Elida Peers | Contributed
Jordan River has had several histories since it was named for the Spanish priest Alejandro Jordan when the Spaniards cruised this coast in 1790.
The heyday of the 1920s to 1940s had largely passed, but a number of families were still making their homes in the village when this image was taken in the 1950s.
Sharon (Wright) Branchaud recalled her life at Jordan River when she was a member of the girls’ club in the mid-1950s. Sharon married a miner and left our area, but she came back. A Sooke resident now for three decades, she enjoyed her volunteer work with Meals on Wheels and Sooke Food Bank before her quiet retirement on Sooke River Road.
MORE HISTORY: Roy, Frank and the giant spruce log
Her dad, Roy Wright, was a donkey engineer for Canadian Puget Sound Lumber and Timber Co. The family started in camp but moved up the hill to live in what had been called B.C. Electric’s Guesthouse when Hydro had an extensive operation at Jordan River. One of their neighbours was Jo Giacomini, who was well known for her milk cows, which supplied Jordan River’s milk.
We don’t have the name of the first girl in the photo, but the second girl is Lorna Fatt, whose dad was a superintendent for B.C. Hydro; next is Evelyn Dods, whose dad worked in the office for CPS, and whose mum was Jean Duncan from Saseenos. The next girl is Connie Chute, whose dad was a cook in camp; she is followed by Jean Cawsey, whose dad worked in the woods. Next is Joy Elliott, whose dad was prominent with B.C. Hydro and remembered with the Elliott Dam; Joy is followed by Sharon Wright.
The girls met weekly in the community hall, which was a converted army camp building from the Second World War. In elementary school, the girls enjoyed their teachers, Doreen Poirier and Eleanor Michelsen, and then, at the time of this photo, they were going by school bus to Milne’s Landing High in Sooke.
One of Sharon’s girlhood memories was visits from veteran logger Horace Arthurs and his wife Norma “Curly” for singalongs, where her mum played the piano and accordian and her dad played the harmonica.
We haven’t been able to determine the name of this club’s leader, and we are hoping someone will provide the missing information. Please get in touch with us at the Sooke Region Museum if you can help.
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Elida Peers is the historian of the Sooke Region Museum. Email historian@sookeregionmuseum.com.