Nathaniel Rolph enlisted in the 102nd Battalion North British Columbians at Port Alberni in 1915, holding the rank of Company Quarter Master Sergeant. He attempted unsuccessfully to obtain land in the Cariboo under the soldier settlement scheme on his return from the War.
Forrest Rogers was the fourth son and youngest child of Benjamin Tingley (B.T.) Rogers and Isabella Angus. He was the last of the four Rogers sons to serve as President of BC Sugar (1953-1973), after which he serves as Director Emeritus. Rogers was also a member of the Board of the Bank of Montreal and Weldwood Canada.
Jonathan Rogers, born in Wales in 1864, came to Vancouver in 1887 and became a prominent contractor and builder. He led an active civic life, serving two terms as alderman on City Council, two terms as president of the Board of Trade and some 25 years on the Parks Board. He passed away in 1945. His wife, Elisabeth, was also born in Wales and she came to Vancouver in 1902. She quickly became active in many philanthropic activities, including hospitals, museums and war relief. She served as presiding officer in the Women's Canadian Club, the Political Equity League, the French Red Cross, the Citizen's War Fund and the Belgian Relief Fund Committee. She passed away in 1960.
James Robison (1907-1994) was an employee of the City of Vancouver's Building Department from 1925 to his retirement in 1972.
Hugh Henry Roberts was a civil engineer and British Columbia Land Surveyor; he was a partner in the Vancouver firm Taylor & Roberts from ca. 1915.
Hugh Roberts was born Feb. 7, 1883 in Wales, and emigrated to Canada in or before 1907. He first appears in the Vancouver directories in 1908, as an employee of Thomas H. Tracy. By 1912 he was at the firm Garden & Taylor, where he was soon made a partner. Taylor retired in the late 1930s or early 1940s and from then to his retirement in 1964, Roberts operated under his own name only.
Roberts died Feb. 18, 1965.
Gillian Roberts lived on the site of the Caulfeild Pilotage and was a student in the local history courses offered at Capilano College in 1975 and 1976.
Aubrey Roberts was a reporter and editor for the Vancouver Daily Province before becoming editor of The News Herald in 1942. Later, he worked as a business consultant and a public relations counsel. In 1962, he joined the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Times. Roberts worked as Assistant to the Publisher and remained on the board until December 1964.
Eleanore Jane Rittenhouse (generally called Jane) was born November 28, 1912, in East Orange, New Jersey. Her mother, Florence Susan (Spragg), had been a schoolteacher and her father, Thomas Earl, was an accountant. She also had a younger brother, Richard, who died in 1916 at the age of fifteen months. (His intended Christmas present that year, a stuffed dog, is now at the Vancouver Museum.) The family relocated briefly to California, but while travelling back to New Jersey in October 1918, Thomas Rittenhouse died of Spanish influenza. After his death, mother and daughter first lived upstairs in Florence's half-sister Jean's house. They later moved into their own apartment, but never again lived in the family home.
From her early teen years, Jane and her mother (whom Jane later called Fahnie or Susie ) spent large parts of each summer in the Toronto area, where Florence's younger sister Gertrude lived. When Jane graduated from high school, she moved to Canada and enrolled in the Ontario Ladies College in Whitby for a one-year program in dietetics. In 1932 her mother moved to Toronto and both remained in Canada thereafter. Throughout the Depression years Jane struggled both to earn a living for herself and to help her mother. She sold children's books door-to-door across eastern Canada, opened and ran (with a partner) a dining room in Toronto, and used her dietetics background to secure a job with Heinz, in Toronto.
After the dependants allowance was instituted for servicewomen and she had become a Canadian in 1944, Jane joined the WRENS. Most of her service time was spent as a supply clerk in Halifax. She was discharged in February 1946, at which time she returned to Heinz. In 1952, she stayed at home for some months to care for her mother, who had breast cancer. After her mother's death, she lived alone. Three years later, she left Heinz and went on to a variety of jobs: supervisor of volunteers at the Metropolitan Toronto Children's Aid Society, chair of the Canadian Mental Health Society in Ottawa, and Assistance Director of Education for the Alcohol Research Foundation in Toronto.
Jane moved to Vancouver in 1968, but in 1972 was forced to return to Toronto for economic reasons. She was back in Vancouver within a year. In 1974 she began an active volunteer career and for many years thereafter she was engaged in community work in the Kitsilano area. She worked on volunteer activities with organizations such as the Kitsilano Neighbourhood Association. She served on the Local Area Planning Committee, the Community Resources Board, and the Parents Book Committee, among others, bringing her expertise to numerous projects such as the development of local day care centres, seniors activities, and the production of a Rogers Cable documentary. Poor health in her later years curtailed these activities.
