Viewing Object

Object Description

Object ID

2009.031.008

Title

Gathering of people at the front doors of Lochiel School after its restoration.

Date

[3 Apr. 1989?].

Description

Colour slide of a gathering of people outside of the front doors of Lochiel School after it had been restored. The group is standing outside of the double front doors on the top step of Lochiel School. The building is yellow with white trim on the doors and windows. The gathering of people is roughly in a line, with a woman in a brown jacket lower down on the left, and a woman in a white jacket lower down on the right, holding a black cowboy hat. There is a man in the centre of the group wearing brown pants and a jean jacket, pointing at the woman with his cowboy hat while holding a white Styrofoam cup; Mayor John Beales stands behind him in a tie; Fred Pepin is on the right in the brown sports coat, and Bill Poppy is on the far left in a red windbreaker.

People/Subject

Beales, John Huson

John H. Beales was born July 25, 1924 in Winnipeg and moved to Langley in 1933. He graduated from Langley High School in 1942 and joined the RCAF. He returned after the war and married Marjorie Graham. They had 8 children: John, Bob, Ann, Ted, Ian, Bruce, Barry, and Russell. A local businessman, John was a School Board Trustee, an Alderman in the late 1970s - 1980s, and served two terms as Mayor of the Township of Langley from 1987 to 1993. He was an accomplished pilot. John died in 2003.

Campbell Valley Park

Lochiel School

The first school was built in 1889 and known as Biggar Prairie School on the Richard Thomas Biggar homestead. On February 23, 1892 the name was changed by Alexander Cameron to Lochiel School. In 1896, a red school house was built with lumber floated from Bum Gartner's Saw Mill on Old Yale Road to the building site on North Bluff Road (now 16th Ave.). The original school was replaced in 1924 with a one room building--the old wing of the current building. The school operated for one year after which students were bussed to Murrayville. In 1937, the school was reopened. In 1950, the school was moved to a three acre plot on 224th Street just south of 16th Ave. On February 20, 1975, arsonists set fire to the school causing major damage. It was then moved to Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley, BC.

Pepin, Alfred E. (Fred)

Alfred (Fred) Pepin is a grandson of Thomas Alfred Pepin, a pioneer settler of the Langley, B.C., area. He is married to Maureen Pepin. He is involved in the P. Y. Porter Tailgate Programme, and the Langley Heritage Society. He was awarded the Freedom of the Municipality in 2006.

Poppy, David William, Jr.

David William Poppy was Mayor of the Township of Langley from 1967 - 1971, Reeve 1956 - 1967 and Councillor in 1944, 1946 - 1955.
Term Source: Roads & Other Place Names in Langley, B.C. pg 41(Pepin).

Argus v4.4.0.36 - Langley Centennial Museum