Frederick Ellis Kells

Frederick Ellis Kells aged 88 years passed away peacefully at Rosewood Care Centre in Langley on April 30th 2011. Lovingly remembered by his wife Kathleen, sons Kerry and Keith, daughter Karen (Keith), grandchildren Sylvia and Melissa, niece and nephews, as well as many relatives and friends. Fred lived his life in Port Kells and Langley and worked for over 30 years at Seagram's BC Distillery in New Westminster. A Celebration of Life will be held at Henderson's Langley Funeral Home (20786 Fraser Highway, Langley, BC) on May 14th 2011 at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the charity of your choice. Condolences may be offered at www.hendersonslangleyfunerals.com

Arrangements under the direction of Henderson's Langley Funeral Home, Langley, BC.

Fred’s Eulogy Written by Kay

How can I cover 88 years of his life and almost 65 of those years in our marriage, in a few lines of writing? Until he was almost 50 years old, Fred was always called by his second name Ellis because his father was Fred. I still think of him as Ellis even though he preferred Fred, so in this brief story I’ll call him Ellis.

Since our families lived about ½ mile apart we knew of each other ever since I can remember. Our mothers belonged to St. Oswald’s Anglican Church Women’s Auxiliary (W.A.). That’s where Ellis and I attended Sunday school. In those days an 8 year old girl and an 11 year old boy didn’t have much in common, especially when the boy was very, very shy. He always said he was scared of girls when he was a teenager.

When he finished grade 11 in high school he didn’t want to go back for grade 12. His parents told him if he could find a job he could quit. Ellis got work as a deckhand on a tugboat. He worked first on the ‘Escort’ and later on the ‘Progressive’ – the latter one was owned by Kingcome Navigation Company and their main job was taking supplies and mail to Powell River and bringing large rolls of paper back to Vancouver on their barges. When he joined the RCAF in November 1942 he quit that job and began Air Force training in Vancouver, going home to Langley on week-ends.

He was almost 20 and I’d just turned 17 when we had our first date in January 1943. Within a couple of months after we started dating I knew he was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. How could I help but love him – he was so quiet and calm, no temper tantrums, he respected me, was considerate and loving, what else could a girl want? He was the strength that gave me the self-confidence to go out into the working world and feel comfortable meeting new situations and people. Until that time I’d been very timid about going places I hadn’t been before or trying anything new. I graduated from grade 12 in 1944 and that summer when he was home on leave from his RCAF base in New Brunswick I received my engagement ring

The New Year’s Eve celebration of 1943-44 Ellis was in Times Square in New York. He and several of his RCAF group had gone there on their New Year’s leave. While there for a few days he also met his uncle (mother’s brother) and aunt who lived in a town nearby.

The war ended in August 1945 and Ellis was soon home and looking for a permanent job. It was the spring of 1946 before he found work and then we set our wedding date. We were married September 14, 1946 and went to Penticton by bus for our honeymoon. The bus trip from Vancouver to Penticton took 16 hours! The only route through the Coast mountains was up the Fraser Canyon.

We continued to live where I’d been in Kitsilano except we moved into a larger room where we could see English Bay and the North Shore mountains. We often came back to our Langley homes on week-ends alternating between staying with my parents or his. Ellis started to build a little house on the acreage his parents had given us in Langley. In the summer of 1948 we moved out to live in it, so I was no longer able to get to Vancouver to my job. After a year at home in the little house we finally decided it was time to start a family. Almost three and a half years after our marriage we were shocked when we had not one baby but identical twin sons. It was quite a challenge for me as I’d never ever baby-sat kids. Ellis knew more about them than I did because he had looked after his sister Louise’s children.

Ellis decided to look for work closer to home and started working for a plumber in Cloverdale. After a year he decided to get something more permanent so he applied for and got a job in the maintenance department at Seagram’s B.C. Distillery in New Westminster. He worked there for almost 30 years until he took early retirement when Seagram’s closed their plants in B.C. about 1979.

After our twins were born Ellis enlarged our little house and we lived in it for more than 20 years. In March 1956 when the twins were 6 years old we had a daughter.

In the later 1960’s Ellis and our sons built a new larger house for us a little farther along Telegraph Trail which we moved into and we soon sold our first house. Eventually we sold the second house on the Trail and bought 3 ¾ acres on 86th Avenue at 204th Street where we lived for 8 years. We’d been about 9 years in the second house on the Trail and while there Ellis’ father passed away and for a few years his mother lived with us until she passed away in 1977. While in that house we had a lot of company coming and going too. In 1976 our daughter Karen got married to Keith O’Connor and we had the reception at our home.