Ritchie, Frederick Arthur Reginald
Reginald Ritchie was born in Levis, Quebec. He worked in various eastern banks before heading west to work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. After a period in Alaska (1907), he eventually settled in Vancouver in 1910, where he established the Ritchie Contracting and Supply Company with his brother, Purves. He served in the Engineer Mechanical Division during World War I. After the war, he resumed his business career with his brother in Purves Ritchie Company and Ritchie Equipment Company, acting as Managing Director until 1961.
Gladys Ridler was a Vancouver writer and poet, writing on subjects relating to daily life, politics and current events. Many of these were published in "Letters to the Editor" sections of newspapers in the Lower Mainland.
Dallas Murray Richards was born in Vancouver, BC, on January 5, 1918. After losing an eye in an accident, he took up the clarinet with Arthur Delamont and was touring with the Kitsilano Boys Band by 1933. He began playing his own gigs in 1937 while still in high school. In 1940 he was given a permanent spot at Hotel Vancouver's Panorama Roof restaurant where he enjoyed a 25 year run with his band. Lorraine McAllister joined the band as a singer and married Richards in 1951. They had one daughter, Dallas Richards.
Fired from the Panorama Roof in 1965 because of a popular turn away from big band style music, Richards went to B.C.I.T. and completed a two year program in Hotel Management, thus embarking on a second career. He held positions in Canada and the United States at such places as U.B.C., the Century Plaza, the Georgia Hotel, and the Devonshire Hotel. During this time Richards continued to play the occasional gig and in 1982, as big band regained popularity, he released his first album in twelve years, Swing Is In, which was followed by a sequel within a year.
Among his other achievements, Richards was instrumental in forming and leading the B.C. Lions halftime entertainment band from the team s 1954 inception. He also participated in many benefit and fundraising events, including heavy involvement with the B.C. Variety Club, Tent 47, of which he was named Executive Director in 1984. He continued to play with his band well into his 90s.
Dal Richards passed away December 31, 2015, at the age of 97.
Clare (Clarence) Rhead was born in Vancouver and attended Templeton Junior High School, which published a history of Vancouver for the Jubilee Year 1936. Rhead joined the R.C.A.F. in the war and later became a purchasing agent at Park and Tilford, North Vancouver.
Ernie H. Reksten (1912-1997) was born in Edmonton AB, he moved to Vancouver in 1936 and lived there the rest of his life. Reksten was an avid amateur photographer.
Born in Vancouver May 30, 1917, William Reid worked as a draftsman during the 1940s and 1950s for Sterling Shipyards and B.C. Packers. In 1959 he opened his own business as a naval architect specializing in designs for coastal working vessels: fish boats, tugs, towboats, and patrol craft. His office at the foot of Cardero Street operated until his death Jan. 14, 1971.
Harry Rankin was born in Vancouver on May 8, 1920. The son of garment worker George Rankin, Harry Rankin grew up in East Vancouver's Mount Pleasant district, and was apprenticed to be a baker at age 14 1/2. In 1939, the 19 year old Rankin enlisted with the Seaforth Highlanders Infantry and departed for England in December of the same year. He served overseas until late 1944 and participated in the invasion of Sicily. As a war veteran Rankin was able to obtain a B.A. and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. He was called to the bar and opened his own law practice in 1950. Harry Rankin's involvement with civic politics began in the early 1950s when he joined the Grandview Ratepayers' Association. The first of many unsuccessful bids for election began in 1953 when he ran as an independent candidate for the School Board. In 1957 he decided City Council was a more appropriate arena for his ambitions. He contested aldermanic elections unsuccessfully every year until 1966, when he was finally elected. Rankin attributed his early electoral failures in part to the lack of the kind of organized support that an organized party could provide. In 1968 however, on the initiative of the Vancouver & District Labour Council, the Committee of Progressive Electors (C.O.P.E.) was formed. Rankin ran on the C.O.P.E. aldermanic slate in every election thereafter, and remained on City Council until November 1986. In 1986, he stood as C.O.P.E.'s mayoral candidate and lost to Gordon Campbell of the Non-Partisan Association (N.P.A.).
Besides the role of a lawyer and politician, Rankin was a social activist. Rankin advocated for tenant rights, the working class, Indigenous, Vancouver's downtown eastside, and many disadvantaged groups and individuals.
Harry Rankin passed away in 2002. Further biographical information, particularly about Rankin's career as a lawyer, is available in his autobiography, Rankin's Law: Recollections of a Radical, published by November House, Vancouver, 1975. In 2018, a documentary film, The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical, was produced by Teresa Alfeld, which traces the life and career of Harry Rankin.
