down there,” she says with yet another laugh, “and after a while, I got tired of going out for auditions and trying to make a go of it and not getting anywhere, so I decided to go back to school again.” She got back into an undergraduate program in psychology, and was again directed by her professors to follow her passions instead. “They didn’t have a theatre major, so I became a communications studies major with a minor in theatre.”
NOVEMBER 2016 | WAVE MAGAZINE [7]
Photo: Mike Davies
Upon graduation, she got on with another community theatre program down there in California, and was pretty excited about how her life was turning out, but she also had a hankering for more education, as well. “I knew I wanted to go on and get my masters in Educational Theatre, and there were only two programs that offered it: Arizona and NYU,” she says. Since she had done her communications internship with Atlantic Records in New York, she thought NYU made more, which was perfect, because she was told they reject people a couple of times before admitting them, and she really wasn’t ready to leave what she was doing just yet. Too bad, Cuff. Life just doesn’t work that way. She got in on her first application and moved to New York City six months after 9-11. “It was a pretty intense time to move there,” she says. “But I started my Educational Theatre degree at NYU and I was there for six years, and didn’t think I was going to leave.” Too bad again, Cuff. “But then I reconnected with my now-husband, who was actually my very first boyfriend in high school, and he was out here. Once we decided we were going to start a family, we came to visit his mom, who was out here, and I fell in love with the Island.” Once she arrived with her newly-forming family in
Campbell River, she needed a job. And she wanted it to be in the arts, obviously. “I fell in love with Campbell River when I first got here because there is such a thriving artistic community here, but as I was starting to call around to the various arts organizations, it became very clear that once people had those those really awesome arts jobs, they didn’t let go,” she says, exploding with that same contagious laugh again.
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But she kept at it, and eventually applied for a ticket centre position at the Tidemark. “And I went for an interview, and the managing director and president at that time decided, after looking at my resume, that maybe I was overqualified for a ticket centre position, and they created a role for me, which was wonderful.” So she was put in charge of the theatre’s children’s programming, which led to her being put in charge of the theatre’s programming, which led to her being put in charge of the theatre’s communications and marketing, too. But she wanted more. There was only so much she could do at the theatre to further the proliferation and appreciation of the arts within her new community, which she now called home. Her role on the board of the art gallery was a natural next step, Cuff says. “Because they are our neighbour and we work with them on the ReelArt Film Festival and a number of other initiatives, it just made sense to accept that invitation when it was offered,” she says. “I love art. I wish I was an artist, but I appreciate it and I love being surrounded by it.” And so, continuing to surround herself with art, she then also accepted an administrative position with the Campbell River Arts Council, as well. Executive director Ken Blackburn says he’s excited to have Cuff on board. “One of the really positive things about Heidi joining the Arts Council,” Blackburn says, “is that she’s very much community
engaged through her role at the Tidemark. That’s something that I’ve come to really appreciate in town, because my career here has also been very much split between two organizations.” Blackburn also serves as director of public programs at the Museum at Campbell River. “The overlap and interconnections have been of benefit to both, I think,” Blackburn says. “I’ve been able to bring resources and contacts to both organizations. There’s a synergy. And Heidi brings more of that synergy with her, which is great. The interconnectivity between entities within any sector becomes key when looking at community development, whether they be economic, social or cultural sectors,” Blackburn continues. “To have her come on here at the arts council, and bring with her the extensive community contacts and networks she’s got through the Tidemark, you’ve now got the museum and the Tidemark both intersecting through here, and it really starts to become a good model for how sectors can interweave and grow together.” “I like how the arts council is kind of like the umbrella – or connecting factor – between the arts organizations in the community,” Cuff says. “I’m excited to get started there and build on what Ken and the board has been building over the past few years and see where we can make this community go in terms of arts programming and furthering the dynamic of the arts as an integral factor within the lives of the people.”
NOVEMBER 2016 | WAVE MAGAZINE [9]
Photo: Karen McKinnon
GET
BACK
UP AGAIN By Alistair Taylor
LEAH TREMAIN LIVES BY A CREDO THAT PUSHES HER TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS AND IN MARTIAL ARTS
I
f Leah Tremain ever needs a model for measuring success in her business she has one ready-made at hand.
