Courtenay Pioneers

A talk prepared by Susan Linda Williams July 2016

A Brief History of the Courtenay Ward

I have really enjoyed preparing this talk and I am thankful for the opportunity to share my stroll down memory lane. I was asked to speak about the pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Comox Valley.

The first conversion to Mormonism on Vancouver Island took place in 1887. That’s 129 years ago and no, it wasn’t me. How it happened remains a mystery, there having been as yet no missionaries sent to the island. But in the autumn of 1887 Anthony Maitland Stenhouse, member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for the Comox constituency, announced his intention to join the Mormons, resigned his seat in the legislature, and soon took up residence in the infant Mormon colony at Cardston in the Northwest Territories (this is now called Cardston, Alberta) where he was baptized by Charles Ora Card and became a prominent citizen until 1891 when he returned to Great Britain, his original home. (Robert J. McCue, Ensign, April 1976). It would not be until the 1950s that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would again emerge in the Comox Valley.

I have been associated with the Courtenay Ward my whole life. I took time away to go to university, get married, put Neal through school, follow the jobs, have babies,etc. However, to my knowledge, I am the only active, original member of the Courtenay Ward still living here.

In the beginning there were two founding fathers… oh wait, they weren’t founding fathers, they were founding mothers. Their names are; Cora Hansen, who worked in the town of Comox as a librarian, and Beth Britton, who is my mother.  Her journal records, “In the 1950s we were a Home Sunday School, dependant on the Nanaimo Branch (Canada Vancouver Mission History), and we discovered, as did the Nephites of old, “… that we lived after the manner of happiness.” (2 Nephi 5: 27) For as the Lord says in Matthew 18:20; “…where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Beth Emma Hardy Britton)  

The Lord provided priesthood leadership through the influx of military service men, who came with their families and added tremendous strength. A few of these military families were the Symchych, Douglas, Metge, Kern, Tillack, Schow, Barrick and Wannamaker.  

Initially we were too small to be a branch, so I guess we were… a twig. But over the years missionaries came and went and our little twig grew. On the 29 October 1961, when I was 4 years old, we were organized into the Comox Branch. (Canada Vancouver Mission History) The members I recall from my early childhood are: Bill and Faye Metge and their four children, Bob and Mary Vonarx and their four girls,Anne Jordon and her three daughters, Irene Kern and her daughter Elise (who is now my sister-in-law), and Fern Berg who lived all the way up in Campbell River.She and her three children would travel to the Comox Valley each week formeetings.

My Mother also wrote, “Back in the early days, we didn’t have a chapel. For our Sunday meetings we would gather at a member’s home. As our branch grew we then moved to meet at the Fallen Alders community hall in Royston.” (Beth Emma Hardy Britton)  

Elise Kern Britton sends; “One of my first memories of church in Courtenay was at the Fallen Alders Hall. I think it was in the late spring or summer of 1960. It was a warm day so the big doors had been opened to let some air through. As we were singing one of the hymns a bird flew in and was frantically swooping around us in its efforts to find its way out. I remember we all stopped singing but Sis. Cora Hansen kept on playing the piano so the chorister went back to leading the music. A few other voices joined in and continued the hymn as some of the brethren used their suit coats to shoo the bird out the door. As a 5 year old, I thought it was the best Sacrament Meeting ever!” (Elise Clara Kern Britton)

Later on we met at the Knights of Pythias Hall in Comox. I can remember arriving early to help clean up the beer bottles and rubbish left over from a party that had happened the night before. My Sunday School class was held in the cloak room.

In small branches everyone gets to serve the Lord.  As Pres. Hinkley’s father said, “Forget yourself and go to work.” (Ensign June 2006) That’s just what the members of the fledgling branch did. I was the sacrament chorister from the time I was 10 years old until I left for university.  When I was 16, I was called to be the Primary chorister as well. Sister Hansen was the Branch pianist for many, many years. Sister Vonarx was my primary teacher and Sunday School teacher. Every year she graduated to the next age group along with her students. I can remember being so excited when I was finally old enough to join the youth class and leave the cloak room behind.  It was a little sad to say goodbye to Sister Vonarx though.