Ramsey, Frederick A., Reverend Canon
Reverend Frederick Ramsey was born in England and came to Canada as a child. After being ordained in Ontario and subsequently serving in several B.C. locations, he was made Rector of St. Stephen's Anglican Church in West Vancouver in 1931. He was also Chaplain at Shaughnessy Hospital from 1949 to 1961. In 1965, he served on the Special Joint Committee on Skid Row Problems.
Joe Quan was born in Vancouver on May 18, 1931, the youngest son of the Gow Quan family who ran Parkview Produce on Robson Street. After graduating from King Edward High School, Quan continued his education at the University of British Columbia (UBC), earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1955. While at UBC, he took photographs for the Ubyssey newspaper and Totem yearbooks. Following graduation he founded Customcolor Labs and later on he went into real estate. In 1968 he became a Notary Public and subsequently founded the Associated Notaries business with George Tanco at Robson and Thurlow. Quan was active in many associations, including the Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons of B.C. and the Yukon, and was a founder of the Keystone of Life Foundation. In 1999 he chaired the organizing committee for the 50th reunion of the 1949 King Edward High School graduating class.
Quan met his wife Hilda Lei Ching in 1960, while on a trip to Hawaii, and the couple had three sons, Walter, Tom and Andy. He died on January 30, 2010.
George Puil is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, where he acquired Bachelor degrees in Arts and in Education. Puil was a 11-term City of Vancouver Councillor (1976-2002). Puil was initially elected to public office as Vancouver Parks Board Commissioner in 1962 and served on the board for 12 years, three of them as Chair. During Puil’s 26 years as an elected Councillor, he served on the City’s Property Endowment Fund Board, the Standing Committees of City Services and Budgets, and Planning and Environment, and represents Council on the Vancouver Athletic Commission and Vancouver Civic Theatres Board. Puil was the founding chair of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority and also served as the Chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)
In June, 2002, Puil was named Transit Advocate of the Year by the Canadian Urban Transit Association which recognized his contribution on public transit. In November, 2002, Puil received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of his public service.
Gordon Price was was born in 1949. He received his high school and university education in Victoria. In 1972, Price was one of the first people to be employed with the BC Legislature's Hansard. Next, undertaking some freelance writing and editing projects, he worked for the Tourism Ministry, BC Hydro, the Ministry of Forests (particularly ForesTalk magazine), and the Outdoor Recreation Council. In the early 1980s, he and his neighbours in Vancouver's West End established CROWE (Concerned Residents of the West End), an organization that lobbied government to address the problem of street prostitution. In 1983, the City's Social Planning Department hired him on short-term contract as West End Community Coordinator. In this role, he helped develop the West End Citizens Advisory Committee and acted as liaison between the Committee and various levels of government, with a view to improving the livability of the area. He was also a founding member of AIDS Vancouver (1983) and served as its Information and Education Officer from 1985 to 1986.
Price was elected to Vancouver City Council in 1986, where he served as a councillor until 2002. During this time, he participated on various Council standing committees, commissions, and task forces concerning finance, transportation, land use, and the environment. He also sat on the board of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and was appointed to the first board of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (TransLink).
After leaving City Council, Gordon Price continued to explore issues of urban development and transportation, writing and lecturing in Canada and the United States. He has participated in such organizations as the International Centre for Sustainable Cities and Northwest Environment Watch. He has also taught at the University of British Columbia s School of Community and Regional Planning. He serves as director of the CITY Program for Simone Fraser University.
Mary Frances Pratt is a Canadian painter specialising in still life realist paintings.
Mary Frances Pratt was born 15 March 1935 in Fredericton, New Brunswick and resides and works in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Lewis Popham worked at Imperial Oil in Ioco, where he was also a Justice of the Peace.
Margaret Pooley was born in Seattle, Washington January 4, 1914. Her family moved to Dollarton in 1924. When her father was killed at the Dollarton Mill in 1930, the family moved to Point Grey where they lived with her grandmother. She has lived in Vancouver ever since.
Richard Pollay was born in New Britain, Connecticut and was educated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Chicago. In 1970, he accepted a teaching position at the University of British Columbia School of Business (now the Sauder School of Business), where he achieved the rank of Full Professor in 1986.
Since 1976, Professor Pollay has been the Curator of the History of Advertising Archives at the Sauder School of Business. In 2001, Professor Pollay became an Emeritus Professor of the School.
William Pleming was a native of Porbus, Cornwall. He came to Vancouver in 1889 and in 1893 married Kate Hawker of Exeter, Devon. Pleming organized the first Labour Day Parade in Vancouver in 1890. He was a member of the South Vancouver School Board in 1911 and served as Health and Sanitation Officer for the Municipality of South Vancouver. After amalgamation he served with the Vancouver Health and Sanitary Department. Pleming also founded the South Vancouver Horticultural Society.
C.T.W. Piper was a building contractor originally from England who settled in Vancouver in 1898.
