The Jack Evans Family
as told by Aggie
Llan fyllin, North Wales, is the birth place of Jack Evans. He took an apprenticeship in a bakery in Liverpool. It was in a bakery there that he met Agnes (Aggie) Hillen.
Jack was tired of baking, and conditions in England in 1923 were not good, so he and a school mate, Horie Evans, also from Wales, but no relation, decided to come to Canada on a harvest excursion. They knew nothing about farming and after a few months on a farm in Ontario, Jack came west to Kimberley. Being a baker, he found no difficulty in getting work at the Chapman Camp Cookhouse where Tom Crossley was the head cook.
He still wanted to get out of the bakery trade and soon procured a job at the Concentrator. He bought a small house from Fred Webber and sent for Aggie. They were married in Cranbrook in September of 1925 and spent a four day honeymoon at Dickson's camp on St. Marys Lake. Their evenings were spent with a happy group of people that congregated around the piano to sing, while Mrs. Dickson played.
Liverpool was a modern city and Aggie was taken by surprise at the still primitive mode of life in Chapman Camp, with its outside plumbing at the end of the yard.
Their first daughter, Joan was born in 1926 and in 1928 Aggie was expecting a second child and went back to England. Their son Leslie was born near Bristol where she was visiting relatives. Aggie began making a home there and Jack sold the little house in Chapman Camp and went back to living in the bunkhouse. Unfortunately Joan got diptheria and died before she was three years old. Aggie then returned to Kimberley.
New homes were being built above the railway tracks in Camp and Jack had purchased one of these that was not quite finished, so Aggie and infant Les stayed with the Dutton Family for two weeks.
Two more children were born, Anita and Ron, all receiving their education in Kimberley. Les won a scholarship in Art, so attended two years University and is now an interior designer in Los Angeles. He kept himself much too busy to get married.
Anita worked for a short time at the City Bakery where Mr. Fairbanks was manager, she trained as a telephone operator and worked in the telephone office before her marriage to Norman Adams. He is Treasurer for the City of Kimberley at present. She also worked as a cashier for the Hudson's Bay Co. Anita is an ardent five pin bowler and a golfer, entering many competitions in both sports. They have four children, Sandra, Terrence (Terry), Lori, and Diane. Sandra trained as a nurse and is working in the Vancouver General Hospital. She is married and lives in Surrey. Terry is a hairdresser in Vancouver. Lori works for a real estate company in Trail. Diane is still attending school.
Jack and Aggie's youngest son Ron still lives in Kimberley and he works underground at the Mine. He married Margaret Montemurro. They have two adopted children, Bruce and Debbie.
Jack will always be remembered for his love of music and singing. He was the drummer for an orchestra "The Commanders", with Harry and Bill Pearson, Bob Leggett and George Foster. Kimberley people will recall the many amateur plays put on by Mrs. Suart and Jack always took part as one of the singers.
He continued to enjoy baking at home and many a wedding was made more complete with one of his beautifully decorated wedding cakes. Jack passed away in 1975 and Aggie still resides in the home she has lived in for almost fifty years.
