Jepsons & Englishes

It’s interesting how small the world is, isn’t it?  Little connections are like grains of sand that keep collecting until all of a sudden you have a beach.  At least that’s how it seems to me.  How did Frank and I come to live Thetis Island?  The tiny connections go a long way back.

My mother, Nice Jepson, had always been interested in unusual and new ideas.  In the 60’s, Mum found herself deeply involved with a group that explored how magnetic fields affect our lives.  Founded by Fran Nixon, the Northwest Magnetics Research Society was centered right here on Thetis Island.  It was a period of Mum’s life that she really enjoyed and included lots of trips to Thetis Island.  She particularly remembered one voyage on the little MV Ethel Hunter that involved a full load.  Since she drove a little Morris Minor, the deck hands bounced her car into a corner so they could jam in another car or two and then bounced her out again when they reached Thetis.  

Fran Nixon’s husband, Richard, grew up on what is now Hollyberry Lane.  Beth and Ken Bolster along with Ken’s brother, Perry, bought that property from Richard Nixon’s mother and started the Hollyberry Strata. Mum got into goats and some time after 1970, she bought a doe from Beth who remembers my parents coming over to view the prospective purchase.  Another connection!

When Frank worked for BC Tel, one of his first jobs involved emptying payphones and that brought him to Thetis Island.  He remembers payphones at the Government Dock, both marinas and thinks there might have been payphones at the church camps as well.  This was about 1969 and there was very little road paving on Thetis at the time.  He once drove to the end of Pilkey Point Road over a very narrow dirt lane and remembers the blissful peace of eating his lunch on the beach until it was time to run for the ferry home.

Now we jump to the 1980’s.  Frank and I were raising Nubian dairy goats in Cowichan Bay.  We were involved in showing the animals and testing the milk through a national program.  We met a young couple called Ann and Bill Dickie who had a half-sister to our herd matriarch.  Before you know it, we were coming over to Thetis Island to test their goats!  We quickly noticed that Thetis Island seemed to exert a calmness and serenity on us and started thinking that it might be a great place to live one day.  Ann and Bill picked up on this and in the late 80’s took us on a tour of Thetis with an eye to buying property, but it wasn’t until 1990 that Ann stumbled upon a small card on the Island bulletin board advertising a lot for sale in Hollyberry Lane.  One gorgeous sunny November day we came over to view the property with my parents and enjoyed hot chocolate and apple fritters at Clam Bay, which was crowded with softly quacking buffleheads.  Of course, we were lost!  We took possession within 2 months and the next year saw my parents selling their home of 34 years to relocate to Thetis Island as well.  Within 2 years of purchasing our lot, we had sold our home in Cowichan Bay and moved into my parents’ cottage while we built our home. 

And so tiny connections lead to a major life change.   The recent birth of our grandson had us thinking of a move from Thetis Island.  It would be nice to live closer to be more useful to our son’s family.  But then spring arrives and all thoughts of a move go flying out the window.  How could we ever find the same peace, security and solitude that we enjoy here on Thetis Island?

Pat English