Chapter 22 - Leaving
And a new beginning
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Trish peered out the window as the heavy darkness slowly turned to grey. There would be no flight that day, either. It had snowed through the night, and it was still snowing. Visibility was terrible, even in the village.
After letting Waldo outside to do his morning business, Trish made breakfast. She thought about what to do in this situation. She was no longer employed–at least on paper. But, if she couldn’t leave, and her replacement couldn’t arrive, someone needed to be available to the people in the village. She didn’t have any further health promotion activities scheduled, or special clinics planned, but she could run her usual open clinic hours. That would at least give her something to do until the weather lifted, though she doubted anyone would venture out in this weather to come to see her anyway.
The storm lasted through that day, and the next, and the next. Trish finally had no choice but to make the expedition down the hill to the Hudson’s Bay store. She and Richard were running out of groceries, as they had been eating down their supplies in anticipation of leaving. Also, she wanted to see if there were any updates about the weather, and the flight schedule. Christmas was only a few days away, and she had been anticipating being in Terrace with Walter.
The snow was deep, but others had walked down to town before her, so there was a trail she could follow. Waldo bounded along beside her, seeming to love every minute, while Trish struggled. She thought again about the winter coat she was supposed to have received when she started her job. It had never arrived. Her own jacket was certainly warm enough, it was just one of those things that came to mind from time to time–another one of the quirks of working for the government, Trish decided.
The selection at the Hudson’s Bay store was worse than usual. That made sense–the stock arrived by air, if there were no flights, there were no groceries. Still, she found tinned meals and a few other non-perishable items that could be re-heated. Being socked in for days at a time was not uncommon, and the community was prepared. Trish bought some essentials and asked if there was any update on the weather and flights. It wasn’t good news. The clerk told her the latest forecast predicted the storm would last a week or longer. There were no flights scheduled for the foreseeable future.
If this was the case, Trish and Richard would be spending Christmas in Telegraph Creek, not in Terrace as planned. Trish was disappointed, but she had lived in Telegraph Creek long enough to know there was nothing to be done. She might as well just go about her business and wait the storm out.
Christmas came and went. It was just another day. Trish and Richard passed the time by taking Waldo for a short walk in the snow, eating a rather basic meal with the non-perishable items the Hudson’s Bay store offered, and playing cards.
As Christmas drifted into New Years, and the clouds still clung to the treetops, sometimes sinking right down to the ground, there were still no flights. Trish was beginning to get impatient. She had put off much of the wedding planning, anticipating she would have a month to do it after moving to Terrace. Now, almost two weeks of that month had passed. Nothing was planned, she didn’t even have a dress, and she was completely cut off from the outside world. She kept herself busy during the days by keeping the Nurse’s Station open for walk-in patients, but her anxiety was building.
Finally, more than a week into January, the weather lifted, and the first flight in weeks was anticipated. The whole village showed up at the airstrip to welcome the plane. When Walter finally landed the Beech18 on the snowy runway, Trish and Walter only had a moment to greet each other. Trish needed to meet the new nurse, and show her around quickly, as Janet had done for her. Walter would come back for her, Richard, Waldo, and any other passengers after making quick visits to the other communities on the sked.
Trish scanned the disembarking passengers for the new nurse and was surprised to realize that she was a he–the new nurse was a man. Trish almost laughed out loud as she recalled the comments the employment officer made during her own interview for this job, about the nurses always getting married and leaving the job, as she was also doing, and she imagined that was the reason he hired a male nurse this time around.
She gave the new nurse a brief tour, introduced him to Mary, who met him with wide eyes–she too was surprised to see a male nurse. It wasn’t common in the region. While she was going over the basics of the Nurse’s Station, Richard was carrying their suitcases to the airstrip. When Trish heard the engine of the plane, she said farewell to Mary, who wished her well, and she said goodbye to the rather hesitant-looking nurse. She called to Waldo to join her, and she walked to the airstrip one final time.
When she settled into the co-pilot’s chair next to Walter, he apologized for how long it had taken to get a plane in. He had tried the route several times over the past few weeks, but the weather was just too heavy, and each time he had to turn back. Trish was touched by how hard he had tried to come and get her.
After arriving in Terrace, Trish and Richard waited while Walter handed the plane over to the ground crew for the night. He then helped them load their possessions into the back of his truck, and he took them to the basement suite he had rented for them. It was basic but had everything they needed. They would now only be there for two weeks, rather than the month that they had planned.
Over dinner that night, Walter brought Trish up to speed on wedding details. He had booked the Mennonite church for the ceremony, that was where he had been going to church while living in Terrace. Unfortunately, the pastor was on vacation on their wedding day, but Walter wasn’t about to move the date without being able to discuss it with Trish. Instead, he had approached the minister from the Lutheran church in town, who agreed to conduct the service in the Mennonite church.
The venue for the dinner after the service was also solved. When Trish was stuck in Telegraph Creek, and the days were ticking by, Diane, the dispatcher for TransProvincial, and Roger took matters into their own hands. They decided the dinner would be at Roger’s home, and they began planning the basic details, while they waited for Trish.
Trish was feeling more relaxed, many of the big details were looked after, though she still needed a dress.
Walter had one more update. He looked a bit sheepish as he asked if she would be up for a road trip in a few days. She was curious. He explained that his family wanted to meet her before the wedding. Most of his family lived in Kelowna, but they had agreed to meet in Burns Lake in a few days. Trish realized the plans had already been made, so there wasn’t much to do but go along.
She was quite worried about finding a dress in time. The next morning, she went to a fabric shop and chose a pattern for a simple, but elegant winter wedding dress. Rather than a veil, the dress had a hood. It had long, wide sleeves, and the hood and the hem were trimmed with white fur. Trish liked it, she just hoped it would be ready on time. She took the pattern and the fabric to a seamstress, who confirmed she could finish the dress in time for the wedding. What a relief!
