THE KÜTNE READER

The two things Tom Murphy was best known for happened within three months of each other: fighting Nelson’s deadliest fire and an epic swim.

Longtime Ymir and Salmo resident Evelyn Murray died on April 9 , 2019 in Castlegar at 96. While she was not the last person born in the old Ymir hospital, I believe she was the last person alive who entered the world there. This postcard of the Ymir hospital, taken sometime between 1908 and 1913, was the work of the Mystery Photographer . (Greg Nesteroff collection) Evelyn was the daughter of Edward Emilson and Sarah Rankin. Her father, a miner from Sweden, worked in the Lar

Betty Ridge, who died in Nelson on Dec. 23 at age 98, was probably the last surviving person born in the mining town of Phoenix, BC. She was already believed to be the last person born there (on April 14, 1920) before the city disincorporated. Phoenix, ca. 1900s. (Greg Nesteroff collection) Her parents, Russell and Maggie Macdonald, married in Greenwood in 1909. Her father was a crusher boss at the mines in Phoenix, where two of her brothers were also born: Roy, who died in 1

You heard it here last: Larry Kwong , the NHL’s first player of Asian descent and the oldest Trail Smoke Eaters alumnus, died on March...

An obituary appeared in the Vancouver Sun for Norma Evelyn Schiller of Mission, who died Aug. 9, 2018 at age 100. She was born in Sandon. Sandon, between 1904 and 1907. (Greg Nesteroff collection) In 2008, Schiller wrote a tribute to her father , Joseph Birling Johnson, that also appeared in the Sun . Johnson immigrated to Oregon from Sweden in 1892 and to Canada in 1907, arriving at Silverton. He became renowned for his mining prowess. When he arrived in Silverton in 1907,

The last surviving members of what was probably the strangest hockey team ever to play in the Kootenay have died. Terry Cavanagh (pictured above) passed away in Edmonton on Dec. 17, 2017 at 91 followed by Max Labovitch in Winnipeg on Jan. 14, 2018 at 93. Both skated for the Los Angeles Ramblers of the Western International Hockey League in 1946-47, a circuit that also included teams from Trail, Nelson, Kimberley, and Spokane. Whoever thought this was a good idea financially

The man who carved the signs seen below (or at least their original iteration) has died at 94. According to his obituary , Art Waldie was a wood carver from the age of five until carpal tunnel syndrome forced him to stop in his late 70s. He was a prolific artist, whose work included a coat of arms to commemorate a visit to Nelson by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But his best-known works were Nelson’s welcome signs. In 1995, with the city’s centennial a couple of years away,

I was sorry to hear of the passing of Nelson’s Lois Arnesen (pictured below) on New Year’s Eve. I wrote a profile of Lois in 2012 for the Nelson Star ’s Kootenay Pioneers series. Lois was a life-long resident of Nelson. Her parents, Bert and Jeanne Whimster, arrived here in the early 1920. She was well known for her 21 years as a Welcome Wagon hostess — in fact she greeted me to Nelson in 2010. She was named Nelson’s Citizen of the Year for 2012. She was also one of three p