Born in England, Hilda Pinder-Moss worked from 1929 to 1948 as assistant secretary to the Mayor. In 1966, she was appointed Secretary to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into The Invasion of Privacy. She was a member of the Vancouver Natural History Association. She was married to John Frederick Samuel Pinder-Moss and they divorced.
James Pilkington was a resident of Auckland, New Zealand. In 1906 he corresponded with his nephew, Alf J. Pilkington, who had recently taken up residence in Vancouver and been employed as an accountant to the City.
Francis Pilkington was born January 5, 1903 in Sydney, Australia, the second son of Alfred James Pilkington, Controller of the City of Vancouver. He attended King George High School and the University of British Columbia (ca. 1925-1928). He was a member of the Irish Fusiliers and served during World War II, mainly at the Esquimalt Recruit Training Depot where he attained the rank of Captain. He was actively involved in a variety of conservative political groups. He worked as a carpenter. He died March 4, 1990.
William Pierce was born in Vancouver. He worked as a cabinet maker, and was active in the trade union movement, in community affairs, and in politics. After his retirement, he was involved in a seniors' group and the Mount Pleasant Community Centre.
Hugh Pickett was born in Vancouver on April 11th, 1913 to Mr. and Mrs. Fred J. Pickett. He was raised in Vancouver, mainly growing up in Marpole and later in Kerrisdale, where he lived for most of his life.
Pickett was hired as an usher at the Colonial Theatre in 1928, through an introduction by Pat Prowd. He worked there from ages 15 to 18. In the early 1930's he started working for Dingwall Cotts Steamship Co., where his father was the manager, until approximately 1939.
In 1939 Pickett received a ticket for a trip around the world on an ocean liner through his father’s company. He traveled the world for 14 months and then returned to Vancouver. Pickett was drafted on August 6th 1942. This didn’t curb his love for the arts; he was invited to attend the 1942 Academy Awards, where he appeared in his army uniform. He served in the Canadian Army until 1945. During the war he worked as the secretary to Brigadier Langdon in charge of the Pacific command under General Pearks. He worked out of an office in the old Vancouver Hotel for four years.
Post-war, Pickett began working as a press agent for Hilker Attractions in [1946]. In 1950 Gordon Hilker left the business to move east and Hugh Pickett along with Holly Maxwell (the assistant to Gordon Hilker before running Famous Artists with Hugh) took over the company and re-named it Famous Artists Ltd. Pickett was Company Manager from 1947 until 1964. Famous Artists Ltd. was “an artistic management enterprise dedicated to sponsoring appearances by artists and by ballet and theatre companies in Vancouver and Victoria.”
During this time Pickett became heavily involved with Theatre Under the Stars and was the manager from 1952 until 1954. He acted as the manager for Marlene Dietrich for 12 years in the 1960’s and 70’s. Over the years Pickett brought hundreds of famous actors, musicians and performers to Vancouver and secured Vancouver’s spot on many international tours. He also was a leader in the campaign to save the Orpheum Theatre in the 1970’s.
Pickett sold Famous Artists Ltd. to Jerry Lonn in Seattle in the mid 1980’s. After selling Famous Artists Ltd. Pickett wrote a weekly column in The West Ender, was a regular on CKNW radio and worked with the Vancouver Youth Theatre and the Arts Club Theatre. Pickett was awarded the Order of Canada on December 29, 1986 for his involvement with Theatre Under the Stars and work developing Vancouver’s cultural and artistic community.
Hugh Pickett died in Vancouver on February 13th, 2006.
Alexander Philip was a real estate agent, barrister and notary public who worked in Vancouver at the turn of the century. He had come from Glasgow, Scotland. Philip had several real estate companies between 1898 and 1904. He also served as the Clerk of the Municipality of North Vancouver from 1902, the Business manager of the B.C. Presbyterian and the B.C. Trade Budget and was Secretary for the Richmond Farmers' Institute.
Cerise Phair was born in England and immigrated to Canada, settling in Lillooet. She was the wife of Caspar Phair and the mother of of Arthur William Armit Phair and Herbert Lewis Phair of Lillooet.
Caspar Phair emigrated from Ireland and settled in Lillooet in 1877. He was Lillooet's first Gold Commissioner. He was the husband of Cerise Phair and father of Arthur William Armit Phair and Herbert Lewis Phair of Lillooet. he built a large residence in Lilliooet that he named Longford House.
A.W. A. ("Artie") Phair was a merchant, coroner and amateur photographer who lived in Lillooet, B.C. He was the son of Caspar and Cerise Phair, and brother of Herbert Lewis Phair of Lillooet.
Roy Eric Peterson, OC, was a Canadian editorial cartoonist who drew for The Vancouver Sun from 1962 to 2009.