In a ceremony blessed by an eagle soaring high overhead, the Town of Gibsons installed a new cairn and buried a time capsule at Brothers Memorial Park on Tuesday, April 6 - almost 19 years to the day since the originals vanished without a trace.
By the time the 1995 issue of the Gibsons Outlook newspaper reported on the "case of the missing cairn," the original two-ton boulder complete with bronze plaque commemorating the construction of the park as a 1967 Canadian centennial project and adjacent 20-foot flagpole had all been missing for a decade. Former Gibsons rural centennial committee secretary Bernice Chamberlin, as a member of the group that spearheaded the park's construction along with the Kiwanis Club, was also present at the June, 1967 dedication ceremony.
It was Chamberlin who first noticed the landmark's disappearance in 1985 during a stroll down Park Road. It went missing in the confusion of the construction of a new water line to the park, a new paved parking area and a new playing field.
"Everybody thought the cairn was just moved for safekeeping and would be brought back when the park was fixed up," said former Kiwanis executive Bill Wright.
When months and years passed without the cairn's re-appearance, he started sleuthing. "We've looked high and low. We went to the museum, municipal hall, council and village work crews. They all remember they had to move it when the water line was brought to the park. They just can't remember what happened to it after that," Wright said.
Believing that the cairn, plaque, time capsule and flagpole were bulldozed during construction of the water line and are now fill under the concession booth, Wright and Chamberlin refused to allow the matter to be buried. They amassed a thick file of newspaper clippings, correspondence and photographs that detailed the park's history, starting with the Jackson Brothers' original 16-acre donation. They regularly visited Town staff and councillors, explaining the mystery to subsequent administrations and requesting replacements for the historic items.
Their persistence paid off.
Wright and Chamberlin smiled triumphantly as they lowered their replacement time capsule into place next to the newly-installed cairn, a two-ton egg-shaped boulder donated by Fiedler Construction.
The PVC capsule was loaded with much of Wright's collection of yellowed newspaper clippings and documents, a copy of the current Coast Reporter, a Gibsons 75th anniversary pin, Town Toonie and other commemorative coins, photos and a copy of the original 1967 letter.
The cairn, sporting an exact replica of the original commemorative plaque, will be the centrepiece of a colourful concrete plaza (incorporating the 1967 Centennial symbol) flanked by gardens, with two flagpoles and eventually two memorial benches.
Town of Gibsons director of parks and aquatics Wendy Gilbertson estimated that the Brothers Memorial Park entry plaza will be completed in late May or early June, when a formal rededication ceremony will be scheduled.
