Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives is delighted to invite the community to the launch of Women of Pender Harbour: Their Voices, Their History next Saturday, Oct. 23, from 2 to 4 p.m.
The coast of British Columbia is indented by inlets where early logging and fishing families established independent settlements in the wilderness. Women of Pender Har-bour presents part of B.C.'s history through the words of the early women settlers of one of these coastal villages.
Modern Pender Har-bour, today a thriving community of 2,500, was for much of the 20th century a place that tested the courage and ingenuity of its women. The book contains life stories of women who laid the foundations of the community, such as Thawquamot Theresa Jeffries, a Shishalh girl sold into marriage to one of the first English settlers; her daughter Mary Ann Rouse, the Harbour midwife in the '20s; and her granddaughter Martha Warnock, who fought the government to get a road to school for Harbour children.
The Pender Harbour Living Heritage Society, a voluntary non-profit group working to preserve the history of the Pender Harbour area, published the book. The book began with an idea by members of the Pender Harbour Women's Connection group to honour local women pioneers. After nine years of work by volunteers conducting interviews and gathering information and photographs, project leader Dorothy Faulkner, writer Elaine Park and graphics editor Cathy Jenks have woven the recollections of more than 40 pioneer women into a colourful tapestry of remembrance.
Faulkner, Park and Jenks will read selections, share stories and discuss their research during the launch. Join them for some lively conversation and refreshments. Copies of the book will be available in the gift shop; admission is by donation.
For more information, contact the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives at 604-886-8232 or see www.sunshinecoastmuseum.ca.
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