John, that is very kind of you. Thank you very much
I am pleased to advise that my contact in Canada has had an EUREKA moment, and finally worked out who these relatives are, from knowing Violet and Percy Walsh in West Summerland, whom she visited in the 1930's when she was a small girl. I thought you might enjoy hearing what she said about this. She refers to her brother Ken, who was born in 1925, so I suppose Violet and Percy must have had a son Jack or John in about 1925, and then a daughter, and then a younger son.
"My brother Ken was the sickly one in the family, always had lung problems, and was sent (the "aunties" plotted this one out too, I'm sure)
to spend a summer with the Walsh family in Summerland which has a very dry climate, and they had kids his age - Jackie (after grandad
I guess) and a girl who's name escapes me now, and I think a younger son. Aside from that though, I must tell you about my adventure there.
My mother and I - I must have been 5 or 6 yrs. (I didn't realize, or forgot that Violet died in 1938 - when I was 7.) travelled by the Kettle Valley
Railway- very much like the railways you used to see in old Western Movies, and now quite famous for that, but just a tourist attraction. My very first
train trip. It is so clear in my mind - it must have made a great impression on me. We shared a seat with a teen or pre-teen girl, I remember,
who had two glass jars on her seat beside her, one contained strawberries and the other - tadpoles, and she had a long fork, like a pickle
fork, which,every once in a while, she would dip into the strawberries. I must have been quite fascinated, I remember it so well, and watched her I
think for most of what must have been a 12 or so hour trip. (Maybe 4 or 5 hrs now by auto from Vancouver ), wondering if she would start on
the tadpoles I think, or make a mistake with the jars! I have never forgotten that.
They were really nice people. I remember being told Violet was my cousin, but couldn't get a handle on that, she just seemed way too old, as
I told my mom. Fred and I have travelled through, even spent a night in Summerland, I always had to stop and look through telephone
directories but no Walshes. I remember someone telling me that "Jackie" lived in Vancouver and worked in a bank that was when I was still single
and lived at home in Vancouver, a long time ago now."
Many thanks to you all for your interest
