Vancouver Voyager: More from '48

December 1, 1948. That day the T. Eaton Co. took over nine B.C. stores of the David Spencer chain. John David Eaton, the president of the company, visited from Toronto. Eaton said the purchase of the Spencer stores wouldn't change Eaton's plans to demolish the old Hotel Vancouver and build a modern, new store at the corner of Granville and Georgia Streets. (It didn't either. Eatons was at the location for years, until they went out of business.)

The papers were considerate and held back the news of the sale. Spencer wanted to inform his staff of the sale himself. The Spencer chain began in 1873 in Victoria and included stores in Vancouver, Victoria, New Westminster, Nanaimo, Courtenay, Duncan, Chilliwack and Mission. The Vancouver store opened in 1906 on Hastings street between Seymour and Richards. Eventually the store expanded to take up the entire block.

1948 is the year the airport was officially named The Vancouver International Airport.

Architect, Ron Thom, graduated from the Vancouver School of Art in 1948.

Edward Desjardins, a founding director of the G.F. Strong Centre, became its first manager in 1948. He held that position until 1979 and guided the centre's development into an outstanding rehabilitation institution. Four years earlier, as a result of a training accident at the Sandhurst Military College in England, Desjardins was confined to a wheelchair as a quadriplegic,

As Chairman of the Architectural Committee for the Social Planning and Review Council of British Columbia, Desjardins prepared and presented a comprehensive set of design standards for people with disabilities. This plan was adopted by the City of Vancouver in its building by-law. His plans were also important in the incorporation of design standards for accessibility into British Columbia provincial building codes.

In 1975, Edward Desjardins was appointed to the Order of Canada. In 1996, Vancouver mayor Phillip Owen said,

“Ed Desjardins' contribution to the health care community and the public is immeasurable. His years of leadership, teaching and support have changed the way we look at people with disabilities. That work is literally set in stone all around this city. His pioneering work on design standards for people with disabilities is part of the Vancouver Building By-law and the B.C. Building Code. Ed Desjardins has given us a legacy that will continue for generations.”

Walking along Hastings Street one day, I heard the rumble of big trucks. They were making a noisy protest.

The book, The Unknown Mountain, was published by North Vancouver mountaineer, Don Munday. He and his wife, Pat, climbed many B.C. mountains and this book recounted some of their adventures.

The Munday's reached the northwest summt of Mount Waddington in 1928. Waddington is the highest mountain totally within B.C. - 13,177 feet or 4,016 metres.

Television newsman, Tony Parsons, came to Canada in 1948. He was born in London, England on June 29, 1939. Parsons spent several years in radio and TV in Ontario before taking a posting in Vancouver as a west coast correspondent. He was offered the six o'clock anchor spot at BCTV where he stayed for over 30 years. He also worked with CBC news in more recent years.

Parsons retired in 2013 and I am going to have to write on him one day.