June 2003

 

Photo of tombstone dating back to 1854. Common Christian practice is to bury the body
with the feet to the east, so that it will be able to rise and face the second coming of Christ.

was the first white child born in
these communities.

To make a tour “to order,” the
Millers need enough stories already
set aside in their eight filing cabi-
nets. Compiling all the data from
scratch would take years.
Fortunately, Archie and Dale are
always gathering stories, always fil-
ing away tidbits of information.
When they see a pattern develop,
they consider a tour with that par-
ticular theme, whether it be “Royal
City Engineers” or “Weathered and
Difficult-to-Read Grave Markers.”
In June 2003, for example, the
Federation of BC Writers is hosting
a conference, “Write on the River,”
at Douglas College. For conference
attendees, Archie and Dale have
organized a tour of writers buried in
New Westminster. Archie’s eyes
light up as he tells the story of a
Victorian writer of science for
youth, who lies in an unmarked
grave in the city. Known socially as
Dr. Bodington’s wife, the Millers
admit her discovery was rather
serendipitous.

The Millers recognized the
Bodington name when they came
across it while researching some-
thing else. Dr. Bodington was a
prominent physician at the
Woodlands Hospital. _ Initially,
Archie says, he wasn’t going to read
the article. But there were a couple
of words in the sub-heading that
caught his attention. If luck had not
played a role, to make this discovery
the Millers would have had to have
been looking for female science
writers of the Victorian age. What's
more, they would have had to have
asked themselves if Mrs. Bodington
might be buried in New
Westminster. “That's just not going
to happen,” says Archie.
“Sometimes the stars are aligned in

just the right way.”

Archie and Dale get participants on
their tours ranging in age from eight
to eighty, from a variety of back-
grounds. While one might think
that children may have a difficult
time dealing with the idea of death,
the Millers find that they can be a
most eager and attentive audience.
Archie recalls a little girl in grade
three or four whose class went on a
cemetery tour as a field trip. The
teacher informed Archie before the
tour began that the little girl had
just experienced the death and bur-
ial of her grandmother, wanting
Archie to be aware of the reason
behind any despondent or emotion-
al behaviour.

During the tour, a few of the girl’s

classmates asked her about her
recently deceased grandmother.
Together, the children wandered a
few feet over to the site of her grand-
mother’s grave. Archie inched close
enough to hear what she was saying
and was pleasantly surprised to find
her describing the details of the
hearse arriving, of the coffin being
carried in and lowered down into
the ground. The girl had given her
classmates a lesson that they may
have missed had it been up to the
adults in their lives.
After the tour, Archie received a let-
ter from one of the schoolchildren.
“I thought it would be icky to be
there with dead people under me,”
she wrote, “but it wasn't. I realized
that it was okay and that it is a beau-
tiful place.” Archie believes that
instilling among children apprecia-
tion and respect for both cemeteries
and the dead is very positive. “If
children understand and appreciate
the cemetery,” he explains, “they
won't vandalize it as teens, nor will
their friends.”

But even teenagers find these

cemetery tours intriguing. On a
recent tour, with the innocuous-
sounding theme of “the care and
cleaning of gravestones”, Archie tells
a chilling story of “ghost” sighting.
A 13-year-old participant listens
earnestly. His mother later remarks,
“He and his friends are so into
ghosts. He’s having a great time here
listening to the stories.”

The Millers’ most popular tour is
the “unnatural deaths” tour, for
which they tone down the publicity
in order to keep the group to rough-
ly a hundred participants. Why
unnatural deaths? Archie explains,
“This won't be a story of somebody
who dies quietly in bed, but it is not
going to be a blood- and-guts tour.
All of the people featured in the tour
will have died unnaturally, and we
will take the stories of their deaths
to tell about the community, to tell
about how the community came
together, to tell you about how there
was change to society and how
somebody died because of change.”

As Dale says, “Most of our tours
are just good stories about people,
and what they did that was just a lit-
tle bit different from other people of
their day.” And the job of making
the tours different, keeping them
new and interesting, is an ongoing
project. “It can take us a couple of
years to come up with a story and
sometimes we never come up with
one—or rather, we haven't come up
with it yet,” she says optimistically.

With a passion for history, a pas-
sion for storytelling, and an undying
industry, so to speak, the Millers
have many years of fascinating work
ahead of them. “There's no end to
stories; there’s no end to twists,” says
Archie. “There’s hundreds and hun-
dreds of the little devils.”

http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca_ =e

 

 

Two weathered grave markers in
the Fraser cemetery. The stone
on the right is made to look like
a tree stump, symbolic of a life
cut short.

Photos by Kim Meier

More on the Cemetery Tours . . .

The following tours in historical New Westminster are
open to the general public. There is no need to register and
the price — free — is right for those on student budgets.

“A Glimpse of Connaught Heights and into the West End”
This walking tour of New Westminster's West End will fea-
ture stories of a couple of cemeteries, the old interurban
streetcar system, the history of the “Connaught” name,
and more. Sunday, June 15, 3p.m. at Grimston Park. (Off
7th Avenue near 19th Street).

“Some Weathered and Difficult Grave Markers — How to
Read Them and Their Stories”

Reading tombstones can be a challenge — some are weath-
ered, some are broken, some are too light in overall colour.
In addition to giving tips on how to read grave markers,
this cemetery tour features many previously unpresented
stories behind those hard-to-read tombstones. Sunday,
July 6, 3p.m. at Fraser Cemetery, 100 Richmond Street.

“The Royal Engineers and Members of Their Families”
Meet the members of the Columbia Detachment of the
Royal Engineers — the founders of the city of New
Westminster — stationed here from 1859 to 1863, and
their families. Many stayed on in the city after the
Detachment disbanded in 1863. This tour is a must for
history buffs. Sunday, August 10, 3p.m. at Fraser
Cemetery, 100 Richmond Street.

“The City Halls of New Westminster — 1860 to Today”
This tour is presented in recognition of the 50th anniver-
sary of the current City Hall and features sites of other
buildings that have acted as City Halls during the history
of New West. Past City Hall locations include a former
agricultural building, a room above a blacksmith, and a
formal home on Columbia Street. Sunday, September 7,
3p.m. in the Memorial Plaza, City Hall, 511 Royal Avenue
(note that this tour will end on Columbia Street).

“Around City Hall”

Another tour offered in recognition of City Hall’s 50th
anniversary, this one will take a look at the “City Hall
neighbourhood” and the changes it has undergone in fifty
years. Stories of time capsules, artifacts, the Armouries, and
more will be featured. Sunday, November 16, 1:30p.m. in
the Memorial Plaza, City Hall, 511 Royal Avenue.

For further information, contact the Millers at
604.526.6113. For day-of-tour confirmation in the event
of inclement weather or other factors, contact the New
Westminster Museum at 604.527.4640.

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