story: Our Dad Percy

Ralph and Ernie Norman spoke with artist in residence lisa g.

Here is part of their conversation:

Thanks to Ralph who wrote down some thoughts about his Dad.

Thanks also to The City Archives, The Vancouver Public Library and the Percy Norman Pool for the archival photographs.

story: The Homeless Person

Beza learns a little something from her Dad about a homeless person.

story: Chuck and Irma

Chuck grew up in and around Riley Park. He sold Kool-aid on hot summer days and tried to pull down the girls bathing suits at the Sunset pool.
One unsuspecting girl, Irma, was the recipient of such affections and she was, understandably, none too impressed. Chuck had a bit of a reputation!

Chuck is pictured here in 1963, he is the enthusiastic kid in the foreground!

As Chuck got older he partied in Queen Elizabeth Park in the summer and he skied over moguls on the hills in the winter. Finally, Irma became interested.

Both Chuck and Irma remember making out on the bleachers in Percy Norman pool... and now... they have been married for 33 years!



Chuck became the Engineer of the Community Centre and continues to live in the area!

story: Sunshine Club

When me and my twin sister were in high school, Mom organized a Sunday afternoon film program for the disabled at Riley Park Community Centre. This was the early 80’s after the community centre’s expansion.

Dad was the projectionist, and got the films from the film library at the National Film Board. Mom ran the concession. Us kids would be the helpers.

Folks would enter from the double doors off Ontario and make a left into the first room. It was the room opposite the Senior Centre.

My mom thinks it was called the Sunshine Club.

This program ran for years until it just got too big for the centre.

My parents were always trying to help us kids understand the lives of other people. They wanted us to be more accepting of others and for us to be thankful for what we had.

They would always volunteer us to help out in the community.

Of course my sister said we didn’t volunteer we were volunTOLD!

Haha!

by Ingrid Steenhuisen

story: friendly neighbourhood

My Parents moved into the housing complex at 33rd and Main in 1957 and we moved to various units as the family grew.

Our house was the go to house for whatever you needed: a cup of sugar, babysitting, a shoulder to cry on or as a community resource.

My mom was just like that.

There was one row of houses in this complex called the Pensioners Row for folks who were 70 or older.

When I was about 8 and a half one pensioner in particular would come by and ask “Would you like me to take the kids for walk?” My mother was grateful for this break in her day as he would take us around Queen Elizabeth Park for an hour or more! Here would be this nice old guy with 4 or 5 kids tagging along!

I will never forget him.

Wilf Polkinghorn.

by Ingrid Steenhuisen

story: MONKEY BARS

Me and my twin sister were 13 years old in the early 1970’s and living at 36^th and Main at the time. Mom would let us take our younger siblings (there were 4, soon to be 5, and this gave our Mother a bit of a break/rest) to Riley Park. We would go to swim and swing … being sure to return for dinner. Our youngest brother loved the monkey bars and we learned quicklynever to be in a panic right away if we couldn’t find Fred, at least until you checked the monkey bars! Most often he could be found there!

Along the lane there was different apparatuses where all the kids and teens liked to play on back then: the swings, teeter-totters, the gymnastic trapeze bar and rings, the pool (was open 5 or 6 days a week, each summer) and the monkey bars…Everything (except the swings) was taken out - apparently due to liability issues - replaced by stuff mostly for toddlers. Within the past decade they put in the climbing rock . . . exactly in the same place - where the monkey bars used to be.

Fred was three or four years old when they were building the conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park. A picture of it was in the Sun newspaper after the brick walls and the roof’s metal framework were completed. The glass panels weren’t installed yet, and it grabbed my Dad’s attention since the construction company was made up of 9 brothers from Holland, and that was my family heritage. Dad shared the picture with all of us, and of course Fred just wanted to climb it, seeing that - to him - it was just another set of monkey bars – GIANT ONES!

story: babies on deck

Rose told me that when she brought her son to Percy Norman Pool when he was a baby he could play and sleep on the deck of the pool!

This was curious at first to me and I thought that this must be because she worked at the pool...so she had special privileges... but no, this was standard practice at the time! In the late 1970's, moms could come to the pool and swim and do aquafit and have their kids right there looking on - from the pool deck!

And then I found the picture below in the Percy Norman Archives!

