Showing 107 results

The Fine Arts Five was an “eclectic groups of award winning artists” that resided and exhibited their work in Mission, British Columbia. The five primary members were Doris J. Patterson, Dorothy St. Hilaire, June Pender, Malonie Kasian, and Ruth Adams Booth. Each specialized in a different art medium and they joined together to form the Fine Arts Five in 1992.

Ruth Pender was born in England and is a graduate of the London Art School. Her preferred medium is oils and her area of focus is the B.C. landscape, particularly the coastal areas and the Gulf Islands. Ruth Adams Booth received her artistic education at the University of Washington, in Seattle. Her technique is the colagraph to create images in texture and color. Dorothy St. Hilaire was born and raised in B.C.. She started painting as a watercolorist, but also paints mixed media paintings specializing in the landscape of the province. Malonie Kasian studied at the University College of the Fraser Valley and at the National Academy of Design in New York City. Her preferred media is watercolor. Doris J. Patterson was born and raised in England and trained in Canada. Her chosen media is acrylic and collage as well as oil on canvas.

The artists held eight annual exhibitions of their work from 1993-2000 and invited local guest artists to participate in the exhibitions. As a result of the group's efforts many Mission artists received exposure and recognition for their work. The group disbanded in 2000 due to new interests and influences in the lives of the artists, taking them in a new direction.

The Mission Women's Institute was established in 1910. Its first activity was sending blankets and parcels to soldiers serving overseas in World War I. As the chief organizer of the civilian war effort in Mission, MWI also made thousands of jars of jam, knitted garments and packed tobacco for men overseas. The MWI sold patriotic buttons and organized concerts and a play to raise money for the overseas aircraft fund and hospitals. It formed the first public lending library in Mission and brought the first public health nurse to Mission to start the first baby clinic. It organized the first tag day to start the building of Pleasant View Home. It participated in numerous fundraising efforts and community movements to establish and maintain the Mission Memorial Hospital. In 1925, it donated a new bandstand to the Mission City Community Brass Band. In 1945, it made five quilts for Russian relief. It regularly made donations to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. It held baby contests and an annual flower show for at least fifteen years, the fifteenth show being in June 1931. In 1918, it donated fruit and vegetables to the Rescue Home in Vancouver. In 1921, it offered night classes in sewing, dressmaking, millinery and bookkeeping. In 1949, it made donations to the Queen Alexandra Solarium Junior League, Conquer Cancer, and the Mission Film Council. Affiliated with the Agricultural Board, it often used the Agricultural Hall for meetings and other gatherings. It was funded by a small annual government group. The purpose of members was to serve "home and country". After 85 years of existence, members voted on October 23, 1995 to go into abeyance. MWI funds were donated to Mission Transition House children's program

Born in Atchelitz, BC, Albert (Bert) Clifford (1916-2008) married in 1939 and after the war studied photography before moving to Mission in 1947 to start a business with his wife Madge. Within a year of establishing The Clifford Studio, the devastating flood waters of the Fraser River in 1948 seriously impacted the business. Being one of the few photographers in the community, however, Bert set out equipped with his camera to document the historic event, capturing the catastrophic destruction in Mission and adjacent communities. A number of his images were published in Nature’s Fury: The inside Story of the Disastrous BC Floods.

In the ensuing years, he was able to rebuild his business and in 1953 opened a new studio claimed to be the largest one in British Columbia at the time. Due to the post-war baby boom, photographing babies became a primary focus of the business along with bridal photography. Bert supplemented his income with press photography providing the majority of the images for the Fraser Valley Record newspaper between the 1947 and 1959 which documented day to day life in the community and events such as celebrations, funerals and weddings. After Clifford Studios closed down in 1966, Bert embarked on a new career in real estate, retiring in 1984.

Alonzo Gordon Monds (1880-1970) and Ina Monds (1894-1957) arrived in Mission, B.C., in 1912.
Ralph Monds (1923-)

Mr. Harry Barnett was born in England in 1883 and passed away in 1964, and his wife Emma Barnett (nee De Brader) was born in the Jersey Channel Islands in 1888 and passed away in 1979. After their marriage they made their home in England, where there first daughter Miriam was born in 1913.

In 1915, shortly after the Barnett's arrival in Vancouver, they had a second daughter, Ruth. The family moved to Mission in 1918, and took up residence at the foot of Mt. Mary Ann. Here their third daughter, Berna, was born in 1924.

The Barnetts were very involved in the Japanese community in Mission. Emma Barnett taught Mission's Japanese Canadian children in kindergarten for many years, and prior to thin, the Barnetts befriended a number of Japanese Canadian boys who sought them out for help with English. Many former students continued to correspond with the Barnetts after leaving Mission

The Barnetts were still leaving in Mission when Harry Barnett passed away in 1964. Emma continued to make her home in the old house beneath Mt. Mary Ann until she had lived out fifty years there. She then moved to Vancouver, where she died in 1979

In Mission, "Barnett Street" was named after them and runs northwest off of Knight Avenue, close to Mt. Mary Ann, where Emma and Harry made their home.

The Mission Memorial Centre Society was incorporated in 1973 to promote and coordinate social services in the District of Mission. The Society operated the Mission Memorial Centre, previously the Mission Memorial Hospital building. The Society was dissolved in 1989.

Nicomen Island Women's Institute was established in 1947 and served Nicomen Island in the Fraser River east of Mission.

James (Jimmy) Gunn was born in New Westminster. He worked for the Motor Vehicle Branch of the B.C. Provincial Police and was transferred to Mission City in 1945. Gunn was active in a variety of community service and sports groups and headed a project under the auspices of the local Rotary Club to construct the first public swimming pool in Mission. He is most noted for being the founder of the Mission City Soap Box Derby, an annual event which ran from 1947 to 1973.

The Pacific Cooperative Union was established in 1932 to help farmers process and sell their fruit. The cooperative's members, many of Japanese descent, came from throughout the Fraser Valley. The Cooperative established its main plant in Mission, B.C., first processing berries and later vegetables and jam. The Cooperative ceased operations in 1973 and was formally dissolved in 1984.

Harry Vogel is a retired engineer in Mission, B.C., interested in local history. He was a member of the Construction Committee for the Rites of Passage Exhibition, which portrayed the history of Japanese Canadians in the Mission area.