It’s in the gym where she trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That’s where she puts into action the drive to be a competitor in the sport. And that same drive powers her business. “If I can stay in the sport to a black belt, which I plan to do, that feeling would be tremendous,” she says, “knowing that I can stick with something, no matter how hard it gets. And that’s pretty much how it is with my business too. “It gets difficult and it gets hard and if I can just stick with it, I feel that there’s success on the other side.” As founder and CEO, Tremain is the force behind Tremain Media Inc., a full service media company providing web, print, video and time-lapse products as well as social media, branding marketing and technology services. Tremain tasted initial success with her business but it got slammed by the downturn in the economy eight years or so ago and a meteoric rise suddenly dissipated. After completing a Master’s degree in education, she started producing
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educational DVDs for children and parents on video literacy, numeracy and play. “We’ve covered a lot of topics,” she said. In the end, she sold 68,000 DVDs across Canada and the United States. But then DVDs as a medium hit a bump and that bump was called YouTube, the online video-sharing website which started in 2005. “That was five years into my business and that killed the
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But she reads a lot about attaining business success and she kept encountering one theme that said if you can just make it through the hard times, you’ll find success. “And I’m like, please make that be true,” Tremain said. “If that’s what it takes, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Photo: Alistair Taylor
She started to pivot the business into media materials for other businesses. A breakthrough came when she created a video about Campbell River to play in Vancouver International Airport for 2010. Then she continued to diversify her products through different media “spheres” and that’s what kept her business alive.
Western Forest Products, a number of school districts in the region and other regional companies. “And now, since we bottomed out in 2008 we’re…I don’t know how much…four times as large as we were at our peak when we were doing educational videos,” Tremain said. “And I made it through.” That has become her modus operandi for business and for life. “And that’s my plan just to keep doing what it takes to stay alive both in my sport and in my company and then setting those audacious goals like a world championships. It’s setting those audacious goals in the long term and in the short term, it’s doing what it takes each day to get there.” You can tell by her statement that she attained one of those goals – a world championship. She was crowned masters world champion in Jiu-Jitsu for her age category.
In 2010, somebody from BC Hydro was walking through YVR and saw the Campbell River video which contained a time lapse sunrise. Tremain was approached to do a time lapse of a BC Hydro project, the Heber River diversion. She was asked if she could do a time lapse in a remote location with no power, no satellite and no cell phone and she said, “Of course.” And then proceeded to figure out how to do it. “And that was when Tremain Visual was born,” Tremain said.
What success will be in her business is yet to be determined but with the drive she demonstrated to win a title in her martial art against younger, stronger competitors – she competed in a younger age class because there weren’t enough competitors in her actual age class – she has climbed to greater heights with her business and shows no signs of sliding back any time soon.
Now she does work for BC Hydro, SNC Lvalin,
“I met more people in one month in Campbell River than three years in Victoria,” Tremain said.
Leah Tremain’s success in business is directly attributable to the success and discipline she’s developed through her training and successes in martial arts.
Originally from Kitchener, Ontario, Tremain moved to Campbell River in 1997 after three years in Victoria. The provincial capital wasn’t a good fit, she discovered after moving to Campbell River.
That gave the inspiration to make Campbell River her long term home. “I made a commitment to stay here,” she said. Tremain is driven but it’s not a cutthroat, self-centered drive. That’s illustrated by the
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Leah Tremain (bottom left) has found a niche in providing media for a number of local mega projects. Much of the filming has been done by “camera guy” Bob Ennis (below).
Photo: Stephen Watson
model with which she guides her business. It’s a model that recognizes the value of her employees as individuals and the importance of nurturing the whole person and accommodating people’s needs outside of work. She makes work fit the lifestyle of her employees. She uses that model because it was with that model which she fit a business into her own life. She realized that her needs as a mother, a wife and an individual were the same in her employees. So, the same accommodations she made in her business for herself were applied to her employees. Her employees’ need to take time to pick up the kids at school and take them to dance class or whatever, were the same needs she accommodated when she was starting her business. So, she gives them the same flexibility. It wasn’t until some time later that she discovered this is actually a modern business model and that it has a name. In fact Tremain will be addressing the Campbell River Chamber of Commerce about her company’s modern work structure. NOVEMBER 2016 | WAVE MAGAZINE [15]
Photo: Luke Connor
Drone work like this project for the City of Nanaimo shows that sky’s the limit for the Tremain Media team.
