Gene and Opal Bourgeois

Burla (Bourgeois) Ryan

Burla, a daughter of Gene and Opal Bourgois, was interviewed on the 23^rd of April 2008. This interview began with a look at an old group picture of Forest Grove residents. The picture was undated but may have been taken about 1955. The people in the picture were Dorothy Devore, Bob Bourgeois (aka Bobby), Neil Clark, Polly Tubbs, Gordon Tubbs, Gene Bourgeois and Opal Bourgeois. Burla mentioned that Dorothy Devore and her mother were killed in a car accident in the Fraser Canyon while on their way to visit her sister, Eleanor.

Burla (Bourgeois) Ryan - 2008

Burla’s first name is actually Opal as she was named for her mother but it wasn’t practical to have two Opals in the house so her second name was adopted. She was born in Williams Lake 19 April 1926. Her mother went ahead of time to await the birth. She was the middle child of three. Cache, her brother, was 2 ½ years older and brother Bob (Bobbie) a couple of years younger.

The Bourgeois children at their Forest Grove home north of the Phillips place. Left to right: Cache, Bob and Burla.

The barn in the background stood in the field for many years before Bob Bourgeois burned it down as it had become a danger to livestock.

She recalls at about the age of 3 living in their one of their Forest Grove homes in an area to the north of the Maud place at Forest Grove. (Robert White recalls the barn that sat on this property and the day that her brother Bobby burned it down – with intent - as it as in poor repair and a hazard to the cattle.)The first home was the old Casper place located on the right hand side of Eagle Creek road about ¼ of a mile from the Becker Lake ranch. It was located across the road from Mrs. Richards place. There is nothing left to indicate that there had been any dwellings in this location. Polly Tubbs later lived in the same area on the east side of the road. In 1936 or 1937 the Bourgeois moved to a log home which was located on the left hand side of the road at the corner of Wilcox and Eagle Creek roads. Life as neighbours of the Richards did not always go smoothly as the two families both drew water from Gene Bourgeois’ well. The Richards left the lid off the well, contrary to explicit instructions, with the result that a heifer went into the well and a new well had to be dug in the spring.

At that time Emile Becker would have owned what later became the Devore place just up the road on the right hand side. Two of the original buildings are still there, the remains of a store and a small cabin built of boards. This cabin has in recent years been extensively rebuilt although it retains its original size and shape. Burla’s memory of Emile Becker and his son Albert was that they had brought the very first radio she had seen to the Bourgeois home and they had all listened to the news broadcast announcing the death of King George V in 1936. (20 January 1936)

Original Bourgeois land grant - SW quarter of lot 2937

On another occasion Mr. Phillip King, a World War I veteran, who had been assisted by Gene and Opal came to the Bourgeois place with his wagon and a team of horses to deliver a gramophone “His Masters Voice.” He gave this to Burla and stated, “This is for you girlie.” This same Philip King wanted to leave his property to Gene who was quite reluctant to accept this favour. When Gene refused on principle King said that he would leave it to Cache instead. Philip King had no relatives and later shot himself in the head. Gene went down and cleaned up his place after this unhappy event.

Among the very many other recollections of Burla were the following:

Thomas John Auld the oldest son of the Auld family was accidently killed by a gunshot. He had gone to get the cattle and was carrying his .22 rifle. It was loaded and cocked with the result that it discharged as he was making his way through a barbed wire and he shot himself in the head. Roger McDougall got lost behind the McDougall place one fall when he was out hunting squirrels. His father found him but young Roger was not strong enough to walk out. A fire was built and father went for help when he returned Roger had died of hypothermia.

Frank White lived down on Hawkins Lake. He had trained to be a doctor but managed to get drunk when he was to write the exam. The Duke family lived on the old Eratt place. The 160 acres was sold to them for $500. One of her memories of me (Robert White) was when I was 3 or 4 years oldon a day when she had come to visit. Madelene was sitting in the front room of the lodge and I was sitting on her lap. Madelene was apparently unwell and was in tears. Needless to say I do not recall this event.) Fred Humpage was a very grumpy old man. She went once to visit him with her uncle to get a rabbit. Mr. Humpage was sitting eating eggs in front of his very rustic cabin, located not far from the Wolf place. He later returned to England where apparently he had a wife and family. Kitty Williams once told her of a visit she made to the home of Herman Wolf with Bob Parkin. It seems that Mrs. Wolf had fainted and was in need of medical assistance. Bob Parkin was a qualified first aid man and the only imediate medical help for many miles.

