The Wolstenholme Family
as told by son, Jack
Alfred (Alf) Wolstenholme was born in Cheshire, England. He was in the services during the 1914-18War and suffered damage to his lungs due to being gassed. He married Ann Holland who worked in a cotton mill in Cheshire, and they had one son, John (Jack).
With so much unrest during the economic recession following the war, Alf and a brother-inlaw, Jack McCulloch, left their families in 1926 and came to Marysville where they had friends and relatives.
They got work at the Concentrator in Kimberley and Alf and Jack brought their families here in 1927. There were very few cars and the one Cranbtook-Kimberley bus only ran once a day, but not in time for the men to ride to work, so they walked from Marysville to Chapman Camp daily.
Alf had played soccer in England so joined the Chapman Camp team and played for two years.
Young Jack had attended one year of school in England and started grade two in Marysville and Netta Henderson was his teacher in grade eight: That school is now the little Catholic Church.
When it came time to attend High School, Jack and Bob Bidder walked to Kimberley together. In summer they rode bicycles. Jack completed all four years.
In those days almost everyone walked. On Saturdays they would walk to Wycliffe or Kimberley, to skate in winter or to see a show, and thought nothing of it. An eight or ten mile walk in a day was the usual procedure.
Jack went to work at the Concentrator for one year and then attended an Aircraft school in Glendale, California, for a little over a year. When the war broke out, Jack tried to join up but the physical fitness tests were very severe and Jack's eyesight was just under par. Nevertheless, he worked in Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver, building planes.
It was in Vancouver where he was inspector for flight controls that he met Lorraine Armstrong, an aircraft mechanic. They were married in 1942.
Jack came back to work for the Company in 1946and was placed in the designing office at the Mine. He has been a mechanical draftsman, a surveyor, both underground, and on surface, and is now a planning technician. They moved from Marysville to Ritchie Townsite in 1956 where they still reside.
Jack has been active on the Committee for the Jr. Forest Wardens. He was on the Marysville Community Chest and the Marysville Transportation Co-op and has acted on several other committees. He was an executive member on the staff union while Les Lilley was the president. He is still active on this committee, on job evaluation and job progression.
Alf Wolstenholme died in 1965 of a stroke. Ann passed away in 1967.Her two sisters, Ada Hagen and Agnes Cookson, still reside in Kimberley at Lions Manor. Ada and Melvin Hagen's story is included in this book. In the mid 1940's, a sister, Sadie came for a visit from England. She only had a few days with her three sisters when she died suddenly.
Jack and Lorraine have three children: Gordon, Cheryl and Frank. Gordon is now in the east, around Toronto, Cheryl trained as a nurse and works in the heart clinic in Vancouver. Frank is an electronics technician in Calgary. Lorraine has been an active member of the Kimberley Sketch Club for many years and has many paintings and drawings to her credit. Jack enjoys fishing and some hunting and gardening. He plans to retire soon and do some travelling, but will keep Kimberley as home base.
