In retrospect one
of the sad things to remember was the loss of so many
brothers' of comparatively young years, having inherited
the lung weakness which our father had developed.
With the medical skill and drugs available now he
and they could have had many years more. He was an
excellent farmer and raised cattle, sheep, also chickens,
enabling him to have a highly profitable income from
the farm at St. Mary’s Lake. At the first agriculture
exhibition held in the Gulf Islands we entered a lot
of exhibits and won a number of prizes. It was my
first meeting with Dr. Tolme, the fine citizen who
was to become later Premier of B.C. I recall with
some amusement that on this occasion Dr. Tolme questioned
the exhibitors and asked my father about the stock
shown, he would refer to me for details causing the
good judge to remark that Willie seemed well briefed.
The death of my father in October of 1898 was perhaps
the greatest sorrow to over take me in a long time.
To lose such a fine parent and his wise guidance at
the comparatively early age of 45 was one of the major
sorrows that came to my sisters and brothers and now
in my 90th year I am the last of six brothers. With
sisters Mary and Jessie we are the last of our mother's
10 children. It was a fortunate matter that she possessed
a strong and sturdy constitution to enable her to
cope with the tragic loss sustained in the death of
her husband. Her deep Christian belief helped her
greatly in adjusting to the loss of the head of the
home. To me it was the first major misfortune I was
to suffer in losing a greatly loved father when I
was only fourteen. One little incident I shall always
remember which illustrated this trait of his upright
and affectionate character; I had committed some small
breach of good behavior and was given some punishment,
though not severe, being then sent to bed in tears
that night. Before I slept he came upstairs to the
room where I was and kissed me. The memory of this
is one that I shall always cherish as an affectionate
gesture from a parent I was fated to lose. When his
presence and help was taken from us it fell to me
to shoulder the responsibility of carrying on the
operation of fairly large cleared portion of the farm.
It is a matter of much satisfaction to me now that
I did not fail the trust reposed in me.Some few years
after his death I had an urge to improve my education,
at that period grade eight was the limit available
to pupils at the various scattered schools on the
island. In 1905 I went to a Methodist boarding college
in New Westminster to take a commercial course duly
receiving the diploma which I had earned. In 1907
the family moved from the farm to a site near the
Ganges wharf where the CPR steamer came regularly
. Brother Gilbert was then working for a Mr. Purvis
who because of the illness of his partner and brother
in law, Joseph Malcolm wanted to dispose of the business
and property. Gilbert and our mother took over the
ownership and continued to extend the scope of it.
Unfortunately too many people were buying goods they
could not or would not pay for, the result being that
a financial crisis loomed ahead of G.J. Mouat Jr.
I was then at Columbian College, taking high school
classes in preparation for entering a law office to
read and study in anticipation of finally obtaining
a license to practice the profession. At this time
this could be done but not since, as it now requires
about seven years to qualify as a practicing lawyer.
An urgent call came for me to return home and help
the family in the dilemma which confronted them. The
situation was desperate and my mother and brother
Gilbert could raise no further money but hoped I would
be able perhaps to obtain a loan to put the business
back on the rails. We had an elder brother of my father's,
in Spokane, Old Uncle Gavin, who was not wealthy but
was comfortably well off. From him I borrowed $2000.00
simply on my note to repay. Sometime soon after I
was able to send him $1000.00, and in a most generous
and kind gesture he canceled the debt. With the money
matter settled we got down to building up the firm
which with my entry became Mouat Brothers Co. and
afterward Mouat Bros Ltd. We had a long association
over 30 years, Gilbert as President, and me as Secretary
and Treasurer. Unfortunately at the age of 28 he was
stricken with infantile paralysis on the first day
of January 1915, and for several months tried to get
help from the local doctors but to no avail. When
he realized that he would never walk again he determined
not to be idle and continued to manage the company
from a wheelchair. This was the period during the
First World War and demand for goods and equipment
was high and as a consequence it was necessary to
increase the number of our staff and employ to approximately
40.
When the Second World War started in 1939 there was
again an up serge in commercial activity and employment.
Son Ivan was attending Normal School in Victoria and
wanted to enlist at once. However his mother and I
insisted that he obtain his certificate so that if
and when he graduated he would have something tangible
to start from on his return. He obtained his wings
at Yorkton Saskatchewan in 1940 from the RCAF and
was assigned to flying the heavy Hawker Typhoon whose
job was to attack and destroy barges, railways and
other targets in Belgium and Holland. On the last
of his forages he was attacked by two German planes
and struck with some shrapnel and had to bail out
at 900 feet, the minimum for safety. With the aid
of the parachute he was able to land safely. The Belgian
peasants tried to give him shelter but the Germans
knew that a pilot was down and he was soon picked
up and interned at Stalag Luft 3 for nearly two years.
While in Germany he had contracted pneumonia and was
kindly and efficiently treated by a German doctor.
He convalesced in England and from there soon returned
home to be joyfully received by his mother and myself.
He still at times has a little pain in one of his
knees. Ivan was one of the fortunate ones, only 50%
of those who trained and graduated from Yorkton in
1940 survived and many of these are amputees. After
getting back to Canada in he married Susan Greig of
Royston in 1946.
He then continued teaching at various places and later
was selected as Supt. Of Indian and Eskimo Affairs
and Northern Development, although at the time of
writing was in Ottawa on official business for the
Province of Alberta. It will probably be some years
before he thinks of retiring as he will only be 54
on July 16. I have every good reason to be proud of
such a fine son-Susan is busy just now clearing and
improving the 11 acre property which Mary and Jennifer
own at Fulford, which includes a house, a really valuable
estate.
As I write on this 23rd day of March 1974 Ivan is
in Ottawa and I expect on official business. The Minister
who heads the Department, has been to Salt Spring
and I have a picture of him taken with a Liberal from
Nanaimo, a Dr. Zorken, and myself.
For myself in my twilight years I am hoping to leave
an accurate account of the lives of the Mouat family
here, the first of them arriving on the 4th day of
February 1885. I was then about 6 months young and
this wonderful island has been my home ever since.
I have travelled considerably, having been to the
Shetlands twice, and met the Mouat’s who live
at Netherton, Levenick. One of these- Miss Annie Mouat
has been here once and I am inviting her to join us
on the occasion of my 90th. We correspond fairly often,
the last letter I had from Annie was dated June 2nd.
She said then that she expected to leave for Vancouver
on the 13th of August to reach here for my 90th birthday.
|