The Adlard Family
as told by Virginia
Percy and his mother joined William a few months later. Percy got a job as a delivery boy for P. Burn's Butcher Shop and later for Joe Walkley, another butcher. From there he began working for the Government on road building and worked up to foreman of the road gang. One of his jobs was the road leading out of Kimberley, now called the Catholic Church Hill.
Percy met a Cranbrook telephone operator on a blind date when a group of young people attended a dance at Fort Steele. Virginia Wolfe was the daughter of William Wolfe, who at that time was office manager for the B.C. Spruce Mills at Lumberton. They were originally from Rochester, N.Y. Virginia was educated in Vancouver before the family moved to Cranbrook. Percy and Virginia were married in 1924. A son, Gordon, was born in Cranbrook. He had a crooked foot and from age one had to spend three years in a cast. The specialist was in Spokane where Mrs. Wolfe then lived. The cast had to be changed every six weeks and sometimes oftener so Virginia travelled back and forth on the Spokane International Train that ran between Cranbrook and Spokane in those days.
Percy was working in Crowsnest when he first started with the Company. After a mechanical course in Calgary, where he learned about heavy equipment and the installation of large pieces of machinery.
A daughter, Adelaide (Bubbles), was also born in Cranbrook, although they were now living in Kimberley. Their second son, Davey, was born in Spokane while Virginia was visiting her mother. The youngest daughter, Betty Jean, was born in Kimberley.
Virginia was left on her own with the children very often as Percy's job of installing machinery at numerous Company properties took him away from home a lot. He travelled as far north as Great Bear Lake where he spent 3 years. Virginia had the task of moving seven times in one year. They finally obtained a house on McDougall Townsite where they lived for thirty- five years. After so many years of moving, and travelling back and forth to Spokane, she was glad to settle down.
When the two boys were old enough to join the Cubs and Boy Scouts, Percy became involved in driving groups to camps and various outings. Virginia, along with Eva Thomas and Mrs. O'Callahan, was active with the Girl Guides. Mrs. O'Callahan and Virginia were the only two western Brown Owls registered in Ottawa at that time.
Percy's pastime was playing golf. Virginia was active in many Community projects. She was responsible for starting the school lunchroom under the auspices of the Junior Red Cross. She is a member of the LO.D.E., has been twenty-five years on the Project Society when Pioneer Lodge was being built, and she has been an active member of the Kimberley Hospital Auxiliary.
When Lions Manor was built, Percy and Virginia moved into a suite. Percy passed away in June of 1978, after fifty-four years in Kimberley.
Their son Gordon is now the principal of a school in Fort St. John, married to Edna Ostberg of Burns Lake, and they have two daughters, Glynnis and Noreen.
Bubbles married a mining engineer, Stanley Hodgson of Trail, and they had three children. Steven, Cathy and Dean. Steven is also a mining engineer, now working in Kimberley and he married Mary Pascuzzo, a special therapist working in the primary grades with young children. Dean was studying to be a steam engineer, when he was killed in an industrial accident in Trail in 1978.
Davey lives in Edmonton, working for Alberta Government Telephones. He married an Edmonton girl, Maureen Buie, and they have three children, David, Craig and Susanne.
Betty Jean lives in Prince George where her husband, Donald Barkley, works for the Ministry of Transport. They have two children, Lynn and Todd.
Virginia still resides in Lions Manor and keeps in close touch with her children and grandchildren.