What a great idea!

Except now the kids have to be in day care separate from the moms....

No judgement from me, things change - I know...

but, I can't help thinking what a good idea that is...and I always seem to love things from the 1970's.

by lisag

story: Conversation with Daphne

How do you tell a life story encompassing 93 years?

A difficult prospect, I must say.

Also, being the collector of the stories, I feel privileged to hear and learn more than I can possibly share...but I do my best.

This short video hopes to capture the vibrancy that is Daphne, a few of her memories, a sense of a neighbourhood from a time that seems simple yet hints at the challenges that everyone has...

I thank Daphne for taking the time and having the patience for me to ask a lot of questions!

I thank her son Greg who continues to collect the family history...I hope everyone has someone in their family to take this on!

story: an afternoon at the park

Lisa W met with Marlene, Elena and Stella on Monday May 10, 2010.

Marlene and Todd have been married for 8 years now. Their twin daughters are 2 and a half years old. They live near Main and 28th. The couple met in first year at university. Todd is a web designer, and Marlene is almost done nursing school. Marlene says, "We hoped for this neighbourhood. Mount Pleasant was kind of our dream, and when we found the place we are at now we were like are you kidding me?! Yes we'll take it right now!"

Marlene takes Stella and Elena to the park at Riley Park Community Centre most afternoons after their nap. Today they ride in their red wagon with their pre-packed snacks and their shovel and bucket to play in the sand with. I am tagging along with them this sunny Monday afternoon.

Stella says she is "baking" things in the sand, and comes back and forth telling us there is a strawberry pie baking, and that when she hears the buzzer she will have to go and get it from the oven otherwise it will burn. She marches off with purpose, retrieving her pie and bringing it back to Marlene, saying "It's hot, it's hot!" and watches intently as Marlene "tastes" the pie, saying "Holy moly! It's soo good!" Stella seems quietly pleased and goes off to make another.

Marlene tells me her story in between interacting with the girls, calming tantrums and eating "pies":

"I got pregnant in Japan. Todd and I traveled around a lot before having kids. We taught english in Taiwan and Japan and then traveled all over south east Asia while we were there. We came back to Vancouver and lived in Yaletown for awhile. I notice now that this area is way more community-minded. It's easier to approach people and talk to them, no one thinks you're a whack-o. People want to make friends up here, not that they don't in Yaletown, it's just different. Plus there's houses and yards here, how fun is that, right? We go for walks in the evenings now and it's just so great.

We felt like we hit the jackpot with this park. Now they can handle being in bigger parks. Having the fence around it, and all the structures are low. If they aren't playing on anything they can play in the sand. I can see them everywhere. It's very conducive to having conversations with friends.


It's a great place to meet other moms. We all help each other out. I guess moms do that everywhere, but here you don't have to join the mom's group.

We go everywhere around this neighbourhood. We go to Re Entry all the time. We've been to the play gym in the new community centre but it's so crowded. We used to go to Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush.

The girls and I look for cats in the neighbourhood. We smell all the flowers; tulips, daisies and daffodils are our favourite. There is a house with a great water fountain at 28th and Ontario, we like to go and look at the rocks there. We explore this neighbourhood a lot, it is Elena and Stella's favourite thing to do.

These girls are so clever and funny already. When I was potty training them I would say, "Good job!" when they would do it right. I go to the bathroom with the door open when they are home and when they see me they say "Good job!" with just as much sincerity and enthusiasm as I say it."

Time at the park comes to an end. The girls return to their wagon to finish their snacks on the ride home. Stella remembers I've ridden my bike and that I have to go get it. They all wave at me as we go our separate ways.


It is amazing to me to meet these children being raised by such fantastic parents. I have met so many parents in this neighbourhood who talk to their kids as equals, instead of as little children. They engage their kids in everything going on around them. One of my favourite parts of this neighbourhood is the interesting and intelligent little kids, and one of the most inspiring parts of this neighbourhood for me has been the strong, busy and creative parents.

Thanks to Marlene and co. for letting me tag along and having a lovely afternoon with them!

story: community preparation

Here is a picture from the just before the war...perhaps 1939, when Daphne, my mother, was a nanny in the south of England. As the threat of an invasion was close they moved the family inland away from the coast. It was after this that my mother enlisted in the R.A.F. and was posted in a hospital in Newcastle. It must have been chaotic times indeed for a family that was used to living the quiet village life.

