In 1953 my grandparents made the move from Alberta to B.C. Unfortunately, the reason to move was a sad one. In 1951, the family was visiting other family in California when they received a terrible telegram. Dennis, their oldest son who had stayed home on his own, had drowned. What horrifying news. He was eighteen and out in a canoe with his friend at night. The boat had capsized. Dennis’ friend got to shore, but Dennis didn’t make it. How devastating.

Dennis died at Alberta Beach on St. Anne’s Lake in Edmonton.

After Dennis’ death and then my great gradmother’s death my grandparents decided to move to White Rock in B.C. They opened a restaurant there called the Tip Top Cafe just up from the ocean side walk. They lived on the corner of Oxford Street and McDonald Avenue.

Later they built a house on Dominion Ave. in Port Coquitlam. This was the house I remember visiting as a child. My grandfather worked as an electrician at Essondale Mental Hospital in Burnaby B.C.

Some pictures from Port Coquitlam

Me with my parents at Port Coquitlam

Grampa Sharples and me

Me at Port Coquitlam

Me with the folks at Port Coquitlam

me with the grandparents