Glen and Vi Maw live in the comforts of Heaton Place Retirement Residence in Armstrong.
The community and the Maw family have a long history.
Glen Maw was born on the very site Heaton Place occupies today.
He was born Aug. 25, 1927, to Arthur Maw and Ruby Crawford. His mother’s family, the Crawfords, also have a long history in Spallumcheen and a street named after them to prove it.
Glen grew up in a small white house, which sits on 4300 Maw Rd.
In 1944, Glen left school and went to work on the family farm for the next six years.
The Okanagan Valley was beginning to harvest a lot of fruit and the Maw family farm had 20 acres of orchard on the 200-acre farm.
“The first fall we had 9,000 boxes of apples,” Glen said.
“So I wondered whether I should have stayed in school.”
The orchard froze in 1950 and Glen decided it was time to set out on a different working adventure.
Off to Revelstoke he went and after a year of working in the logging industry, Glen bought a business he called Maw Logging.
For the next 38 years, Glen would work hard and became a contractor for Armstrong Sawmill.
Meanwhile, his soon-to-be wife, Viva McGhee (Vi) was living in Vernon.
Vi attended Beairsto School in Vernon. After leaving school, she went to work for Muir’s Cartage — now Rocky Mountain Transport — where she did the bookkeeping. She worked there for six and a half years.
On Sept. 20, 1958, Vi and Glen were married.
Vi was a bit reluctant as she really enjoyed working while getting married meant she would be staying home on the farm.
It took a while before Vi began to feel at ease with married life on the farm.
She soon met the neighbour ladies and became involved in Fish and Game organization and the Knob Hill Ladies Aid. For the next 60-plus years, Glen and Vi raised their family at 4094 Salmon River Rd.
Glen’s passion for hunting was satisfied, as he could step out his back door and shoot a buck to bring home and feed his family. And Vi had a big beautiful garden where she grew lots of fruit to keep her busy canning.
The Maws bought the original family farm from Glen’s brother in approximately 1994. They wanted to keep it in the family.
They eventually sold the farm to a couple and the land is now the location of Farmstrong Cidery.
Glen and Vi moved into Heaton Place on Oct. 31, 2018. They are comfortable in their two-bedroom suite and enjoy being pampered with meals, housekeeping and participating in Heaton Place activities.
Two wonderful people who worked hard and played hard can now relax and be waited on.
Thank you for sharing your story Glen and Vi. Carrie O’Neill is the resident relations co-ordinator at Heaton Place in Armstrong. These are the stories of its residents.
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