To the Editor,
The archival pages of the Ashcroft Journal held at the Ashcroft Museum have so very much enhanced my understanding of my family’s early years, that I felt I must stop and express my appreciation to the editors of this historic newspaper.
So many interesting articles back in the 1920s of the comings and goings of the residents, including my family members Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Nicol, allowed me to piece together not just where my grandfather worked as a CPR trackman in Spatsum, and later a section foreman in Savona, it also allowed me to see into their social life – even down to the winning of a Pyrex pie plate with a silver holder at a whist competition.
Through another Journal article I discovered that my mother (whom I never knew) boarded with a Mrs. Ades in Walhachin so she could attend elementary school.
I’m just turning 70 years old and your articles helped me understand, after all these years, why my two sisters and I were standing on the banks of the Thompson River in Walhachin in 1945 when I was only three. (Also on this visit to Ashcroft we learned we were chums with Val Carey and Margaret Willock of Walhachin back in 1945 – but that’s another story!)
Another great treasure I found while there referred to my great-grandfather, William Inglis, whose 1924 obituary appeared in the May 19 issue of the Journal.
We loved visiting the Village of Ashcroft for its beautiful quaintness and links to the past; for its friendly and hospitable people; for its wonderful meals at the Central Cafe; and for the convenient locale of the Legacy RV Park at the river’s edge.
We can never really capture the past, but sometimes, with the help of others, we can momentarily touch it.
I cannot thank the Editors of the Ashcroft Journal without also thanking Kathy Paulos of the Ashcroft Museum for locating numerous articles for me.
Thank you for your part in my journey.
Sheila Hood Jensen
Discovery Bay, California
