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'Pioneer of the Peace'

Fort St. John Senior
Alice Richards
Celebrates 96th Birthday

The journey north was long and sometimes difficult, the destination and life of this pioneer woman was one of hopes and dreams that could only be had with hard work, good times, good friends and plenty of laughter.

In the spring of 1916 Alice and Guy Parsons were diagnosed with the dreaded disease of polio. The family doctor prescribed wide open spaces and clean, fresh air. Heeding the doctors’ advice, Clinton and Belle Parsons purchased train tickets and prepared for their long journey to Canada with their children.

Days before they were ready to leave St. Helen’s, Oregon, their doctor cautioned against travelling by train, saying it would be too confined for the children, their best chance at overcoming the complications of polio was Mother Nature herself. Thus, the train tickets were exchanged for covered wagons and horses. They loaded their family belongings and headed north, destination – the great Peace River Country of northern B.C.

Alice Richards (as we now know her) was nine years old, her brother Guy was 11 and baby brother Lee was a mere nine months old. Brother Ray was born in Claresholm, Alberta in 1917. Their first stop in Canada was Claresholm, after spending a year or so there, they travelled on and eventually set up a stopping place at Ray Lake near Grande Prairie. During their journey northward they also lived in Gundy, Spirit River and Rolla.

In 1921 Clinton and Ollie Southwick were working at the Gundy and Gundy sawmill, realizing there was great opportunity for a sawmill in the north, the two pioneers purchased a sawmill and set plans in motion to move it north to Charlie Lake.

In March of 1921 they undertook the enormous task of moving the massive piece of machinery up river to the Old Fort. There wasn’t a road to Fort St. John so they came in over the Old Cutbank Road and travelled up the Peace River on the frozen ice from Rolla Landing (upstream from the Clayhurst Bridge).
Time was not on their side, they had to reach the Old Fort before spring breakup on the river but when they arrived at Rolla Landing they discovered it was so steep they had to slowly and methodically lower the sawmill with cables. The incident at Rolla Landing put them a bit behind schedule but determination and pride paid off when the mill and the men arrived safely at the Old Fort.

Once the sawmill was delivered, Parsons returned to Rolla to pick up his family. They embarked on the same route and arrived safely on April 6, 1921. “I remember it being so very cold, but we were all wrapped up in blankets and warm clothes. I suppose back then there was nothing unusual about it all. My brother Guy drove a team and mother drove the other. Dad went on ahead of us “sounding” the ice. We arrived at the Old Fort and can you believe it - the next morning the ice broke at Taylor,” Alice said.

In the fall of 1921 Alice attended the first school in Fort St. John. “Mrs. Easton was our teacher and classes were held in Alwin Holland’s house. There were eight of us in the school, myself, my brothers Guy, Lee and Ray along with Freddie, Willie and Duncan Beaton and the only other girl, Mary Cobb,” said Alice. Her younger brother Ray had to attend when he was five years old to achieve the number required to start the first school.

Alice took night school classes to complete her high school education and later worked as a substitute teacher in the area.

The family’s first home was owned by Mr. Movick and located where Mathews Park is now, a creek rambled through the property which came in pretty handy when it was time for Alice to water the cows. In the fall of 1922, Clinton Parsons took up a homestead right across from where the Honda Dealership now stands.

The family lived in two tents, boarded halfway up the sides and well banked with snow. “It was as warm as could be,” remembers Alice, “I don’t remember ever being cold, the floor was boarded up and the insulation from the snow kept us warm and toasty that winter.” The following year Clinton took up another homestead quarter across from the schoolhouse, (the present location of Peaceland Power).

“Back then, everywhere we went was on horseback. Dancing was about the only entertainment we had. We would all get together and ride up to Cache Creek to Dopps’ place – Blanche Hipkiss’ parents. If a storm came up, we’d dance all night and ride home in the wee hours of the morning,” Alice remembers. “Mail came in about every six weeks and when we ran out of supplies we just made due. ‘Sucker Sunday’ was a regular meal in the spring, consisting of suckers and gravy. Charlie Lake was full of them and you could just grab them out of the water.”

Alice was 14 years old when she met a handsome fellow by the name of Ed Thomas. Ed and her father, along with many others, were instrumental in building the Nelson Trail from Fort St. John to Fort Nelson. In April 1928, just two months after her 21st birthday, she married Ed. There wasn’t a minister or a church in Fort St. John so they saddled up and rode to Rolla to get married.