These experiences must have shaped Daphne's character and is evident in her dedication to the community of Little Mountain.

Thoughts from Daphne's son Greg.

story: family outings

1971

1978

2001

See these images in a video called Changes.

story: magic wading pool

Before Percy Norman Pool was built, kids in the neighborhood learned the art of swimming and other things in the wading pool beside the caretakers house along side the lane.

Wading pool photo courtesy of VPL

I can remember those hot summers when our mother would round us up and lead us to the pool. We would make the trip up Ontario Street from 24th with our towels flung over our shoulders and our swim suits under our shorts, hopefully.

Marc (left) and Greg (right) sit on Dad's Austin
in the backyard of their house at Ontario and 24th.
photo courtesy of Marc Holmes

We would be strung out along the street following our mother like a family of ducks off to the pond. Our bare feet flapping on the warm pavement and dancing over the scorching asphalt roads that crossed our path. When we rounded the corner, where Percy Norman Pool is today, there was a vacant lot to navigate covered with clover, buzzing bees and hidden pieces of broken glass. Stepping ever so carefully and weaving our way through the maze of traps waiting for us in our bare feet.
Bare feet?
Mother must have been saving those new Woodward's Dollars for runners at $1.49 Day!
All the local families would be spread out on blankets on the grass around the wading pool. We would make our way to the water and stick our feet in. Jeez it was cold! I can remember it like it was yesterday. You would gradually make it in up to that most private of places for kids and stop cold. It seemed like an eternity standing in one spot frozen in time and thought... until some kid splashed you from behind! The culprit most likely would be your older brother and so you got in to it and entirely wet in the following melee forgetting the cold water altogether.
Everyone learned the dog paddle. You could cheat by keeping your feet on the bottom and pretend to swim, but everyone knew what you where doing.
It was primeval panic in that little pool like a school of fish jostling for position and water going every direction at once. Amazing any of the water stayed in the pool! The surrounding concrete was soaked with it.
Boys went running with cupped hands full of water to throw on the backs of girls laying on their blankets peacefully minding they own business. Somehow it delighted us to hear the screams and get a reaction as the cold water splashed over their backs.
There was a magic to that outside pool that you don't get from an indoor one. A certain freedom to run around and just be a kid. Great memories that I'll always remember.
The pool was taken out along with the teeter-totters because of a budget cut from someone at City Hall who probably already lost their own memories of being a kid.

By Greg Holmes

Greg Holmes in an exception to the dress code of the day.

(He was sure to have gotten out of those clothes
immediately after the picture was taken. )

story: ABC's on the swings

Marlene and her wonderful twin daughters Stella and Elena.

story: About Friends

Sport Plus Friends playing and cooperating together.

(Sport Plus is an after school program)

by Jenny

story: my family

My family and I having fun!

by Vivian

story: Brenda's Riley Park

Sitting in the foyer of Riley Park Community Center, I ,the artist in residence, was lucky enough to meet Brenda.

We got to chatting and her stories were incredible, so I asked if I could type as she talked...she said "Go ahead!"

Forgive me Brenda, if the details aren't perfect. I was typing as fast as I could!

"I lived at 20th and St. Catherines when I was a little girl, from grade 1-8, then my family moved to 25th and Prince Albert.

The community is amazing.

I still have my friendships with my grade 8 friends. Ten of us still get together. Two of our sons are best friends, they are just 6 days apart. I visited my old house on 20th and all the memories flooded back. But you got to get out of the car and walk on the sidewalk, not just drive by. It was amazing to walk on the same sidewalk that I grew up on.

I knew all the people in the Riley Park Gang. Park gangs were big. They seemed like they were bad kids back then, but compared with kids today... Now some of those guys work for the city and the park board. I am not saying any names. Ha Ha

We used to have to walk from Charles Dickens Elementary School, at Kingsway and Windsor, to Percy Norman Pool to go swimming in grade 5. I can remember standing under the low diving board and thinking,

'They want me to jump off of that?'

Swimming was part of school back then...back in the days when the vaccinations made those big scabs, remember those? We couldn't go into the pool with the scabs.