“We’re a distributed workforce with democratic hours,” Tremain said. “We’re able to attract and retain talent because we offer this type of work structure. Everybody can live and work in the way they choose but it is still client driven. So we still need to meet the needs of the client but besides that it really is a democratic work flow.” The work model is perhaps partly necessary because of the fact that Tremain Media operates out of Tremain’s home. They can only have a few people actually work in the home office but besides that, the work can be done out of an employee’s own home or out in the field.
Tremain is tempted to move into an office building because of the growth of her business and the occasional need for meeting some clients who want to meet in an office. Otherwise, she likes the home office the way it is. “We really like it,” she said. There isn’t the hustle and bustle of a building-based office but Tremain said you should see her emails. Her work force can be distributed because technology allows it to be. She even has a designer who works out of a farm house. In Ontario. “We don’t need to hang out to get work done,” Tremain said.
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Leah Tremain (right) trains for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition at Jodey Ingalls’ Pure Martial Arts school in Campbell River.
Cutting edge equipment like digital cameras and sliders are used to get the perfect shot for captivating time lapses.
Getting things done is no problem for Tremain as she has expanded into just about every technological medium you can imagine. But somehow, she manages to find time to become a world champion martial artist. In September, Tremain came home from Las Vegas with a World Championship title – winning gold in her division at the World Master Jiu-Jitsu championship held by the International Brazilian JiuJitsu Federation (IBJFF). With her local gym, Pure Martial Arts, and the West Coast Jiu-Jitsu team supporting her on the sidelines,
Tremain came home with gold after defeating a police officer from Brazil. She won with a submission that forced her opponent to tap out. “My mental game had to be strong,” Tremain said at the time. “Knowing the woman is an officer and from the home country of the sport was enough to make me uneasy. I had to work hard to visualize success and not falter or doubt that vision.” And you can be sure that Tremain will not falter or doubt her vision for her business or just about anything in her life.
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Campbell River’s Cenotaph serves as a reminder of the lives given to the war against tyranny
By Alistair Taylor
I
t’s one of Campbell River’s most venerated sites, the Campbell River Cenotaph.
Each year on Remembrance Day, Nov. 11, hundreds of Campbell Riverites gather around the Cenotaph to pay respects to those who died in war, particularly the two World Wars. Inscribed on the stone face of the sombre structure are the words: “In memory of all those who laid down their lives in World Wars.” It’s been the focal point of Remembrance Day ceremonies since the Second World War ended. It was originally erected on
[18] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
a lot owned by the Royal Canadian Legion at the edge of “Willow Bay.” Willow Bay no longer exists, it was filled in to create Tyee Plaza but the Cenotaph remains near it’s original spot as it was incorporated into the new plaza when it was built in the 1950s. It underwent another face-lift in the 1980s during a downtown revitalization project that saw it moved further back from the shore and raised on a platform. Flag standards and landscaping were also added and the refurbished Cenotaph was rededicated in a ceremony conducted by the
Legion in 1984. Further changes occurred around the Cenotaph in recent years when Spirit Square was built. For all these many years, the stone memorial has stood as a silent sentinel urging all to remember those who sacrificed their lives so that succeeding generations could live in freedom. For all it’s immovable granite solidity, the Cenotaph is a place of humanity. Tears are often shed and memories crowd the minds of those who gather each Remembrance Day. Aging veterans remember their comrades, families remember those who were lost – even two generations before. Children are taught the importance of the granite structure and why it is important to remember those who fell. There are names on the Cenotaph, the names of those the community
lost to the struggle against tyranny. It’s not just those names who are remembered. Most of the residents of the small city that grew up around the Cenotaph came after the war years. They remember any and all who fought and died in war. But still, there are names on the cenotaph. A community’s contribution. No greater contribution could be given than
From the First World War (1914-1918): W. A Fiske Andrew Law Mathew Shields C.C. Cafferata W.E. Huck George. E Munroe Williams Hawkins George Carney Jack Strickland George Gardiner
the lives of young men from a community – a village, really – far on the other side of the world from the site of the terrible conflict that embroiled the whole world in a war – two wars. A quiet, tiny outpost on the edge of a continent far away, heard the call to action and sent its fine young men. Their names are inscribed on the Cenotaph.