The dream of having our own chapel was not achieved easily. But “… by small means the Lord can bring about great things.” (1 Nephi 16:29)

My brother, Ed, sends this memory.

“Of course, we dreamed of the day when we would have our own church meeting house. In those days, local members were responsible for raising a certain portion of the cost of building. Donald Douglas, our Branch President at that time, negotiated a contract with local grocery chains to deliver their flyers door to door, and the proceeds would be saved to meet our portion of the cost of building a chapel.

Our family was assigned to deliver flyers in the northwest corner of Courtenay, in the region of Puntledge Park. It was a weekly duty that we attended to after school. We drove into Courtenay to the Bill Metge home on the corner of 5th Street and Willemar Avenue, across from Lake Trail School. Each member of the family had their own sub-route. Our sub-routes took about the same time, and we would end up meeting together by the railroad tracks just above Puntledge Park.

We got to know the friendly people, and their pets. We learned to do the work in all seasons and in every kind of weather. We usually didn't think of our 'end goal,' but got into the routine and just did it on our assigned day.

Eventually, after many years of labour, our Branch had saved our portion and the result was the meeting house that the Courtenay Ward is in today. It was a lesson in perseverance, working together and saving that stayed with many members, young and old. The project was a simple thing, but brought us together as a Branch and blessed us and generations that followed with a beautiful church meeting house.” (Edwin Wesley Britton)

The Church purchased the land our chapel now stands on many years before the building was constructed. But there was great excitement with this tangible evidence of our hopes and efforts. This parcel of land is quite large and so there have been many dreams of not only a chapel in Courtenay but of a Temple on Vancouver Island at this central location. There’s always something to work toward.

When I was 14, the branch decided to grow corn and potatoes on this property. This was a huge undertaking. Thank goodness for Brother Vonarx, the dairy farmer. He knew what crops we should grow and how to cultivate them. He had all the agricultural equipment to prepare and maintain our fields and crops. Even with all his heavy equipment, it was still a lot of hard work. All the weeding and watering were done by hand and most of the harvesting too. The produce was at least 100 times what the local membership could have used, so we sold it to local grocery stores. We also had a stall at Market Days were we sold corn on the cob. These work projects lasted for many years after our chapel was erected.

I remember one year as we harvested the corn, we stuffed the cobs in burlap sacks and left them in the rows to be collected later.  When we came back to gather the sacks people kept getting lost in the field. I’m a bit of a walking GPS so I was assigned to keep track of where the sacks were, where the people were and how to get both back to the waiting trucks. Fortunately we didn’t lose anyone.

The members in our tiny branch did what they could to help each other. Bill and Faye Metge had a cherry tree in their yard.  They would pick what they could use and then invite the members to harvest what remained.  One year Faye caught some youth from Lake Trail School, which was across the street, stealing her cherries.  Being a mother of large teenage boys she didn’t hesitate for an instant.  She rushed into her yard, picked a boy up by the seat of his pants and threw him over her fence. We were all so proud of her.

Lois Tillack was the manager of a local department store.  Each year she would hire the branch to inventory the store as a fund raiser.  We worked hard at this assignment but I can remember pausing to try on a few things that appealed to me. I even went back the next day and purchased a couple of items.

Being a dairy farmer meant that Brother Vonarx still had chores to do before church on Sundays. One summer the brethren decided that they would all meet at the farm and help with the chores.  They had so much fun driving tractors and bossing cows around.  After about three weeks Brother Vonarx had to ask them not to come anymore because it took so much longer to do the chores when they came to help.

Life was not all work and no play for our little branch. I can remember many Christmas parties and other celebrations held in the basement of the Native Son’s Hall. Primary choirs, Nativity plays, youth skits, branch dinners and sing-a-longs. Our mothers and fathers would plan and teach all the children their parts in the entertainment. They would build the sets, sew the costumes, gather supplies and then come and be our audience as we performed the fruits of their labors. There was always a big dinner afterwards. In the summer there were many baseball games played at local parks and we would gather once a year at Kin Beach for potato sack races, wheel barrow races, foot races and lots of yummy pot luck food.

