| Number 12 | December 1, 2000 |
BECK HOUSE RESTORATION STORY NOW IN PRINT
People interested in the restoration of old homes can now read about the work being done on the Beck House in Guernsey Cove. Information about it is contained in a new book, "The Resourceful Renovator," that promotes the advantages and benefits of restoring old homes and recycling building materials. The author is Jennifer Corson of Halifax, owner of a recycling business, Renovators Resource. Ms. Corson is also an architect and host of her own television show on home renovation.
She kept an eye on the move of the Beck House up the road to the Brehaut property and maintained contact with Lorin Brehaut, Jr., and his wife, Sandra Strain, who are restoring the house. (For more about the work, see the lead story in our Feb. 2000 issue) Sandra says the back cover of the book has a picture, like the one here, of the house on a flat bed truck as it was being moved. There are a couple of other pictures of the house in the chapter devoted to building reuse.
Information about the book:
Title: The Resourceful Renovator
Author: Jennifer Corson
"8x10" format
176 pages paperback
Price: $28.95 CAD
ISBN 1-55263-292-X
November 2000
Key Porter Books in Canada (corporate sales) 1-416-862-2304
Chelsea Green Publishing in US at 1-802-295-6300
I checked to see if the Chapters chain in Dartmouth or Halifax stocked the book. They don't but it's available on special order with delivery in 4 to 6 weeks. However their price is $23.16, a 20% discount. Amazon.com offers the book in the United States at $19.96, a 20% discount from the list price of $24.95.
Meanwhile Sandra says work on the house is progressing. The outside renovations are nearly completed including shingling, new trim work, windows, and roof. The house needed a lot of tender loving care, and there was a lot to do, but "we are hoping to have all
exterior renovations completed by the end of this year."
Sanda says the next big project will involve inside work. "The walls and rooms have been partitioned
off, in preparation for electrical work, gyproc, plumbing, and heating.
We are taking our time but still hope to have things
completed within a year."
ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE
Eckhart, the Prince Edward Island field mouse, is off to see the world, or at least to entertain the world. You'll remember Eckhart from last year's tale, The True Meaning of Crumbfest, the children's Christmas story written by David Weale. (1.6A.4,6.2.1,) The book that became a holiday TV special is now being turned into a 13-part animated series on the Teletoon Network.
Kevin Gillis of Catalyst Entertainment in Toronto has already sold Eckhart to broadcasters in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Poland. It is currently being marketed in North and South America and Australia.
"I've worked on a number of television shows, and it's the first one since the Raccoons to come along with spiritual values, balanced with adventure and story telling. It's not filler for children's minds, it's just a wonderful show," Gillis told Sally Cole of The Guardian.
Eckhart's creator couldn't agree more. "I'm happy for Eckhart — he's an upwardly mobile little mouse," says David Weale.
"The thing that is unique about Eckhart ... is that he breaks through reality, to a bigger place, a bigger understanding and a bigger vision of things," David says. Even though he was very involved in writing the script for The True Meaning of Crumbfest and two other scripts for the series, including one with his son, Josh, he has relinquished future artistic control over the show. "I've let go, but at the same time I see Eckhart is in good hands, so I can rest easily."
The series means work for Island companies and actors. Gretha Rose of Cellar Door Productions in Charlottetown is a producer of the show, and 16 Islanders are doing the voices for the animated characters.
NEWS FROM THE PUMPKIN PATCH
The VanIderstine family of Victoria Cross, near Montague, appears to have more than its fair share of green thumbs.
You'll remember that last year Bill VanIderstine won top honours on Prince Edward Island with a pumpkin that weighed in at 851 pounds. This year Bill didn't do so well, but his wife, Elayne,(1.4.6.5,3.2,) kept the family in the competition, placing second with a pumpkin that weighed 696 pounds. The winner tipped the scales at 753 pounds, which means that Bill remains the Island record-holder with last year's entry.
Asked what went wrong, Bill replied: "What can I say? She wopped me this year. The record shows it, and there's nothing I can say."
The forecast is for some intense cultivation in the VanIderstine garden next year!
