Chad Reimer holds a PhD in history from York University, and works as an independent scholar and author. He lives in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Previous publications include "Writing British Columbia History, 1784-1958" published by UBC Press in 2009.
Frederick Gordon Leary was born September 29, 1889 at St. John, New Brunswick. He came to Chilliwack in 1914 at the age of 25 years and opened an ice cream parlor: Palm's Confectionary.
In 1926 Fred Leary was elected as a trustee of the local school board. He served in this capacity for 49 years, retiring as the longest serving elected official in 1975.
In 1939 he became an accountant. Over the course of his long tenure in Chilliwack Fred Leary was a founding member of the Union Board of Health (serving as Chairman for five years); was a member of the Chilliwack Volunteer Fire Department, serving for 41 years and retiring in 1956; was secretary of the first Agricultural Hall Society, and member of the Chilliwack and District Agricultural Society; was Chilliwack's Citizen to be recognized in 1956; was an active member of Chilliwack United Church and appointed as a Serving Brother of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 1956, by the governor-general in Ottawa.
On June 29, 1920 Frederick Gordon Leary (31) married Elizabeth Hilda Blanche (Hilda) Manuel (23) at the Chilliwack Methodist Church. The couple had three daughters: Emily (married Lloyd Griffin), Fort Langley, Dorothy (married William W. Reid), Terrace, and Miriam (married Allan Ruttan), Prince George.
Frederick Gordon died in Chilliwack on October 6th, 1985 at the age of 96.
James Orville was born in 1864 in a Shellrock Township, Minnesota, one of seven children. His family were farmers who later moved to Glenville, Minn. Early on in his life Booen decided not to follow the family tradition of farming and broke away, becoming an itinerant photographer. Before arriving in Washington, he had already traveled through North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Yellowstone and Glacier Parks. Booen has been described as an adventurer, a person who "didn't conform to any special place." He was not quite a black sheep, but relatives remember his mother calling Booen a "dandy". By contrast, Booen's wife Cina was a stern woman.
Booen was based in Chilliwack from 1895 to 1897. After leaving Chilliwack in 1897, the Booen family must have gone back to Booen's hometown of Glenville because their oldest son, Charles, died and was buried in the family plot there in 1897. By 1914 the family was settled in Miles City, Montana, where they owned a home and a studio. Both Leslie Clair and Leon served in WWI, Leon dying from his wounds after the war in 1923.
Booen died in 1934. The day he was interred his granddaughter, Katherine Booen, arrived in Miles City to locate her father, Leslie. None of the family, including Leslie, knew that she existed. Leslie had moved to New York ca. 1919 and married an opera singer, but the marriage was not a success and Leslie came back to Miles City, unaware that his wife was pregnant. Katherine, unhappy at home, hitchhiked across the country at the age of 14 to find her father. Leslie did not stay long in Miles City. He moved with his mother to San Diego where he died in 1945. Cina died in 1952. They are all buried in Miles City, Montana.