All my kids learned to swim in this pool.

Me and my kids also learned how to skate here.

My husband used to play business man's hockey on Thursday nights. I would write letters in Riley's Place, that was the cafe. I made friends with a woman who worked there, her name was Chan. Chan was from Trinidad and her husband was from Germany.

Now, at that time, my son was dating a woman named Alecia. One day he told me,

'Her mother is from Trinidad and her father is from Ireland.'

I said

'Are you sure her Dad isn't from Germany?'

He said

'No, Ireland.'

I said

'Is her Mom's name Chan?'

And he said

'How did you know?'

Ha Ha

Now here is a crazy story:

My husband was adopted and was always told that his birth mom was from Montreal and that she had passed away. But in fact, she called one day. We were just getting ready to move, but then was delayed-otherwise we would have had our phone disconnected and then had an unlisted number. Now she just happened to call in July, when my husband was turning 50….my son wondered what we could do to make it special. And then this strange woman called asking tons of questions about my husband and his mother. And I said

'Who is this?'

It turns out that my husband's birth mom (Mimi) was working as a nanny and got her employer to call.

(It gets even more complicated now hang onto your hats)

My husband's adopted mother, Gwen (she has since passed away), started out as Mimi's nanny, babysitting Jerry, my husband, for about 6 months when Mimi suddenly was going to get a divorce. Mimi asked Gwen if she wanted to adopt Jerry...so she did.

My husband always thought he was English and it turns out he is Italian/Scandinavian.

Jerry met his birth mom for the first time a week later….my mouth fell open. Gwen always told me she was gorgeous. But my mouth literally dropped open when I saw her. She is one beautiful woman. She used to be a playboy bunny!

Now, Mimi is 75 years old and totally part of our family, she even has a great grandson! My husband is so happy. My sons, I have four, are also happy to have a grandmother again. My third boy said

'Is it ever cool having a grandmother, and she's hot!'

We also learned that Mimi grew up 5 houses over from where we all lived, in Riley Park...incredible to think her grandsons played on the same streets!"

story: Greetings

I have been going to The Percy Norman Pool for 13 years, usually swimming two times each week, and most often early in the morning. I love going there, partly because it feels so great to start my day swimming through velvet waters, pulling strong and kicking hard. But Percy Norman is way more than a pool. I’ve been swimming over 50 years, and I’ve never been to a pool with so much community as this jewel of a place.

I’ve wondered why its so special, and the best answer I’ve come up with is warmth and presence of all the staff -- from reception to lifeguards, and particularly Rose. Rose brings wonderful welcoming heart energy to the place. She greets me and everyone as we arrive, and as we leave. She doesn’t miss a thing, so it feels safe to be there, like all of us are held in her awareness. And she writes wonderful inspirational quotes on the chalk board -- changing them every week or so.

The result of the welcoming, and holding and the greeting is that regulars welcome and greet each other. Mostly just smiles and nods, but often conversations in the showers and change rooms, and when people are resting at the end of the pool.

All the welcoming has built up happy memories for me, and I believe many others. It’s like there are echoes of all the greetings making a wonderful patina that covers everything. The building is old and a bit run down, but all the surfaces are alive with the energy of community. I also have wonderful memories of my daughter learning to swim there, and sharing the waters with my mother on regular Friday morning swims.

Against this backdrop, I also have two specific memories:

One day, wanting to communicate with one of the Chinese women who didn’t speak much English, I asked her, “How do you say ‘hello’ in your language?” She replied with a word I don’t remember. I repeated it back to her several times, thinking I was saying “Hello”, and she smiled at me, pleased, I think, at my effort to communicate.

Later, when the first woman had left, a different woman -- who was bilingual -- explained that the word didn’t mean “Hello” but rather was the name of the first woman's dialect. We had a good laugh, at the thought of me repeating the dialect name, thinking I was saying hello. It was a wonderful exchange, and one that opened lines of communication with my translator, someone I’ve visited with ever since.

This multicultural side is integral...simple interactions with all people.

There is an African ethic called ubuntu which holds that, “a person is a person because of other people”. I feel like I’m connected with everyone across all the cultures through our love of swimming, as we share the waters at Percy Norman.