VOLUNTEERS WORRIED ABOUT INSURANCE
A Montague man says the federal government should continue to provide liability insurance coverage for government wharves in the Atlantic region. Jock Beck, (1.4.3B.7.2.2.) a member of the Montague Harbour Authority, says its wrong for Ottawa to drop third-party liability coverage next spring. He said that harbour authorities are saving the government millions of dollars annually by performing duties once handled by paid government workers.
"Liability insurance is a small cost for the federal government compared to the enormous savings generated by harbour authorities and the potential negative impact of the cost of liability insurance to individual harbour authorities,'' he told The Guardian.
Local harbour authorities manage facilities at 46 sites on PEI. Volunteers manage the wharves and pay the bills.
Jock added that, "Everything that happens around the wharves now has to be carefully monitored and that's hard because most of our harbour authorities don't have professional managers or constant monitoring of the wharfs."
The liability issue tops the list of concerns that the Maritimes Harbour Authority Council will be raising with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans at a meeting in Ottawa later this month.
THE BELL FARM CAPTURED IN CERAMICS
Another example of the work of Marion Elizabeth (Beck) Maxwell (1.10B.7.4.2,) of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In the last letter, we featured the Beck home in Guernsey Cove, this time the Bell Farm. During a visit she and her husband, James, made to PEI in 1980, James took pictures of the Beck Homestead in Guernsey Cove and the farm of her grandparents in Murray Harbour. Marion was involved in ceramics and decided the two pictures would make good subjects for her work. James sent an Email describing the process:
"These 'platters', for want of a better name, are more like a serving platter than a plate in that they are oval in shape and measure approximately 33 cm long and 24 cm wide. They are
usually formed or poured in the shape desired prior to "firing" in a ceramic kiln. The first firing is coated with a base coat of paint on which the desired decoration is applied. In this case, Marion made a sketch from the photos to approximate the picture desired in the same way any brush artist does his or her design."
ON THE POLITICAL FRONT
Jock Beck (1.4.3B.7.2.2.) has returned to politics after an absence of a few years. He was elected to town council in Montague in the election on Nov. 6. He is one of three councillors for the North side of the River. He placed second among 5 contestants, garnering 338 votes, just 10 behind the first place finisher. Jock served as deputy mayor of Montague in 1989.
Another Beck, Stanley,(1.4.3B.9.6.) showed some interest in Federal politics. He contested the nomination for the New Democratic Party in the Cardigan Riding for the Nov. 27 General Election, but lost to Deborah Hawkes. Stanley is a fisherman and forestry operator from Brudenell.
DEATHS
BECK, B. Windsor (1.10B.7.8) At Shady Rest Home, Lower Montague, on Friday, November 10, 2000, of
Windsor Beck, formerly of Guernsey Cove, age 91 years. Windsor was a farmer and worked the original Beck homestead until he was 75. Windsor never married. He moved to Shady Rest in 1984 to spend the winter, and decided to stay. A hard worker all his life, he saw no reason to stop at that point and volunteered to work around the Home, pitching in to help with anything that needed doing. He kept that up until his late 80s when deteriorating health forced him to slow down. In the last year Windsor's hearing and sight failed to the point that it was difficult for him to do things for himself. He died suddenly as he was finishing his lunch. The service was held from the chapel of Ferguson's Montague Funeral Home on Monday, Nov. 13, at 1:30 p.m. He was buried in the Murray Harbour Cemetery.
HARRIS, Shelton - As a result of a motor vehicle accident at Ellerslie on Sunday, October 22, 2000, of Shelton Harris of 173 Ranchview Ave., Summerside, age 73 years. Born at Summerside, he was the son of the late George and Carrie (Sharpe) Harris. He is survived by his wife, Eileen (nee Jenkins) Harris; (1.4.2.3.5,1,) by sons, Gregory (Debbie), Toronto; and Sandy (Carol), Edmonton; by five grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; and sister-in-law, Minnie Harris. He was predeceased by a son, John; a brother, James; and a sister, Florence Mountain.
BIOGRAPHY
Olive Euphemia Beck (1.4.2.3.2) was born Oct. 7, 1903, the second of eleven children of John and Annie (Campbell) Beck. She went to school in Murray River and was good friends with her many cousins in that community. Sibyl Munn, a first cousin, spent a lot of time with Olive when she was young and often stayed the weekend at the Beck home just outside the village, playing with her and the other Beck children.