From the Second World War (1939-1945): David W. Vanstone T.C. Stewart Wood Basil Whiting Robert E. Perkins Elmer Oswald William Muir George Ralph
NOVEMBER 2016 | WAVE MAGAZINE [19]
Each one of these men lived a life cut all too short. They each had a story to tell beyond their silent listing on the Cenotaph. The Campbell River Genealogy Society took upon itself the task of giving those names their voices back and embarked on a research project to uncover the identities of the men listed on Campbell River’s Cenotaph. Society member Beth Boyce wrote in the Campbell River Mirror in 2014 that the society spent years combing through documents to discover the stories of their lives before the war, their activities during the war and the circumstances of their deaths. “In many cases, very little remains of the men who died in the wars, just a collection of documents: their enlistment papers, records of service, maybe a couple of photographs,” Boyce said. “It can be quite stark, piecing together their lives from such scraps. In rare cases though, something of the person comes though when diaries and letters written during their lifetimes have been preserved. “It is important for our community to honour these men by listing their names on a plaque on our Cenotaph, and it has been important to the Museum and to the Genealogy
[20] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
Society to honour these men further by giving each man listed his own plaque in order to tell his individual story.” On the Campbell River Genealogy’s (CRGS) website, the stories of the men on the Cenotaph are told, as far as is known to date. David W. Vanstone, for example, has this about him: “Private Vanstone fought with the 4th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada having landed in Sicily with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. The Regiment stayed with the division all through this arduous campaign, winning a total of ten Battle Honours. These include such well known names as: Agira, Ortona, Hitler Line, Gothic Line, and Savio Bridgehead. The Italian government surrendered on September 3, 1943 and it was German troops that the Allies faced in their advance up the Italian peninsula. Taking advantage of the mountain peaks and swift rivers, the Germans made every Allied advance both difficult and costly. Total Canadian casualties in the 20-month Mediterranean campaign numbered 25,264 of which more than 5,900 were fatal. David Vanstone was wounded at the Battle for Ortona on December 27, 1943 and was evacuated to “9 Mob. C.C.S.
(Casualty Clearing Station) North Africa” on January 18, 1944. He died of his wounds on January 22nd. David was buried at the Bari Military Cemetery, Grave 38, Row C, Plot 3, at Bari, Apulia Region, Italy. Honours and Awards: 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; C.V.S.M. & Clasp.” Meanwhile, Robert Ernest Perkins was born on Dec. 31, 1924 at Campbell River, the Genealogy Society website says. He was the son of John Perkins, Soldier, Kelsey Bay, Vancouver Island and Emily Effie Perkins of Campbell River. He had three brothers and one sister - Thomas James Perkins; Walter John Perkins; William George Perkins; and Sister Dorothy Emily Goodwin, all of Campbell River. Perkins enlisted in the infantry on Feb. 1, 1944 in Vancouver. His civilian occupation was farmer, selfemployed. He was shipped out to northwest Europe in August, 1944. The CRGS entry says, “On October 31st, in fierce fighting during the Battle of the Scheldt, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division made the final push to secure Walcheren Island, which remained as the one great obstacle to the use of the port of Antwerp, Belgium. While serving as one of the fresh reinforcements, Private Perkins was felled by a sniper’s bullet on November 1st after having been in action a little over a month.” It’s stories like these that the CRGS project brings to the forefront of the community’s memory. Each year and, in fact, every day as the community hustles and bustles past the Cenotaph, the 19 names inscribed in stone can never be forgotten as the Cenotaph stands guard of their memory. A plaque on the Cenotaph concludes “We will remember them.” And thanks to the Cenotaph we will. GET YOUR CAR MAINTAINED GETCOULD YOUR CAR AND YOU WIN!
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t was around midnight when the corporal came around to the barracks and ordered everyone out to the trench. For what felt like an hour the men huddled in the rain, wearing only their pajamas as planes roared overhead and explosions sounded in the distance. “You never knew when one was coming down near you,” said Robert Walker.
