Elida Peers | Contributed
Driving up Church Road today, passing Wadams Way, you encounter what almost looks like an assembly line of row houses.
Although I have yet to determine the number of new households that will be accommodated on the small acreage that once hosted a family of four, it’s evident that there will be many.
The woman sitting on the front step of her home in 1942 is Olive Wadams, born in the metropolis of London in 1906. Her circumstances in London tenements could hardly have been more crowded, and she was delighted to meet Peter Wadams, a farmer at heart.
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In 1929, the young couple emigrated to Canada. First employed at a dairy farm in Sidney, by 1938, they were in Sooke and renting the historic Moss Cottage, which stood on West Coast Road.
Having their own farm home would be a dream come true, and soon, they were able to buy the Church Road cottage pictured (built initially by Antony Kohout before he built Sooke Harbour House at Whiffin Spit).
It was exciting for Peter and Olive Wadams to have their own farm home where Peter could indulge all his farming skills. They had cows for milk; Peter did the milking while Olive churned the butter. A square foot of earth was well-spent; Peter grew every kind of vegetable and was proud to win so many awards for produce at the Sooke Fall Fair.
While Peter did the heavy work, Olive preserved fruits and vegetables to keep them over the winters. One of her joys was growing flowers, which she shared with all who knew her. As if those endeavours weren’t enough, she also kept her nimble fingers busy with needlework.
Their little farm was big enough to provide for themselves, their daughter Norah and son Hugh. Their home was a quiet garden of tranquillity, where this kind lady always made a cup of tea for any drop-in guests.
While she was a widow in her last years, passing away in 2004 at age 98, she was able to remain quietly in her country garden until the end. Perhaps it’s an ironic footnote of changing cultures: beginning her life in a maelstrom of comings and goings in London, England; she went on with her husband to create a quiet country haven in her Canadian village, a place which has now become the opposite, with industrial comings and goings and density of housing as well.
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Elida Peers is the historian of the Sooke Region Museum. Email historian@sookeregionmuseum.com.