Roland Jamieson, best known as Rollie, was a well-known storyteller in Salmon Arm. Now he’s part of the story himself as his nephew, Ken Jamieson, will be presenting a story on the history of the Jamieson family at the Okanagan Historical Society’s AGM in a few weeks.
Ken pulls out a well worn black notebook. In it his grandmother, Sarah Jamieson, kept family records. He’s pretty good at remembering dates, but sometimes he corrects information as he glances over his grandmother’s notes.
“They came to Salmon Arm somewhere in the 1920s, they permanently resided here around 1924. My grandfather was one of the first chiropractors in the area. He was trained in Portland, Oregon.”
His grandfather, Douglas Hugh Jamieson, was the 14th of 14 children. He and Sarah were married in 1912 in Quebec. He moved and worked in various cities before becoming a chiropractor.
“I never met my grandfather, he died before I was born,” says Ken. “I heard stories how he would travel to Revelstoke and be gone for a couple of days and he would come back with a box of vegetables and food because people didn’t have money to pay him.”
They had seven children, only the youngest, Donald (aka Dunc) was born in Salmon Arm. The Jamiesons were involved in their community, the boys being part of the famous hockey team, MAWS Jam Eaters. Some of the children moved away as they grew up, some stayed in town, carrying on the tradition of being active community members.
“Both Roland and my dad (Jack) were plumbers and gas fitters. My uncle Roland had RA Jamieson Heating and Plumbing for years and my dad worked with him.”
Ken says it’s impossible to mention them without adding the names of their longtime employees, Jack Phillips and Sid Bedwell.
Jack married Eveline Hopkins, whose family’s roots were rooted just as firmly in Salmon Arm as the Jamieson’s.
“The blend of the two families gave me 36 first cousins and over half of them were in Salmon Arm,” says Ken. He says growing up in a community with generational roots was a huge impact.
“I’m friends with people whose parents were friends with my parents and who were friends of my grandparent’s families. Looking back, I had a lot of people looking out for me and I think there was a shared responsibility for adults to look after each others’ kids. That’s the kind of background I came from.”
He says relatives, neighbours, teachers and others in the community supported and corrected him kindly as he was growing up. As he reminisces a little of his own childhood he mentions skating outside for hours with his friend, ‘Spoony’, until one skate was frozen on his foot and he went home crying, biking out to Sandy Point to go swimming, picking cherries in North Broadview for $3, and buying his first record at Mr. Preston’s Radio and Record Shop.
“It was ‘The Best of the Animals’. I still have it and I still play it, it’s still a great record,” says Ken.
He is looking forward to the presentation.
“It’s our commemoration of the past. The lives of those who came before us were important. It’s about being connected.”
The Salmon Arm branch of Okanagan Historical Society will meet Sunday, April 8 at 2 p.m. at the Seniors Drop in Centre, 31 Hudson Ave. Everyone is welcome.