30 • The Columbia Valley Pioneer
October 2, 2009
Historic paintings in art show on Pynelogs’ 95th birthday
By Dorothy Isted Special to the Pioneer Medora and Alexander Hume moved from Galt, Ontario to the Midnapore, Alberta, area in the late 1800s. They had four children, one of whom died two weeks before their only daughter was born in December 1885, also called Medora. Although her mother was called Dora, the little girl soon became known as Meda. It is likely that wealthy rancher Harold Forster met the Humes while he lived in Galt. The year after he purchased Firlands Ranch in 1898, the Humes arrived in the Columbia Valley. Alexander was the manager of the ranch and Dora became the executive housekeeper of Forster’s mansion. In 1967, the Times Colonist of Victoria wrote of Dora’s contribution: “From storage in Hamilton came sets of china, Royal Worcester and Minton, two dozen of each, Georgian and Victorian silver in the same numbers and the 14-room house was lavishly furnished. From that day, under Mrs. Hume’s gracious guidance, Mr. Forster’s Firlands was run like an English country manor.” Though Dora was born in Ontario, she knew what it took to run a gentleman’s home. Her skills were put to the test in September 1909 when Canada’s Governor General, Earl Grey, accepted Forster’s invitation to visit the area. While the Earl and his men were roughing it, the ladies of the party were ferried down the river from Golden. The Times Colonist reported further, “When the ship stopped at Firlands Landing to pick up the mountain party, Miss Meda Hume, the manager’s daughter, presented the ladies, to their surprise and delight, with large bouquets of Harold Forster’s sweet peas.” Family legend has it that Dora was “ultra-religious.” She taught her children scripture, basic reading and writing. Since her daughter Meda played the piano until she was 101 years of age, it is likely that Dora taught her this skill as well. The ranch was remote and there was a lot more snow then, making poor roads impassable and impossible for the children to attend school. Meda was sent away for a year to
FIRLANDS FAMILY — At left, Dora Hume standing alone in the garden at about age 84. Above, the whole family, taken in 1920, shows Dora standing at the back. Also pictured, from left to right, are Frances, Thora, Harold Forster, Meda seated with Richard (Dick) on her lap, and George. Photos courtesy of Helen Perry. a girls’ school in Yale. Helen Perry of Kelowna says of her gran, “Meda was quite lively and outgoing. I could see her teaching the Chinese houseman how to dance. Her mother was quite perturbed, as she was pretty straight.” Dora’s activities were not confined to the ranch. Her name, Mrs. A. Hume, appears as a participant in the hospital auxiliary group that formed in Wilmer. She also had an activity that is surprising, considering her station in life as a housekeeper, in those days when the class system in Canada was more defined. Dora painted, quite profusely. In fact, Dora was very good friends with the Group of Seven’s Emily Carr and the two women corresponded, visited each other’s homes and painted together. Twenty-six-year-old Meda married Harold Forster in 1912. Both of the Hume sons served in the same unit during the First World War and fought at Passchendaele. Frank died but Jack survived to return to the valley. Helen says that it must have been difficult for her great-grandmother Dora to give up her place as chatelaine to her daughter — a role she had occupied for about 15 years — and, sometime after the wedding, she and Alexander moved back to Alberta and ran a store in Lacombe in the 1920s. Meda and Harold endured a difficult relationship. She left him several times, going back and forth between the ranch and her parents’ home in Lacombe. Finally, she took the children and spent some time in Spokane before moving to Penticton. Her father Al-
exander died in 1928 and Dora purchased property in Penticton in 1930. Mother and daughter lived together until Dora’s death in 1948. Helen says her great-grandmother Dora was a nice, grandmotherly type. She died when Helen was small, around the same time her friend Emily Carr died. Several of Dora’s paintings have survived and are scattered throughout the homes of her great-grandchildren. Helen and others of her family have generously loaned a few of them to be shown at the Pynelogs art show which began this week. It is likely they were painted prior to 1912. One painting is of the Firlands Ranch house, which burned down in 1940, and another is of Forster Falls. There is a wonderful watercolour of Mount Nelson and some other landscapes that are, to date, unidentified. Visitors to Pynelogs will note a line appears in the Mount Nelson painting, about an inch from the bottom. Helen says after it was painted Meda, or perhaps even Dora, took a dislike to that part of the painting and folded it back. When Helen had it re-framed a number of years back she noticed this and, liking what she saw, had it framed in its entirety. Pynelogs Cultural Centre is having a 95th birthday party and artist opening event on October 3rd. Pynelogs is the home built by R. Randolph Bruce for his bride, Lady Elizabeth Bruce, in 1914. It is fanciful to imagine that, perhaps, Dora Hume was entertained as a guest in this home, if not by Mr. Bruce himself, at least by his housekeeper.