On another occasion, last summer, while having a shower after my swim...I began talking with a woman about why this is a such a great pool. She explained that she had just recently come to Vancouver from England and had swum in many of Vancouver’s pools and that this was her favourite!

"Why?", I asked.

"Because of the sense of community," she explained. She also agreed about the importance of Rose. We went on to chat about everything, quickly downloading salient details of our lives.

Upon learning that I was writing a book, this woman -- her name is Simone -- offered to read a chapter. We met a few weeks later at a tea place on Main Street. Her comments were so helpful that I took her up on her offer to read other chapters, and eventually the whole book. Her feedback has been wonderfully helpful. She is now back in England but continues to send supportive email messages.

That is the power of the Percy Norman Pool.

I hope that with the transition to the new pool there can be a ritual of sorts. Perhaps to gather people in The Percy Norman and then move the energy somehow to the new location. I don’t want to stand in the way of change but it should be mindfully done. As much of what is special at Percy Norman should stay intact, as though we are transplanting a fruit bearing tree and need to make sure to dig deep enough to be able to protect the whole root ball. And for me that most importantly includes the entire staff team. They are the ones who make Percy Norman Pool such a special place. I hope I will be greeted by them all at the new pool.

I feel grateful to the people who made it possible for me to tell this story.

By Kate Sutherland

story: happy to see everyone

My name is Sucha Heer and I have been coming to Riley Park Community Center for fitness since 1986. I am always happy to see everyone here.

Now I also come with my grandchildren: Anjali who is 5 years old and Eshan who is 7 years old. They like the diving board!

story: numbers

I am the 13th child of a large family.

I have 4 brothers and 9 sisters!

I was a wrestler, a grass hockey player, a soccer player, I was everything in India! Ha ha!

I started coming to the gym at Riley Park Community Center in 1972.

I started work as a Longshoreman in Vancouver in 1978.

I have 1 son and 2 daughters.

In 2009, I retired. I was 62 years old.

I opened a beauty salon 2 months ago, but I am only the owner. I don't work there. Ha ha

Now, I want to just enjoy my life!

I come to the pool once a day, sometimes twice!

Surgit Chima at Percy Norman Pool on Tuesday March 16, 2010

story: the vacant apartment

It was a warm spring day and I was a boisterous 4 year old. It was 1969: the TV news was full of unrest, protesters wanted to make love instead of war and society hid racial tensions under a very thin veil.

We lived in an apartment building at 16^th and Main. I was always staring at the tall brick clock tower across the street that was the RCMP station. It was my second favorite place, right after the magical Dairy Queen.

Our apartment was on the ground floor looking out on 16^th Avenue. We were lucky and paid a reduced rent as we took care of the building management. We would clean the drains, mow the token front lawn, vacuum the halls and take care of finding new tenants whenever we had a vacancy.

On this particular day we had a 'Suite for Rent' sign standing tall on our front lawn. I was playing and making a mess as my mom chased my pudgy little brother, crawling around in his diaper. A young lady came to our front door and buzzed our suite. I remember my mother answering the door and the voices mixing together. I tried to see who it was from behind my mother’s leg. She wanted to look at the suite upstairs.

We formed a little parade and I led the way up the stairs as my mother carried my brother and this new lady took up the rear. My mother acted as guide as I snooped through the cupboards and played in the closets. At the end of the five minute tour my mother smiled and asked what the lady thought of the suite. With a pretty glow she agreed it would be perfect and that she loved it. My mother, trusting her instincts, wanted to arrange for a move-in date.

The young lady’s smile faded as she tentatively advised us of a few possible concerns. She had a young daughter and wanted to ensure that children were allowed. A grin and a quick question about her daughter’s age told us that she was also four and, “Wouldn’t it be nice that she could play with Tony.”

The lady smiled at this but the joy quickly disappeared as she went on to quietly admit, “I should also tell you that my husband is black and comes from Jamaica.”

“Oh.” My mother said with a smirk in her voice. “Is he cute?”

The tears mixed with laughter as she explained, over a cup of coffee, that she and her family had been denied over twenty apartments due to either having a child or her mixed marriage.

During the next few years we kids played, the parents laughed and the cute Jamaican dad from upstairs made a great Jerk Chicken. When we left in 1972 they were still there and both moms cried when we finally said goodbye.

by Tony Syskakis