Florence Petersen will be presented with Whistler’s highest distinction, the Freedom of the Municipality, Monday, June 4, 2012.
Florence Petersen (left) and Myrtle Philip (right) enjoying a joke together.
Florence founded the Whistler Museum and Archives Society in 1986 as part of a promise made to Whistler pioneers Mytle Philip and Dick Fairhurst to preserve Whistler’s pioneer history. Florence has worked endlessly to share stories from before the ski hill when Whistler was a site of summer fishing destinations and logging camps.
Florence Petersen with the new sign for the Whistler Museum and Archives building in Function Junction, opened in 1988.
Florence and fellow recipient Joan Richoz, founder of the Whistler Public Library, will officially be awarded the Freedom of the Municipality at a special council meeting at the Whistler Conference Centre on June 4. The meeting begins at 5:30 and a reception will follow the ceremony.
Florence Petersen and her friends (left to right) Jacquie Pope, June Tidball, Fido, Getty Gray and Eunice “Kelly” Forster at their Witsend cottage in 1955.
Myrtle Philip is the leviathan of Whistler’s history: her name is immortalized in the Myrtle Philip elementary school; she was the first person to be awarded the title ‘Freeman of Whistler’; there is even an official Myrtle Philip day! By all accounts she was a very special lady. Incredibly gutsy, she could do pretty much anything – from building Rainbow Lodge by hand, to baking pies out on the trail, to guiding stranded railway men across the snow and back to civilization. Myrtle Philip was certainly no wallflower.
The Museum is packed full of artifacts and archives relating to Myrtle and Rainbow Lodge. She was the first person to donate items to us, and it was Myrtle and another pioneer, Dick Fairhurst, who inspired Florence Petersen to start the museum. We have hundreds, if not thousands of photographs of Myrtle – I can recognize her instantly at any age from 19 to 90. We even have some silent film footage of her: fishing and with her beloved horses. But despite this I had never heard her voice, save for a ten second clip on an old radio show.
So, imagine my delight when Kay Alsop, a retired journalist and good friend of Myrtle’s called me to let me know that she had some reel-to-reel tapes of an interview she had conducted with Myrtle in 1971 for an article for the Vancouver Province.
Kay had been sent up to Whistler to do a piece on Myrtle and the two of them hit it off immediately. Kay remembers, “She was such a take charge kind of person – no nonsense…really a nifty lady and I could tell right off the bat that we were going to be friends.”
The museum has digitized the tapes. All six reels come to around an hour’s worth of interviews: too much to put on a blog, but we can share some of our favourite excerpts for you here.
Firstly Myrtle discusses how she always wore breeches, despite the fact that women never wore pants at this time:
Hearing Myrtle converse in her broad Maine accent is really thrilling for us at the museum. We have been telling Myrtle’s story for 25 years – now Myrtle gets a chance to speak for herself.
We received a great response for our recent post about Whistler-Blackcomb ski run names, so we figured we would post a few more. Last time we were pretty Blackcomb-heavy, so this week we’ll weight things more towards Whistler.
Whistler
Franz’s Run – Franz Wilhelmsen, from Norway, was one of the founders of Garbaldi Lifts Ltd and remained the president of the company for 20 years.
Bagel Bowl – Preferred piste of former Whistler Mountain President, Lorne Borgal, affectionately known as the ‘Lone Bagel’.
Franz Wilhelmsen and Lorne Borgal (the Lone Bagel!) at the Franz’s Run dedication ceremony in 1983.
Chunky’s Choice – Named after Chunky Woodward, he was another one of the founding directors of Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. It was his favourite run.
Jolly Green Giant – Named after Vancouver and Whistler resident Casey Niewerth. He was over six feet tall and dressed all in green so he was easily recognized on the hill as “the Jolly Green Giant” named after the canned vegetables brand.
Jam Tart – Named after cat driver John Cleland who was tragically killed in Whistler Bowl while recovering avalanche duds – Jam Tart was Cleland’s nickname.
Pony Trail – At one point during the construction of lifts on Whistler Mountain, fire hazard forced workers to use packhorses to transport supplies up the mountain. The road they used became a ski run, so it kept the name.
Tokum – Named after Tokum Corners – a ‘skibum’ house lived in by John Hetherington, George Benjamin and others. Tokum was the run they took home at the end of the day. We’ll let you figure out how Tokum Corners got its name.
George “Benji” Benjamin outside Tokum Corners, 1970s.
Cockalorum – Named for mechanic Jack Goodale, who died in an accident in 1981. Cockalorum means a small person with a large presence.
Boomer Bowl – Apparently, windows in Alpine Meadows rattle when this bowl gets bombed for avalanche control.
Burnt Stew Trail – In the summer of 1958 Florence Peterson, Kelly Fairhurst and Don Gow were on a back-packing trip around Whistler Mountain. After setting up camp one evening they started cooking dinner in an old billy can over a fire, built into the rocks of a dry creek bed. Nobody remembered to stir the pot, resulting in the smell after which the area (Burnt Stew Basin), and ski run are named after.
Kelly Fairhurst and Florence Petersen during their 1958 Burnt Stew hike.
Blackcomb
Arthur’s Choice – Named for Mountain Planning and Environmental Resource Manager Arthur DeJong in 1994. Designed to bring a new dimension to glade skiing.
Xhiggy’s Meadow – Named after Peter Xhignesse, an original ski patroller on Blackcomb Mountain who died of cancer at 32.
There are literally hundreds of more run names, both on and off the trail map, so if you are curious about any specific names leave a comment or e-mail us your questions!
Local historian Florence Petersen has been quietly working away on her book on Whistler’s pioneers for the last three years and with the help of the Whistler Museum, she hopes to get it published in the next few months. There’s only one problem…. it doesn’t have a name!
Whistler’s pioneers searching for a good name.
The book tells the story of Whistler before skiing came to the valley. Myrtle Philip and Rainbow Lodge are of course featured, but there are many other early residents whose tales are told here, including trappers, loggers, prospectors and summer cottage owners. It covers the period from about 1900 to 1965, the year the ski-hill was built.
The book can’t be published without a title, so we are running a competition in the hope that you lovely people in internet-land might be able to help us out.
If you have a good idea for a title then we would love to hear it.
If we select your title you’ll win a free museum membership and a copy of the book signed by the author, and, of course, the GLORY of naming a book! Closing date for entries is March 1st.
