To the editor;
Re: “Tram ‘tots’ to ride once more,” April 2
You have a history within a history here.
Yarrow, B.C., is a town founded by German immigrants prior to the start of the second World War.
That did not prevent them from being discriminated against, even though they had absolutely nothing to do with the Nazi
regime. That is another story, that should be told, and frequently is.
You will notice that Anne Dyke, and her sister Marlene Penner, and Elsie Giesbrecht, are all German names, who attended Yarrow Elementary School in Yarrow.
Those three women mentioned would be first or second generation Canadians, who happened to have parents or grandparents born in Germany.
They made great neighbors. If your house or barn burned down, they would have lumber, nails and hammers, building you a new replacement, before you even had a chance to contact your fire insurance agent.
How do I know this? Our family lived only five miles from Yarrow, above the B.C. Electric Railway, on the side of Vedder Mountain, between Belrose and Kidd Station, on the B.C. Electric Railway, above the lush Fraser Valley, where many German immigrants farmed.
Fred Perry
Surrey