Ed Thomas arrived in Fort St. John in 1919, after a five year stint overseas during World War I. He took up a homestead on the land where the CIBC is now located, south to the Alaska Highway. However, having a cabin in the North Peace Arena area, he would discover ice on the water in the middle of July, not suitable to raise wheat. He gave up that homestead and moved to the area of Mile 43 ½ on the Alaska Highway and Swanson Lumber Road, which of course, were none existent in those days. He established himself and lived and farmed that half section for the rest of his life.

Their first son Ted was born in 1929 without the assistance of a doctor. The only hospital was in Pouce Coupe and although Alice was packed and prepared to leave the next day, little Teddy had plans of his own and arrived at home, a day early. Charlie was born in 1930 with Dr. Kearney assisting. Years later she had Marion (Ewasiuk), “the daughter I always wanted,” said Alice.

Ed Thomas was a soldier, freighter, farmer, vet, farrier and the most colorful auctioneer of that era. Ed Thomas’ auctions were called ‘Carnivals’ for the sparkling wit and commentary of this silver tongued Welshman was a show onto itself. It was an event attended by everyone in town, not because they wanted to buy something, (although sometimes they did unknowingly), but because it was the best entertainment in town and you didn’t pay to attend. Alice kept track of the sales as best she could while Ed jumped from the back of a pickup to the back of a wagon conducting the auctions from the highest platform he could find.

In 1943 Alices’ father Clinton died from burns suffered in a road building camp in Fort Nelson. Ed and friends built a restaurant on his land at Mile 43 for his mother-in-law Belle. She baked and served homemade pie and ice cream to the American and Canadian soldiers, who were building the world famous Alaska Highway.

Ed also designed and built a platform with a Briggs & Stratton 1.5 hp engine feeding the pulleys to run the five ice cream machines. Meanwhile, Alice and daughter Marion made the ice cream, packing the salt and ice around the drums. The boys chopped the ice and stored it in the icehouse, packed with sufficient sawdust to prevent it from melting. “I think my brothers and I were more of a tasting crew then a working crew, it was good fun and great ice cream,” remembers Marion. Belle passed away in 1954.

The 1960’s were sad years for Alice and her family. Her son Charlie was killed in a tragic truck accident in 1960. At the time of his death, he had three young children, Eddie, Bonnie and Darla, ages two, four and six.

Although he gallantly struggled with pancreatic cancer, husband Ed died on July 6, 1961. Never really recovering from the loss of his son Charlie. Teddy died in August 1965 when his plane crashed while he was instructing a student, his son Danny was born in November 1965, three months after his father’s death. Although there was sadness at the loss of her loved ones, happier times were found when Marion had her two daughters, Shelley and Karen.

Alice tried to carry on with the farm, but even with the help of hired men, it was all too much for a woman on her own. She continued to accommodate boarders as she had done in the past. In 1974 after 15 years of operating her boarding house she sold all but 12 acres of the homestead and decided to do a bit of travelling.

In 1975 while on a Christian Fellowship tour to Israel she met Martin Richards. Her daughter Marion comments, “when Mother came home she showed us a picture of Martin, she had that glint in her eye and she’d giggle every time she looked at his picture. I knew right away that Mother was smitten and her and Martin got married in 1976.”

Martin was a rancher from Quesnel when he met Alice. It wasn’t long before he retired and drove up the Alaska Highway to Fort St. John where he would spend the rest of his life with Alice. The couple took up their favorite hobbies of woodworking and macramé, specializing in doll houses, furniture, rocking horses and lawn ornaments.

Both avid bowlers, they represented Fort St. John in the 1989 Seniors Games held in Trail, B.C. Martin also enjoyed snowshoeing, which he did frequently right into his early 90’s. “Martin passed away two years ago. At the age of 99 years and seven months, he so wished to reach the one hundred mark,” remarked Alice.

Today Alice lives life to the fullest. She resides at Peace Lutheran Apartments and carpet bowls twice a week at the Seniors Hall in Fort St. John. She also enjoys floor curling and playing whist, crib and bingo at the hall. “I also bowl twice a week at the bowling alley, I mean real bowling, not this carpet bowling stuff,” Alice added.

She attributes her longevity to the following. “Keep busy, work hard, live happy. I was married twice to two wonderful, kind and caring men, I think I was pretty lucky. I’m in good health, my daughter Marion lives close by and I have eight grandchildren and one great grandson. I live a very full and busy life.”

Congratulations Alice on your 96th birthday, February 20, 2003.