She remembered when Garth Lloyd got engaged to Margaret Carlsen. Margaret was a teacher at the Forest Grove school and now resides in Williams Lake. Bert, Garth’s brother, had asked her to a dance at Canim Lake so they all went. Both Bert and Garth are deceased. She recalls that during the Depression the relief cheques would be placed in an envelope which in turn was passed to Gene Bourgeois who distributed them. This may have been because of his status as a veteran and he may also have been to remove the process from the post office which was a very public place. Some families were quite upset about this and would not speak to the Bourgeois’. Opal Bourgeois (Burla's Mother) was employed for a time as a field nurse and was responsible for dispensing medicines to the Indians on the reserve. Burla had gone with her to the Decker home and her mother had asked her not to come in the house, however, she looked in and remembers seeing an old lady lying on the floor covered by a grey blanket. She was dipping bread into a drink in a metal cup and then putting it in her mouth. Burla recalls Annie Bryce (Maggie Wilcox’s sister) who had recently arrived from Scotland and was selling “goodies” from her suitcase. Annie later married a Hutchinson and went to live in the Chilcotin. In a similar context she recalls Maggie and Harry Wilcox visiting them with their new baby, Sheila, and Maggie asked her if she would like to hold the baby. She could not recall if she took up this offer or not. It seems that she had some advance notice of the visit because she remembers her mother setting the table as Maggie and Harry were coming for lunch. A very vivid memory was an illness suffered by her mother. There was no help available other than Mrs. Richards whose qualifications were somewhat dubious. Dr. McRae eventually came down from Williams Lake and diagnosed a strangulated hernia and insisted that she (Opal Bourgeois) be taken immediately to Kamloops where surgery was performed to remove a foot of the bowel.

Gene Bourgeois ca. 1916

Eugene Joseph Bourgeois was born at St Albert near Crysley, Ontario 28 August 1886. He was of French Canadian background and, as might be expected, spoke fluent French. He had been badly wounded in both the arm and the leg and Burla recalls a scar on his neck where “a German shot him.” He did not, however, speak a great deal about his military service other than to remark that the conditions in the trenches had been terrible. Burla thought that he had seen service at both Vimy Ridge (1917) and Passchendaele (1917). He was in Shaugnessy Hospital for a year recovering from his wounds following his return from overseas. Burla does not recall him mentioning any other men who had gone overseas from the area in World War I. In 1926 Gene (Eugene Bourgeois) became the road foreman was responsible for the road all the way to 100 Mile House but he was otherwise a farmer. He did, however, receive a small pension of $9 a month for his World War I service.

Eugene Bourgeois' World War I attestation document dated 25 May 1916. He was unmarried and living at Canim Lake.

Burla’s mother was born Opal Hunter in Mangum, Oklahoma and grew up on a cattle ranch in the “Cherokee Strip.” The Cherokee Outlet, more often referred to as the Cherokee Strip, was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma, in the United States. It was a sixty-mile (97 km) wide strip of land south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border between the 96th and 100th meridians. It was about 225 miles (362 km) long and in 1891 contained 8,144,682.91 acres (32,960 km²) The Cherokee Strip was, in actuality, a two mile strip running along the northern border of much of the Cherokee Outlet and which was the result of a surveying error.

Opal Hunter Bourgeois

She recalled a very tragic accident involving a loaded revolver in the pocket of her grandfather’s coat. Her grandmother (Pearl Hunter) was wearing the coat and when the revolver banged the stair rail it discharged and killed her. (This story is not really germane to Forest Grove history and it is unclear who it was that actually died, as there is also mention of a 3 ^1/2 year old child. Suffice it to say that all involved were devastated and it resulted in the family eventually resettling in the Cache Creek area not far from Ashcroft.) Apparently grandfather Hunter made his living by teaching English to Chinese residents of Ashcroft. Opal Hunter, Burla’s mother, eventually found her way to the Cariboo where she met and married Eugene Joseph Bourgeois in 1922. Gene (Eugene) 16 years older than his wife. Following their marriage they settled in the old Casper Place on Eagle Creek Road. Their first child Eugene Cache Bourgeois was born 23 September 1923. Burla followed in 1926 and Robert Gates Bourgeois on 14 December 1929.

She remembers that her brother Cache was a great squirrel hunter and that he made the stretchers for the skins. These finished hides were sold to the Forest Grove store. Cache was called up in 1942 and had initially joined the Seaforth Highlanders in Calgary, Alberta. Cache was killed overseas in 1944 while serving with the Regina Rifles. At the time Burla was working at Mac & Mac in Vancouver and she remembers seeing the elevator door open and her landlady and uncle step out. She knew why they were there. She went home to Forest Grove for two weeks to be with her parents.

