Frankly Speaking

Lynn Bucholtz, on her 77th birthday in October, 2010. My mother Lynn Bucholtz died on Sunday, July 5. She was 86 years old, and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for most of the past decade. Like many other aspects of her long and interesting life, she did not let Alzheimer’s define her. Nor did she allow it to rob her of her dignity and personhood.  She endured it - and even right to her final few days, she didn’t let it get her down. Lynn Woolard was born on Oct. 11, 1933 in Regina, first child of Frank and Kay Woolard. Her arrival in this world came at a time of great uncertainty - kind of like what we are enduring now, but in many ways much worse. Her parents had to hide the fact that Kay was pregnant and delay getting married. They did so because Frank had lost his job and, at the depths of the Great Depression, wasn’t too likely to find another one in Saskatchewan. (There was no CERB or even EI in those days). Kay had a job, but she would lose it as s...

Frank Bucholtz photo Fort Langley Community Improvement Society, which operates the historic Fort Langley Community Hall, hosted a candidate meeting for all 32 candidates running in Langley Township on Thursday. Martina Boyd was the moderator, while Andy Schildhorn and many other volunteers made sure it ran smoothly. There was a certain level of tension in the air.Thursday’s Fort Langley all-candidates meeting for the 25 candidates for Langley Township council was getting underway. Every candidate was seated, ready to go – except for the eight incumbent members of council. None of them were in the room. The meeting started, with moderator Martina Boyd explaining the ground rules to the candidates. There were more than 200 people packed into Fort Langley community hall. Many were standing. Just as she was about to draw for speaking order, the incumbents began to arrive. They had all been at another event at nearby Redwoods Golf Course. As luck would have it, the first nam...

Frank Bucholtz photo Cheryl Snowdon-Eddy responds to a question at the Fort Langley candidates' meeting for candidates for the Langley Board of Education. The meeting took place Thursday. Also in photo are candidates (from left) David Tod, Suzanne Perreault and Rod Ross.   Candidates for Langley Board of Education likely faced their biggest audience of the current election campaign at Fort Langley Community Hall Thursday. About 200 people were on hand to hear the seven hopefuls for the five Langley Township seats on the board of education. The other two trustees are elected by the voters of Langley City. The meeting was also live streamed on Facebook and can be seen online at https://www.facebook.com/fortlangleycommunityhall/videos/1967541089970543/ Topics covered at the meeting included teacher retention, secondary and middle school options for Fort Langley students, difficulty enrolling in the Fine Arts School in Fort Langley, sexual orientation and gender identity...

Bill and Etta Marr. Bill Marr took his final journey from the confines of Earth on Feb. 23. The Langley pioneer and longtime pilot died at age 100 at Langley Lodge. His memorial service on Friday had many wonderful touches - most of which involved the theme of flight. The Fraser Blues aircraft formation team, based at Langley Airport, flew over St. Andrew's Anglican Church, where the service was held. The flypast took place after the service, so that all in attendance could come out and see it. The blue sky and puffy white clouds made a wonderful backdrop. The four planes flew low over the church twice. Then on the third pass, one plane went upwards from the other three, and off into a different direction. This is known as the "missing man" formation, and is a common and memorable salute to a fellow pilot who has died. Bill was born in Bramshott, England on July 5, 1917, the most difficult and challenging year of the First World War. His father, well-loved pioneer...

I was very saddened to hear of the passing of Bays Blackhall, a tireless volunteer in Langley and one of the most knowledgeable people on Fort Langley's rich history. She died unexpectedly at Ridge Meadows Hospital on Tuesday, April 18 In particular, she was a tireless promoter of the unique place that Sir James Douglas holds in B.C. and Fort Langley history, as the first governor of the Crown Colony of British Columbia. She also often volunteered at the Fort Langley CN station, one of my favourite buildings. It was saved from the wrecking ball by heritage advocates more than 30 years ago. Langley Times reporter Dan Ferguson has written a story on her passing, as has Matthew Claxton of The Langley Advance. Her family and many friends will gather to remember her on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Fort Langley Community Hall, another building that was very dear to her heart. She was a regular writer of letters to the editor over my 17 years as editor of The Times, and I always enj...

Martini Film Studios puts Langley up there with some big players in the fast-expanding world of made-in-B.C. entertainment projects. The new facility in the former Starline Windows plant on 96 Avenue in Port Kells features no less than eight sound stages. It is the brainchild of Gemma Martini, and almost literally happened overnight because the Martini family also owns Starline. They already owned the land and the building, and they saw a good business opportunity. With some renovations, they are now in business. The studio was shown off to guests at a special opening event on Tuesday. As the North Langley community director for the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce, I was pleased to be invited to attend and am very excited to see firsthand this major boost to the Langley and B.C. economy. The B.C. film industry is responsible for a full 60 per cent of all such work in Canada - a figure considerably higher than I would have believed. The Martini studio itself is expected to creat...

Assessments on Surrey homes rose dramatically, due to a red-hot real estate market in the first part of 2016. Assessments are based on the actual value of homes as of July 1, 2016. It is a rare occasion when the homeowners’ grant becomes a hot political issue, but it was shaping up to do so in the run-up to the May 9 provincial election - until today. The reason is that many Metro Vancouver home owners, including a substantial number in Delta, Surrey and Langley and an even higher percentage in high-demand areas like White Rock, South Surrey, Tsawwassen and Fort Langley, could have lost their homeowner grants due to soaring assessments. In many areas of the South Fraser region, assessments rose close to 40 per cent over the 2016 figures. Some homeowners saw their assessments rise by much higher amounts. On Tuesday morning, the provincial government eased that possibility. (In my own neighbourhood, assessments rose dramatically. Interestingly, on one side of the street, the...