The Joe Moore Family
as told by son, Joe
Joe was the youngest of four children. There were Jack, Doris, Bill, and Joe. When their father died, their uncle, Tom Cowling, took care of them along with his own two children, Ivy and Jack.
When the mine in Rossland closed in 1924, Tom Cowling came to Kimberley to work in the Stemwinder. Jack Crossley also worked there and he married Ivy Cowling.
Jack Moore went to work for Burn's butcher shop, Doris (Dolly) worked for Wallace's Bakery and later for the Mark Creek Store. Bill was a diamond driller for T. Connors when he joined the army. He went to Lethbridge and didn't get back to live in Kimberley.
Joe was ten years old when they arrived in Kimberley. He remembers attending school in the small building on the corner of the central school property. This was the one that had been moved from where the Company office now stands. For a short time he attended classes that were held in the upstairs of Summers Store. An addition to the central school was being built to accommodate the fast growing community but was not quite ready.
Joe has many memories of growing up in Kimberley. He was one of the lads that swam in the St. Marys river in a big eddy by the Company pump house. This was just below the golf course in Marysville. One warm sunny day a number of boys all skinny dipping naked, lay on the nice warm rocks sunning themselves, when they noticed a group of golfers, both men and women enjoying the view. They all jumped back in the river in a hurry. Spending-money was earned in various ways. Joe sold empty bottles and occasionally played hooky from school to fix tires for George Sutherland. When he quit school, he delivered meat for Burns in a horse-drawn cart. He also delivered for Bill Anderson's Butcher Shop, and the Kimberley Hardware, when Charlie Crisford was manager. By this time he could drive a model T Ford truck.
Skiing was just coming to the fore in Kimberley and a jump had been builtIn lower Blarchmont. Prizes were being given for the best jumpers. Joe saw them displayed in the Mark Creek Store window, and admired a bright red plaid jacket. He borrowed a pair of skis from Mike Kavanagh, fastened them on with rubber strips, cut from an old inner tube, and won the jacket. He played softball and basketball as well.
When Joe started working for the Company in 1934, he went to Trail for six years. He married Jennie Pearson in 1935. The wedding took place in the old union hall that once had been the Rex- all Drug store, where the Canadian Hotel parking-lot is now located.
They returned to Kimberley in 1941 and Joe went to work underground as a miner. He was track gang boss when he retired in 1976. Since his retirement, he likes to bowl and enjoys fishing and travelling in their camper.
Joe and Jennie have three daughters: Kathie, Josie and Maureen. Kathie married George Beaton and they have two children: Debbie and Danny. Kathie works for the Royal Bank in Kimberley and her husband, George, works at the Concentrator. Josie married Stan Tempelton who owns and drives a logging truck, while she works at the Special Care Home, The Pines. She used to work for an accountant, Max Tenenbein. They have two children: Leanne and Tammy . Maureen married Ken Thompson, who works at Donald for the lumber mill there as a saw filer. They have a son and a daughter.
Doris Moore married Jimmy Portman in 1932. Jimmy was employed at the Concentrator so they lived in Chapman Camp. They had two children: Margaret and Roland. On retirement in 1959, Jimmy and Doris moved to Victoria where they lived until Jimmy passed away in 1975. Their daughter, Margaret, worked as a telephone operator in Kimberley. She married William (Bill) Pilon and they moved to Victoria. They have three children: Barbara, Michael and Garth.
Roland is still residing in Kimberley where he works for the Company as a blast hole loader in the mine. He married Francis Ingham and they have one adopted son, Wade.
