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...

Global News image The tent city on 135A Street in Whalley has been dispersed, as modular housing units have been set up to accommodate people who had been living there. Another step in the plan is to create more supportive housing units across the City of Surrey. The meteoric rise and fall of a proposal for 60 units of supportive housing in downtown Cloverdale is an instructive lesson on how elections play a huge role in influencing decisions. However, the most important lesson for residents might be this – pay close attention to development plans, both by the private sector and government agencies, in this case BC Housing. The movement to place one of several planned Surrey supportive housing sites in Cloverdale was proceeding mostly behind closed doors until BC Housing announced Sept. 4 that the proposal would move forward to public consultation. The proposed site was just off the main street, and would have utilized several city-owned properties. It is very close to...

My father Art Bucholtz enjoyed a final hand of cribbage with son Stuart Bucholtz, grandson Joel Glanfield and son-in-law Steve Glanfield after a Remembrance Day service at Simpson Manor in Fort Langley, where he and my mother Lynn have been living. His grandson Solon Bucholtz summed up his life this way - "Grandpa's life was his 29 hand." “People won’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” That was the philosophy of my father Art Bucholtz, who died peacefully on Nov. 12 at age 94. He lived life to the fullest – even as his health was failing. Most recently, he gave tender, devoted care to Lynn, his wife of 65 years, as she struggled with Alzheimer’s disease. Art had many roles in his life, and each made him into the complete person he became. He was an immigrant – born in the German-speaking village of Malinowka, Lublin district, Poland on February 15, 1923, the second son of Wilhelm (Bill) and Wanda Bucholtz. His father had been in the ...

My father Art Bucholtz (left), whose first business in Cloverdale opened in 1946 on a lot purchased from Alan Davidson (right), enjoyed chatting with him and longtime Cloverdale notary public El Fedewich (centre). They all were at the memorial service for another longtime Cloverdale businessman, Allan Dann, in January, 2016. Frank Bucholtz photo Alan Davidson, who died on July 25 at the age of 99, was a key part of Surrey’s “greatest generation.” The term “greatest generation” comes from the title of a book by longtime NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw. He applied it to the young men and women who lived through the Depression of the 1930s, took part in the Second World War, and on returning home, had much to do with all the changes and advances that followed. Davidson qualifies on all counts. Born in Vancouver in 1918, he grew up on a small farm in the Tynehead area, not far from Barnston Island. He came to Cloverdale to attend Surrey High School – the only high school in the...