When I was young, Primary wasn’t held on Sunday. We met on Wednesdays after school at a member’s home. Sister Jordon lived in the old train station and we often met there.  There was an old pump organ in their home. We all took turns pumping the bellows so that Sister Metge could play the songs while we sang. Sister Metgealso had us in her home.  I can remember saving pennies for the Primary Children’s Hospital, learning my Articles of Faith and singing songs like “My Grandmother’s Old Fashioned Garden,” Reverently, Quietly” and “Primary Children Sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked.”

Because we didn’t have a chapel back then, we obviously didn’t have a baptismal font. So I was baptized in the ocean just off of Point Holmes.  I remember the tide was pretty far out and Brother Simmons and I had to pick a path through the rocksfor a long way to get to water deep enough to dunk me. Everyone else stood on the shore so it felt like it was just Brother Simmons and me out there. I also remember that it was windy and cold and my towel was back on the shore with my mother!

Youth activities were always exciting. We lived in Cumberland so I didn’t always get to attend, especially in the winter. However, I can remember riding my bike in good weather the six miles from Cumberland to Courtenay and home again to attend Mutual activities. It didn’t seem like much of a challenge then but now I think differently. My most memorable activity began one evening as we met at the Vonarx farm where we had a scavenger hunt. The item that was the hardest to get was 1 pint of milk fresh out of a cow in the field.  First you had to catch the cow and then convince her to let you milk her.  Betty and Gwen Vonarx had no problem catching and milking a cow but the rest of us were pretty comical.

Missionary work was handled a little differently then. The missionaries still did their tracting and the members still talked to their friends. But we also built many 1st of July parade floats in the Metge garage. I can remember work parties where the young children, like me, made hundreds of tissue paper flowers to cover the float.  As we walked in the parade we handed out tracts, the old version of pass along cards. Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage displays were organized and presented for the community, with the members in full pioneer costume. Our branch also hosted Missionary Open Houses and invited the community to attend.

Finally the day which had been dreamed of for many years arrived. The first phase of our chapel was built. It was dedicated in 1973. I can remember singing “Bless This House” at the chapel dedication. I was 16 years old. It was a very small building consisting of the Primary room, a furnace room, the kitchen, which was also the library, two bathrooms and a couple of classrooms. You can still see the demarcations of the first building phase where the original ceiling joins with the new. Look in the hallway as you go to your classes today.

Many missionaries were sent to serve in the Comox Valley area.  Though I was still a young Primary child, I remember one in particular, Elder Gary Session. A few years after his release, Patricia Metge met him again at BYU. They dated and were soon married. The first temple marriage for the Comox Saints.  As the children of our small Branch grew up, the branch was blessed to have all 8 young men serve missions and eventually there were 18 temple marriages.

As it is in all wards members come and go. However, we must have a special appeal because people who leave keep returning.  We can see them here today. Sister Kath Creaser, Morris and Jane Kotyluk, and Larry and Janet Pedersen, who have moved here about 17 times, to name just a few. How blessed we are that each of them have returned to the best Ward in the Church.

I have witnessed the evolution of our Courtenay Ward and the growth of the Church on Vancouver Island. My blessing certificate documents me as a member of the Western Canadian Mission. My baptismal certificate (7 years later) showsme as a member of the Alaskan Canadian Mission. Then on the 9 February 1975 (10 years later), the Victoria Stake was organized. (Robert J. McCue, Ensign, April 1976) Just six week later the man I would eventually marry in the Salt Lake Temple, left Victoria to serve a mission from this newly organized stake. 22 years later on the 26 October 1997 the Nanaimo Stake was organized and on the 2 May 2010 the Vancouver British Columbia Temple was dedicated. (ldschurchtemples.com/statistics) A treasured moment in time for the saints of this area.

There are many who continue to be pioneers in our Ward and throughout the world. Courageous people who hear the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and embrace it. It is through our sacrifices and trials that the Lord will prove us. Nephi recorded these words of Jesus Christ, “For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (1 Nephi 20:10)  The early saints in the ComoxValley were brave and steadfast. They met their challenges with cheerfulness, hard work, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and determination. They provided a strong example and laid for us a solid foundation on which to stand.  May we continue in their traditions of love, work and faith.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.