Burns Lake was about a five-hour drive from Terrace, and Trish and Walter set off early the following morning in Walter’s Ford pickup truck. Richard stayed behind to look after Waldo, as the trip would be an overnight one due to the distance. Walter said his parents, his sister Margaret, his brother John, and John’s wife, Shirl would meet them in Burns Lake later in the evening, as they had a longer drive from Kelowna. They would stay in a motel in Burns Lake and have dinner together.
The drive from Terrace to Burns Lake was pleasant. Almost everything Trish had seen of British Columbia so far had been from the air. The road followed the Skeena River, with jagged, snowy mountains rising up across the river. They passed through several villages and towns, and after moving away from the Skeena River for some time, the road snaked back toward the water, picking up the Bulkley River briefly, as the mountains gave way to rolling hills and stands of poplar trees. Trish marveled at how far away everything was. In England, a five-hour drive would take you all the way across the country. Here, they would have needed to drive south for another full day to get to Vancouver, or east to the border with Alberta. The distances were vast.
Trish was nervous about meeting Walter’s family. She wanted to make a good impression, obviously, but she wasn’t sure how to achieve that. She had no experience with this sort of thing.
Trish and Walter arrived in Burns Lake first and checked into their rooms. When Walter’s family arrived, Trish’s nervousness intensified. Standing beside Walter, she smiled, ready to greet her soon-to-be family. Walter introduced her to his parents, Jake and Mary, his sister Margaret, and his brother and sister-in-law, John and Shirl. His oldest sister Gerda, and his youngest brother Bobby hadn’t been able to make the trip. The meeting was awkward; no one seemed sure of what to do. Trish was surprised that Walter’s mother spoke low German throughout most of the visit. She knew the family spoke low German at home, as Walter had told her many Mennonite families spoke Plautdietsch, a dialect of Low German, as his did, but she had assumed they would speak English with her. Sometimes Walter translated, but it was hard to follow the conversation, and it added to the awkwardness. She was grateful for Shirl’s warm smile, and efforts to make conversation. Trish immediately liked her, but overall, the meeting was uncomfortable.
It was a relief when the visit was over, and they were on the road back to Terrace. She didn’t know exactly what she had expected, but the meeting had not felt like a warm welcome to the family. She wondered how her parents would have reacted had they been the ones meeting Walter. How would her dad have responded? She honestly didn’t know. She concluded that families were interesting things, and one navigated them the best one could. Then, she turned her attention back to Walter and the road ahead.
The next two weeks went by in a whirlwind of planning, meeting with the minister, and social calls. Trish met Walter’s best man, another pilot named Stuart Livingstone. Stuart worked as a flight instructor at the local flying school, where Walter was the chief flying instructor.
Trish’s friend Roger was indispensable in helping her plan the reception dinner. She chose a cake and ordered flowers. The day before the wedding, people began arriving in Terrace–Walter’s family, and her friend Judy, who would stand with her as her maid of honour. Trish didn’t have time to be nervous as she was carried along in the flurry of people and activity.
The day of the wedding went smoothly–their friends made sure of it. The ceremony was simple and lovely, and the dinner at Roger’s house was relaxed and pleasant. Trish met more of Walter’s family, including some of his young nieces and nephews, and she was glad Richard was there to welcome Walter into her family.
In moments of quiet, she thought of her mum, and her friend Jean. She wished they could be there with her, but she knew they would settle for reading all the details in her next letter. She also wondered what her life would be like the next morning–after the wedding, when all the planning was over, and daily life as a couple was all that remained. She supposed she would find out one day at a time, just as she had in the past, each time she had set out on a new adventure in her life.
THE END
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It may amuse you to know that a few months after Trish resigned her job in Telegraph Creek and moved to Terrace, she received a parcel to the cabin she and Walter lived in at Lakelse Lake. It was her government issued parka.
Better late than never, as they say!
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Author’s Notes
N.B.1: In 1970, as Trish was introduced to the people of Telegraph Creek and Iskut, the language of the time, “Natives”, was used. Today, the people living on the lands where Trish worked, have reclaimed their traditional identities, leaving behind the nomenclature assigned them during colonization.
The communities of Telegraph Creek and Iskut sit on the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nations. If you would like to read more about the identity and culture of First Nations people in Canada, including insights from Indigenous authors and advisors, here is a resource from the “First Nations & Indigenous Studies” program at the University of British Columbia.
N.B.2: We often see our parents through the lens of their roles in our lives— caregivers, disciplinarians, cheerleaders. Perhaps they are our role models or mentors, but who were they before they became these things to us?
To better understand who my parents were before they were, well, my parents, I set about interviewing them about their lives before marriage and kids. I started with my mom.
Trish Lewis was 17 years old and desperate to escape a mind-numbing administrative job at a factory in Liverpool in the 1950’s. She made the impulsive decision to join a friend to interview for nurse’s aide training at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. That decision changed the trajectory of her life and launched her into an interesting and rewarding career as a nurse.
Trish is my mom, and this is her story, as told to me in a series of interviews in 2024. The story is pieced together from Mom’s memory, photos, and documents. As we all know, memory is fallible. In the telling of this story, some names have been changed, either because they could not be recalled, or to protect the privacy of the person. The Journey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
N.B.3: If you are enjoying this story, you may also enjoy reading my memoir, “Resilience in the Rubble: A True Tale of Aid and Survival in Kashmir”. The book shares my experience as a first-time medical aid worker in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, after an earthquake devastated the region in 2005. It also tells the story of Nadeem Malik, a local teenager who lived through the earthquake, and his struggle to provide for his family in the aftermath.