Eugene Cache Bourgeois

The message of Cache’s death arrived at the Forest Grove post office and everyone looked at everyone else to see who would deliver it to the Bourgeois family. It was Maggie Wilcox who took on the task. Burla says that her mother did not cry but that her father went to pieces. It seems that Maggie Wilcox was a little superstitious and remarked that when Opal had painted her door green she knew that something terrible was going to happen. Burla’s remembers Maggie an outspoken woman who did not put up much nonsense even to the point of giving her brother in law Jack a good tongue lashing for pinching a handful of raisins out of her kitchen.

Casualty Details

The following letters were written by Cache to Jack Wilcox in 1943 and 1944.

Following the death of Cache Gene and Opal went to Vancouver for a time and lived in an apartment. They eventually returned to Forest Grove.

Another young man who went overseas from the Forest Grove area was Henry Smith. His Aunt was Mrs. Biss. The community held a dance for him prior to his departure. Burla never saw him again until a few weeks ago when quite by accident she encountered him in Haney. Oliver Bates also from the Forest Grove area went overseas and was killed in action. (I could see no mention of either of these two casualties in the Forest Grove Legion which is an oversight that should be remedied.)

A number of the local natives served overseas in World War II but Burla was unsure of their names. She did recall that Sammy Archie, George Archie’s son, met and married a woman from Scotland. After the war she came out to where Sammy was living at the “Halfway.” Dorothy McNeil brought her in from the 100 Mile and she took one look at Sammy’s house and had Dorothy take her back to the “100.” In the same context she mentioned Peter Ogden and the wife he married while overseas in World War I. She came out to Lac La Hache after the war and was somewhat taken aback by the Ogden clan. She went to bed for 3 weeks and never once got up. She did, however, stay.

Bob Bourgeois

Bob or Bobby as she recalled him was a “busy boy” and after the death of his older brother, in Burla's opinion, was quite spoiled by his parents. There had been some suggestion that Mrs. Richards would act as midwife at Bobby’s delivery but Opal Bourgeois decided that Mrs. Richards did not know enough about midwifery and opted for the Williams Lake Hospital. This was just as well as his was a breach birth. He was gifted musically and played both the piano and the accordion mostly by ear. (He once played the accordion at one of my birthday parties.) He was also trained as a hospital orderly and worked in Shaugnessy and George Derby Hospitals. In Forest Grove he helped his dad clear their land and skidded logs out of the bush. He was an outgoing friendly person. (My other memory of Bobby was the winter night that the Bourgeois home burned down. He escaped from a window and ran from the Bourgeois place all the way to our place at Forest Grove in his bare feet. It was – 40 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Burla did all of her early education in Forest Grove and remembers the names of many of her teachers. There was a Miss Blackman who was a relative of the Jens family of Canim Lake. A Mr. Dicksen came for a year. George Briscow stayed for 3 years. There was also a Miss Jenner who boarded with the Phillips family at Forest Grove. In grade 9 at the age of thirteen Burla went to Vancouver at enrolled at North Burnaby High School. She did not, however, complete her high school and returning to Forest Grove found a job at Canim Lake working for the Cruikshanks at Shangrla Lodge for $30 a month. She saw this as good money and remembers ordering new clothes and shoes from a catalogue. Burla recalls that her close friends in Forest Grove were Joyce and Pat Phillips and Pauline Richards. Sheila Wilcox was younger but sometimes stayed overnight at the Bourgeois place. She later married George Cruikshank and had a daughter, Bonnie. The Cruikshank place was located on Eagle Bay on Canim Lake. She was 22 years old when she married and Bonnie was born when she was 25. Burla and George lived for a time with the Cruikshanks but Burla later got a job at 100 Mile House as a telephone operator. She had been in the Forest Grove Store on day when Archer White mentioned the availability of this job. She went home and thought about it and shortly after was employed by the BC Government Telephone Service. She only had the one child but now has both grandchildren and great grandchildren. Bonnie married a Willis. Burla’s eldest grandchild Steven Willis died 11 years ago of Berkitts disease a rare lymph gland cancer. Bonnie’s daughter Shannon is married and has 4 boys.

Burla with her daughter Bonnie and the Cruikshank family at Canim Lake. Her husband, George, is on the far right of the picture.

Rear: Bob Bourgeois, Neil Clark, Polly Tubbs, Gordon Tubbs. Front: Dorothy Devore, Gene Bourgeois, Opal Bourgeois