Bob Harrower in Murrayville.

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Object Description

Object Name

Photograph

Object ID

2018.034.004

Title

Bob Harrower in Murrayville.

Date

[193-?].

Description

Black and white photograph of Bob Harrower in Murrayville, standing in front of a wooden and barbed wire fence. Surrounding the fence are bushes and flowers, and there are trees in the background. Bob is wearing a three piece suit and tie, and has his hands at his sides and his head slightly angled to the right.

People/Subject

Harrower, Robert (Bob)

Robert (Bob) Harrower was born September 8, 1917 on Roberts Road, near Livingstone Road (232 Street) on his family's farm. He went to school at Murrayville Elementary and Langley High School. He took over the family farm when his father died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 1937, and worked to put his two sisters and brother through school. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) during World War II and became a navigator with the rank of Flying Officer. He returned to Langley after the war to continue running the farm. He married Hazel Harding in July 1946 in a ceremony at Sharon United Church in Murrayville. The couple had three children: Jim, Lillian, and Rob (d. 1981). They farmed until 1957, at which point Bob joined the customs service and worked at Huntingdon, Aldergrove, Pacific Highway, and Vancouver. He was one of twelve investigators with the Customs and Excise Investigations Branch in B.C. He was an active member of the Langley community, serving as chairman of the Langley Recreation Commission, and helping ensure new recreation facilities were built, including Al Anderson Pool and the track at Langley Secondary. He was a longtime proponent of the Langley Walk. He was a president of the Langley Cribbage League and played on the Murrayville Cribbage team for at least fifty years. He taught bridge at night school and served on the executive of the Murrayville Community Hall Association. He was an active member of Sharon United Church, a member of the Douglas Day committee, and a member of the Langley Heritage Society.
Information source: newspaper article "Pioneer Mourned" Langley Advance May 15 1996.

Murrayville (B.C.)

Paul Murray was born in Ireland in 1811 and immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of eighteen. the Murray family settled in Oxford County, Ontario, and ten years later Paul married Lucy Bruce. They bought land in Zorra and had seven children together. In May 1874, after his children were grown, Paul left Ontario and relocated in B.C., accompanied by three of his sons. Their first home in Langley was a roughly built shelter they made for themselves from a gigantic fir tree, and after his wife and two of hisdaughters arrived, they all lived there together. After these humble beginnings, Murray opened a hotel on Old Yale Road to service travelers making their way into the interior, building up a reputation as one of the finest carpenters in the area. The corner where the hotel was eventually came to be known as Murray's Corners, as the family had 160 acres of land on each corner. Murray's Corners eventually came to be known as Murrayville, and all of Paul's sons worked on Old Yale Road, building more hotels and other businesses to increase commerce. Paul was an ordained church elder, dring a time when there were no official churches and services were held in a small schoolhouse on the corner of Glover Road and Old Yale Road. Holding the title of founder of Murrayville, Paul Murray died in 1903. Murray's Corners did not officially become Murrayville until 1911, when the local post office changed its name to Murrayville Post Office.

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