Local History

It was 25 years ago Monday – April 5, 1996 – that Vernon’s Gakhal family was gunned down in their Okanagan Avenue home by the estranged husband of one of the daughters. (Morning Star - file photo)

Vernon’s darkest hour reaches 25 years

Monday, April 5, marks 25 years to the day that eight members of a Vernon family were murdered in their Mission Hill home

 

The earliest known drawing of Woodside Farm in the 1850s. (Contributed - Sooke Region Museum)

Woodside sold: Sooke couple buys Western Canada’s oldest working farm

South Island’s Woodside Farm is the oldest continuously operated farm west of the Great Lakes

 

Noah’s Ark, a onetime fixture at the old Adventureland park in Lake Country, will become a fruit and nut concession on the Okanagan Rail Trail in 2022 after the Gaudet family picked up the former attraction for free from longtime Oyama orchardist Alan Gatzke. (Facebook photo)

Lake Country ark attraction to become rail trail concession

Gatzke Orchards floats Noah’s Ark from Adventureland to Gaudet family for fruit/nut stand in 2022

 

Former Fulton Secondary School teacher and football coach, and former Canadian Football League offensive lineman Roger Scales had some CFL memorabilia sent to him to autograph, courtesy of a dermatologist in Utah. Scales, who spent 10 seasons in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos, played college ball at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. (David Myers photo)

Vernon football player’s card pops up in Utah dermatologist’s hands

Roger Scales’ 1970s Toronto Argonauts card now hangs signed by the player in David Myers’ office

Former Fulton Secondary School teacher and football coach, and former Canadian Football League offensive lineman Roger Scales had some CFL memorabilia sent to him to autograph, courtesy of a dermatologist in Utah. Scales, who spent 10 seasons in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos, played college ball at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. (David Myers photo)
Alice Lee, left, and Gilda Koenig with the Vernon and District Family History Society raised funds and got donations to put up a pair of commemorative rock monuments for people who died in the Vernon-based B.C. Provincial Home for the Aged between 1948 and 1961. <ins>The rocks were put in a row where 41 people from the home are buried, and to stop people from driving over the graves as a shortcut through the cemetery.</ins> (Roger Knox - Morning Star)

Vernon volunteers protect graves with unique row at cemetery

Engraved rocks commemorate some who died in Vernon’s B.C. Provincial Home For Aged from 1948-1961

Alice Lee, left, and Gilda Koenig with the Vernon and District Family History Society raised funds and got donations to put up a pair of commemorative rock monuments for people who died in the Vernon-based B.C. Provincial Home for the Aged between 1948 and 1961. <ins>The rocks were put in a row where 41 people from the home are buried, and to stop people from driving over the graves as a shortcut through the cemetery.</ins> (Roger Knox - Morning Star)
A plaque is erected at Vernon’s MacDonald Park at what was once the site of a First World War Internment Camp from 1914-1920. The 100th anniversary of the end of the camps is Saturday, June 20. (Roger Knox - Morning Star)

Okanagan internment camps shut down 100 years ago

Vernon and District Family History Society to commemorate end of internment operations

A plaque is erected at Vernon’s MacDonald Park at what was once the site of a First World War Internment Camp from 1914-1920. The 100th anniversary of the end of the camps is Saturday, June 20. (Roger Knox - Morning Star)
The avalanche of 1910 killed 58 people. (Submitted by Revelstoke Museum and Archives P257)

110 years ago the mountain fell down on Rogers Pass

The avalanche of 1910 is still Canada’s worst avalanche disaster

The avalanche of 1910 killed 58 people. (Submitted by Revelstoke Museum and Archives P257)
Penticton local historian Randy Manuel with a provincial map that has the original name of a mountain between Summerland and Penticton near where two men perished in 1908. (Mark Brett - Western News)

South Okanagan mountain bore racist name for a half century

Nkawala Mountain was initially named in connection with the deaths of two black men.

Penticton local historian Randy Manuel with a provincial map that has the original name of a mountain between Summerland and Penticton near where two men perished in 1908. (Mark Brett - Western News)
A First Nation’s speaker gives a presentation during one of the Penticton Museum and Archives Brown Bag Lecture Series. The program has been running for over 30 years. The next presentation will feature members of the Penticton Toastmakers. (Submitted photo)

Penticton Museum to host Brown Bag Lecture

Members of the Penticton Toastmasters will discuss how the organization has changed their lives.

A First Nation’s speaker gives a presentation during one of the Penticton Museum and Archives Brown Bag Lecture Series. The program has been running for over 30 years. The next presentation will feature members of the Penticton Toastmakers. (Submitted photo)