The Patience Family
as told by daughter Stella
Ross married Annie Houston, also from Ireland, in 1911. He continued working for the C.P.R. and was made foreman of the track gang, before moving to Lang, Saskatchewan. Four children were born there; Eileen, Stella, Myna and Lloyd. They lived in Yellowgrass for a time.
Ross and a friend, Tom Murphy, came to Kimberley in March of 1924 and Ross began working on the track gang at the Mine. The fami- ly arrived in June. Their first home was a small dwelling in the valley across Mark Creek just below the Mine Portal. Several other families that lived there were the Len Bonnells, Carlsons, Ed McMahon, Horns, Colthorps, Hendersons, Tom Murphy, Dolsons and Muracas.
On the McDougall Townsite there was only the cookhouse and bunkhouses and a few very small homes. That part of town was just being built. As soon as they could they moved into one of these on Second Avenue. As more homes were being built they moved to a larger dwelling on Fourth Avenue. Two more children were born; Elsie and Viola.
Eileen went to work at the Townsite cook- house when Mark Beduz was the cook and she also worked at the Chapman Camp cookhouse when Jimmy Pittao was there. She married Fred Botterill, a hockey player for the Dynamiters when they won the Allen Cup in 1935 and the World Championship in 1936. They had three daughters; Joan, Patricia and Arlene. Fred died in 1967 and Eileen passed away in 1978. The girls no longer live in Kimberley.
Stella began her working career in the Mark Creek store in the Dry Goods Department. She was there for ten years. Dave McGregor was the manager of that department at the time. He taught Stella the job and she took over for four years after he retired. She married Floyd Walde in 1942. Shortly after, Floyd went into pilot training in the Airforce in Dauphin, Manitoba and Stella accompanied him. When he left for overseas she returned to Kimberley only to be called over to Trail to manage the dry goods department for the Company store there for two and a half years while Floyd was away.
He returned in 1944 and they lived in lower Blarchmont. They had one son, Clifford, now in the R.C.M.P. at Camrose, Alberta. Floyd was made Post Master when he returned and he retired in 1976 after thirty years service. When Stella's parents passed away she and Floyd purchased the family home. This is where they still reside.
Myna married a Safety Engineer that did ex- tensive travelling. Alex Caldwell was the Safety Engineer at the Columbo Plan in Pakistan and at the Bennett dam at Hudson Hope. He is now the Safety Engineer for the Department of Highways in North Vancouver. They had two children; Dorcas and Ross. Dorcas died in child- birth in 1957 and their daughter Linda lives in Victoria. Ross is with the Airforce in Trenton, Ontario.
Stella's one brother Lloyd is a mining engineer with Canadian Aluminium in Montreal. When he was attending V.B.C. his holidays were spent working for the Company in Kimberley.
Elsie worked at the Post Office for awhile before her marriage to Bill Jones, another hockey player for the Dynimiters. He is an electrician for the Company and they still reside in Kimberley. They have four children; Colleen, now Mrs. David Rainforth and living in Lacombe, Alberta; Terrance, their son is in Vancouver; Willow is attending Selkirk College in Cranbrook; and Tanya is still a student.
Viola trained as a nurse in St. Joseph's Hospital in Victoria. She married Edward Bird and they live in Port Coquitlam. They have two children; David and Deborah.
Stella remembers Sunday afternoon walks down the railway track to Chapman Camp when many families were still living in tents. Not many cars in those days, so everyone walked. Now that Floyd is retired, they love to travel whenever possible.