Luck had everything to do with it By Jocelyn Doll [22] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
Walker, now 94-years-old, joined the Canadian Air Force in 1944. At the time enlistment was mandatory and if you didn’t want to join the army you had to choose something else. Walker had heard about the troops sleeping in trenches filled with mud, so he decided to join the Air Force instead. He initially trained as a pilot, in single engine Tiger Moths, but when he graduated to dual engine aircrafts he wouldn’t get the hang of it. “I don’t know if it had something to do with me,” he said. “I had trouble getting both of the engines running the same speed.” So Walker learned to navigate. After completing training courses at stations across the country, he was called to duty while on his honeymoon in Quebec City. His new wife, Betty, went back to Courtenay, and Walker
Photo: Jocelyn Doll
NOVEMBER 2016 | WAVE MAGAZINE [23]
travelled to Halifax, where he boarded a ship to England. It was jam packed with military personnel. “The room where I was sleeping, there was bunks in there, I think I was the top one. There was five bunks one on top of the other,” Walker said. At one point the ship’s captain got word that there was an enemy submarine about 50 miles ahead, waiting for the ship. “They were going to sink us,” Walker remembers. “He turned 90 degrees south and then went along so far and then went back up again and got away from it.” Upon arrival in England, Walker continued his training at stations in Edinburgh and Glasgow before being stationed in Skipton-on-Swale. His very first day at the base he witnessed a plane crash during takeoff. The wing caught, the plane tipped and there was a hug explosion. The only survivor was the rear gunner. Walker flew with pilot McInroy. The crew of seven or eight was one of 15 stationed at Skipton at the time. Walker flew to Germany on a Lancaster to drop bombs 15 times between Feb. 1, 1945 and April 26, 1945, according to his flight log. “I’m not supposed to have that,” he said.
[24] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
Walker was in a corporals office while the officer was processing the flight log books. The phone rang down the hall and the corporal left Walker alone in the office. “While he was gone I looked over the pile and I saw mine there, so I picked it up and stuck it in my pocket,” he said. After mixing up the table to cover up his theft, the corporal returned and had no idea. “I’ve had it all these years and I wasn’t supposed to,” he said. All 15 crews flew out together. Two or three of them wouldn’t come back. “[We were] lucky to get back,” Walker said. He never had to deploy a parachute, though they did have a few close calls. Walker remembers accidentally flying into enemy airspace when returning to base. The navigator made a mistake and suddenly there were anti-aircraft shots exploding behind them. Walker said he jumped up to look behind them, through the dome in the ceiling of the aircraft, and he could see them coming. McInroy dove down 45 degrees and turned towards England. “We got out of there in a hurry,” Walker said. Walker also remembers crash landing at the base with a live bomb on board. He said they couldn’t
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[26] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
get rid of it, they kept trying until they ran out of fuel and ended up landing with it. Luckily it didn’t go off. Before every trip off base, the crews gathered in a class room. “You never knew where you were going until you got there and then they would pull a map down,” he said. They would show the crews where they were going and the navigators would have to write down the directions. Walker remembers the padre who lived on the base waving as the crews took off. Walker still has some of the paperwork he did in his seat behind the pilot. There are sheets and sheets with rows and rows of figures, the only technology they had were little metal boxes that had the latitude and longitude running across the top. “It was busy,” he said. “If you didn’t do a good job of it you never came back.” Walker’s daughter asked him is he was ever scared. Walker said he was too busy to be scared. Walker was in Canada, waiting to be reassigned, when the war ended. He joined his wife on Vancouver Island, and started working again at the Royal Bank, the same business where he met his wife in the first place. He worked in Courtenay and Cumberland before moving to Campbell River. At 94, Walker was only recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and he lives on his own in an apartment next to his daughter on their original Campbell River property.
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Photos: Deana Longland
F
or Deana Longland it’s the most wonderful time of the year. As the popular Christmas carol suggests, Longland knows ‘hearts will be glowing.’
That’s because she, and thousands of generous Campbell Riverites, are busy shopping and packing shoe boxes that will be received by children in impoverished countries around the world.
