Find out more about my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket
While working as Corporate Communications Manager at BC Transit, I conducted oral history interviews with retired transit employees and pored over hundreds of archival photos. As editor of the employee newsletter, I aimed to include historic transit photos and engaging anecdotes in each issue. Here are just a few examples: A Ride Through Time…
I researched and wrote two historical articles for The Greater Vancouver Book edited by Chuck Davis and published in 1997: The Origins of Stanley Park Early Coastal Explorers to Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest
Mechanics at Coast Mountain BusLink (previously BC Transit) lovingly restored a 1964 GMC diesel bus. Because of its rounded windshield, it was known as the “fishbowl” bus. Although the vehicle’s interior was in mint condition, the mechanics scrounged parts such as window latches from buses headed to the scrapyard. As editor of BC Transit’s Transit Exchange…
While in my twenties, I conducted an oral history study in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia on Canada’s east coast. With fewer than 100 residents, this archetypal fishing village receives tens of thousands of visitors each year. I loved meeting the lobster fishermen, shopkeepers, and community members in this tourist haven. Each views the impact of…
After graduating in History at the University of British Columbia, I worked as an oral historian in northern Ontario for the Ministry of Natural Resources.My job was to document the human history of Wakami Lake Provincial Park. It was wonderful to meet rugged men and women who had forged livelihoods in the challenging bush of…
This SoulCollage card that I created, which represents the historian part of me, features an image of the first streetcar in San Francisco. What is oral history? This living form of history records people’s memories and anecdotes through sound (and sometimes visual) recording. It allows people to share their personal experiences in their own words,…