A school register for the 1921-22 school year shows Olive and Sibyl were both in the "4th" grade. Sibyl explained that grades did not correspond to what we think of today as grades, but rather to readers. She said they were both in the 4th Reader, which would be the equivalent of Grade 10. Sibyl added that Olive was very smart in school.
After they finished school Sibyl and her older sister, Hilda, went to Boston and got work as waitresses in the City Club. Sibyl said one of the women who came in regularly took a liking to them and asked if they could recommend any other "smart" girls from back home. They knew that Olive was looking for work, so they suggested her but cautioned the woman not to be put off by her "odd" ways, as Olive tended to be somewhat eccentric.
The woman met Olive and hired her as a housekeeper. Sibyl said they were a prominent Boston family but she couldn't remember their name or what the husband did. Olive was well liked by the family despite her unusual ways. For example, Sibyl said she arranged to meet her downtown one sunny summer day to go visit some friends and Olive arrived wearing rubbers and carrying an umbrella.
Despite such quirks, her employer thought a lot of Olive and took her with her wherever she travelled around Boston.
When the family would go away for a weekend the matron would say, "Olive, you have Sibyl and Hilda come out and stay with you while we're gone." The three of them had full run of the house and enjoyed the best of everything on those weekends.
Her employers soon realized that Olive was very intelligent despite her lack of formal education. They subscribed to a lecture series in Boston, and when they were unable to get there they would send Olive in their place. She would make notes, and then come home and write reports of what had been said.
Sibyl said Olive was also a real comic.
"Olive took after her father and could imitate anybody and could keep you laughing all the time. She'd never smile herself and that's what made it so funny. When she got older she could sit and listen to people talking and then go out into another room, and talk like both of them. And she could go through the whole conversation. Hilda and I always enjoyed Olive because she was so entertaining."
Olive got along so well with that family that she stayed with them all her life .. until she got sick and couldn't work any more. She died on Oct. 15, 1960, at the age of 57.
COUNTRY GARDENS
Rural beautification continues to be taken seriously in Prince Edward Island. And those who did the best job of improving the appearance of their property this year were rewarded at a dinner in Charlottetown this fall. The occasion was the annual P.E.I. Rural Beautification Society Dinner and Awards night.
The Society was founded in 1946 with the purpose of encouraging property owners to make improvements, thus helping to beautify their communities and the Island itself. The competition covers about a dozen categories with winners selected from each of the three counties.
The annual competition is advertised in Island newspapers each spring with the deadline for entry being May 1. After that the three judges — Keith Brehaut, (1.10B.7.5A,4.) Kings County; Keith Pickard, Queens County; and George MacKay, Prince County — set out to judge the applications received and take pictures of the properties. In August, the judges go back to take another look when the flower gardens are in full bloom.
After that the tough decisions are made and the season ends with the awards dinner, when about 100 trophies are handed out.
"...FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW."
Starting next year every baby born on Prince Edward Island will receive a red oak seedling. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Mitch Murphy, said the presentation is an expression of confidence in "the future of our children and the sustainability of our forestry resources." He said he expects more than 2,000 seedlings will be handed out and "rooted firmly in Island soil, children and our forests will grow stronger together."
The Red Oak is the official tree of Prince Edward Island. It was plentiful on the Island in pioneer days, but was heavily cut for use in furniture and cabinets, and is no longer common.
BOOKS STILL AVAILABLE
While the latest version of the Beck listings is sold out, there are still copies of the 1983 book, The Descendants of Vere Beck. This is the professionally printed and bound volume and it includes generations 1 to 6 and some of generation 7.
It's more than adequate for people interested in tracing their line back to Vere and Elizabeth Beck, or for browsing through the early generations of the family. If you're interested you can get a copy from:
Dr. Mac Beck,
5 West Street,
Charlottetown,
PEI.
C1A 3S3.
Mac's phone number is 902-894-3544 and the price is $10.00.
The Vere Beck Family Home Page
We're always looking for news of Beck family members. If you know of any significant events drop me a line with the information. imunn@accesswave.ca
imunn@accesswave.ca