By Kristen Douglas
The shoe boxes, which are filled by members of our community each November, are packed with the bare necessities we often take for granted, as well as toys, colouring books, and other gifts. Often, the shoe box is the only Christmas gift that child will receive. Longland has been the local coordinator of Operation Christmas Child since 2008 and has been packing a shoe box since 2003 when her daughter Rhiaanah was just 7-years-old. “It’s such a great way to teach kids about giving and that’s how it all started with us,” Longland says. “We were trying to find something we could do as a family, with Rhiaanah.” Over the years, Longland says she and her daughter dreamed about one day travelling with Samaritan’s Purse, the non-profit Christian ministry that coordinates Operation Christmas Child, to hand-deliver their shoe boxes. That day finally came in 2013 when she travelled to Costa Rica on a distribution trip travelling with others from around the world. Their group gave out 240 shoe boxes in seven days. Longland says 100 kids were gathered in one room. They weren’t told about the shoe boxes ahead of time and
[28] WAVE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2016
Photo Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse
thought they were simply being treated to a big party. When it was time to give out the gifts, she gave her shoe box to a boy who was about 12 or 14. “I spoke to him in Spanish and I told him we had been thinking about him and what he would like,” Longland recalls. Her box was done up like a toolkit, complete with carpenter’s tape, an assortment of nails and screws, as well as the basics – toothbrush, T-shirt, hat and other fun things. “I stepped back and I watched him put his box in his lap. He opened it and the only thing he took out was the measuring tape. He showed it to all of his friends with a smile on his face then closed it back up, and put his hands back in his lap and I thought, ‘he didn’t like it.’” Longland says she voiced her concerns to her team’s leader. “He told me that reaction happens often and the reason is they want to go home and open it with their family.” All of the kids had different reactions to a moment that was made possible by the generosity of strangers. “It’s more than delivering a shoe box, it’s a way of blessing a child that has nothing,” she says. For Longland, it took her back to all of the efforts put in by everyone back in Campbell River. “Although we were thousands of miles away, it’s great to know that it all started from our home in Campbell River and that we can impact the life of a child thousands of miles away by simply filling a shoe box with gifts,” Longland says. “It starts here at home, it starts with your family. If you want to make an impact on someone else’s life, it’s a fantastic way to do it.”
been on. As it turned out, it was more than just shoe boxes. “I think for all of us…we thought we were going to give shoe boxes and it would be the best part of the trip, but what had the greatest impact was the mission work that went along with it – giving out eyeglasses and volunteering in a dental clinic.” “We found out that the work we did with the eyeglass and dental clinics, that’s what made us appreciate what we have and realize there’s always an opportunity to help someone else,” Longland says. She recalls giving out glasses to a man who travelled 10 hours one way because a friend had said he may have a chance at getting a pair of eyeglasses. There was another man who, in Canada, would have been declared legally blind and there was a 12-year-old girl who had never been able to see more than 16 inches in front her. “Her face just lit up when she got her glasses,” Longland says. “We take it for granted that our eyes will get checked every one or two years.” At the dental clinic, there was a line-up out the door and around the building. “There was one emotional day; we were set up in a rural area, in a big church, and there were at least 100 people in this room, and it was really hot, 36 degrees. We had this dental clinic set up in this room that was like a garage.”
Campbell Riverites have truly embraced Operation Christmas Child. Last year, Canadians packed 730,577 shoe boxes. Of those, 1,480 came from Campbell River’s collection centre which also received shoe boxes from people in Gold River, Tahsis, Quadra Island and Sayward.
Rhiaanah says, at one point, a boy around 6 or 8-years-old came in to have some teeth removed. “As a patient you received no freezing, no blanket to keep you cozy, no TV to keep you distracted, you were not pampered,” she says. “It was just a chair, portable equipment and us volunteers. This little boy was so brave, he came in by himself, let us remove a couple teeth. He didn’t scream or fight us, he just sat there being so strong and brave.”
It was that kind of support that helped Longland make it to Costa Rica and be a part of the best holiday she’s ever
When all was said and done, the team provided 229 people with an eye exam and glasses and 213 people saw a dentist
NOVEMBER 2016 | WAVE MAGAZINE [29]
over seven days. Longland says the entire trip is something that will stay with her forever and is something she would “highly recommend” to others who like to give back. But, she says, it’s best to start small. Perhaps by packing a shoe box, or helping out at the distribution centre in Calgary – as Longland and Rhiaanah did in 2014 – where all of the boxes packed by Western Canadians are sorted before being shipped to other countries.
of thumb is that none of the shoe boxes are opened here; all are shipped the way they are to the distribution centre because I truly believe that each shoe box is packed by that person with a specific child in mind,” Longland says. “We all have an image in our mind of who’s going to receive the shoe box you packed.” This year, shoe boxes packed in Campbell River will go to a child in one of several countries, either El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Guinea, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Ukraine, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, or Haiti.
Or, Longland says, you can stay even closer to home and help volunteer at the collection depot. Longland says as each year gets busier than the last, she’s always looking for volunteers to receive the shoe boxes and prepare them to be sent away to the distribution centre. “Here at the collection centre, the rule Photo Courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse
BC Bud Rub
For those who would like to pack a shoe box, more information can be found online at SamaritansPurse.ca or by calling Discovery Community Church at 250287-8786. Shoe boxes must be dropped off at the collection centre which is the Discovery Community Church (former Galaxy movie theatre) at 250 10th Ave. the week of November 14 to 20.
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