Ellis loved hunting and fishing. As an older teenager his uncle, Harry Kells, took him hunting for deer or moose in the Cariboo. While working at the Distillery he went hunting nearly every year with one or another of his friends from work. Ellis and my Dad used to go duck hunting down 201st Street near the Fraser River.

Ellis’ Uncle Harry and Aunt Pearl had no children but they were my parents closest friends and were very good to me. I only saw Ellis at their place briefly a couple of times over all the years prior to us beginning to go out together. I guess that was in the days when he was scared of girls.

After Ellis retired we had many good holidays driving around B.C. We often visited my step-brother and his family at Lac LaHache. The boys and Ellis sometimes went there to go fishing. We frequently visited Ellis’ sister Louise and her family at Summerland. Several times we visited a relative of mine at Rosetown, Saskatchewan. We went to Mannville, Alberta to visit my friend who had been my bridesmaid. In 1979 we flew to Whitehorse to spend a week with Gordon and Evelyn McRobb, friends from Distillery working days. In the early 1990’s we visited them at Terrace where they lived for a few years. In 1988 we drove to Ontario to visit relatives in Bruce County, Ottawa, Markham and Kingston and near Detroit in USA. We were away from home for 5 weeks that time. Our last trip was almost 4 years ago when our daughter Karen took Ellis and I in our van to Powell River for a 3-day week-end. We had made many trips there over the years to visit my cousin and her family. Ellis enjoyed those holidays as that’s where he remembered happy times as a deckhand on the ‘Progressive’ in his later teens.

In the 3 years since we’ve been together here in Rosewood we’ve spent many happy hours reminiscing about our life together over the past 65 years; the people we’ve met, old neighbours and friends, relatives who have come and gone, the places we’ve visited. It feels like we’ve been together forever.

For Dad from Kerry, Keith and Karen

After Fred became a grandfather he was know as Papa; Kay was known as Nana. Everyone loved Papa. He was a sweet and gentle person, and such a tease. Every day he teased Nana – always hugging and kissing her and tickling her. Sometimes Nana and Papa would be frustrated with each other but they always made up. Papa’s love for Nana never diminished – the love they shared was very special.

Papa taught us how to ride our bikes and drive the tractor and car. We had a lot of fun driving through the bush in the old ’57 Chevy he had converted to a small flatbed truck. He taught us how to build and repair things. It seemed to us he could build or repair anything. He was a coppersmith, welder, fabricator, mechanic, builder and farmer. If something didn’t work at home, Papa would fix it.

Papa loved to go for walks down the road to the river and through our bush. He loved finding the first trilliums and wild violets in the spring. If the winter was really cold and snowy he would take corn to the edge of the woods and spread it out for the pheasants. The woods were his favorite place.

Papa always had a dog. Except for Duke the collie, they were all mutts, with lots of personality but no distinct pedigree. Over the years there were big ones and little ones, brown and black, short and long-haired - he loved all his dogs. They were his special friends.

Papa enjoyed fishing and camping – he built a camper and a boat and took us on many fishing trips to the Interior. We caught a lot of fish and came back with stories about the really big one that got away. One time, we rescued several people who had capsized their canoe.

Papa was very independent. He was always ready to help relatives and friends but felt he shouldn’t bother other people. He was a humble man and never felt himself more important than others.

We love Papa and miss him, but he is enjoying the company of the friends and relatives that have gone before him - reminiscing about the fun times they had together and looking forward to the adventures they will share tomorrow.

Love,

Kerry, Keith, Karen

My Mom's Father

by Sylvia O'Connor

A short apple shaped man

Slightly balding

A soft face

That shows his inner self

A lover of suspenders

Fredrick Ellis Kells

My grandfather

My Mom's Dad

I've always known him

Through tales a many

Memories a many too

And sometimes the odd photograph

He was a coppersmith

Welding bronze bands together

Taking his hammer and

beating it

To make pipes for

the distillery

Sometimes called out

In the middle

Of a Sunday Dinner

To repair the copper pipes

Repaired planes

In the Second World War

Repaired the damaged ones

Over in Canada

Working to remold

The plywood of the

Mosquito

Repairing the fabric

And metal of others

A deckhand on the

Coastal tugboats

Making sure the barges were still attached

The captain, the cook and he

Sailing up and down the straits

Grew up on 150 acres

In the municipality of Langley

To run free on

Had twin sons and

A daughter

My mom

Walked five miles

To Highschool

Found arrowheads

In the plowed fields

Fredrick Ellis Kells

Through many tales

And many photographs

Is how

I came to know him

As the descendant of Port Kells.