Fonds consists primarily of photographs and slides taken by Mary Weiler. Textual records include correspondence, several issues of the "Log" of the Columbia Coast Mission, and material about Victor Von Donop, for whom Von Donop Inlet is named.
Fonds is arranged in five series: 1: Photographs, 2: Correspondence, 3: Von Donop, 4: Ephemera, and 5: Books.
In April of 1947 Otto and Mary Weiler were recently returned from London, and they were war weary---Mary was recovering from tuberculosis, and Otto from injuries sustained in the army, and like most people in those days, they were left strapped by the Depression and the War--- but they had a dream. They chartered a boat, and traveled up the BC coast, seeking a place where they could live---in their words---"a happy, romantic, bohemian life".
Otto John—always known affectionately as Ottie---was born in Victoria, BC on March 27, 1903, to a well-to-do mercantile family. His grandparents, John and Christiana Weiler, arrive in Fort Victoria in the early 1850's from Germany by way of San Francisco, where they established a successful furniture factory and other businesses. Reminders of the Weiler family still exist in Victoria, most notably the six-story Weiler Building at the corner of Broad and Government streets, originally a grandly-appointed department store, and the Weiler cenotaph in Ross Bay cemetery.
Mary was born Mary Agnes Campbell on March 13, 1915, in Enderby, BC. Her grandparents were pioneers who arrived in the North Okanogan to farm in the 1880's. The family moved to New Westminster in 1921. After high school Mary studied nursing at the Royal Jubilee hospital in Victoria, and then departed for France, having decided to work her way around the world. When war broke out, however, she was evacuated from France at Dunkirk, and immediately joined the British army. She served a nurse in London for the duration of the war, and here she met Ottie, a major with the Canadian Scottish regiment. There were married in 1943, and both went back to their respective postings with the army, looking forward to the day when they could live together.
When Ottie and Mary sailed into Whaletown Bay, they were immediately enchanted by the house on the point, half-built and occupying 5 rocky acres of waterfront. They were urban and idealistic, and ready to throw themselves into life on a remote island. At first they turned their hand to fishing commercially. Their boat was twelve-foot clinker built inboard; a salmon license cost a dollar. In 1949 they were hired by Cece Stubbs to manage the Whaletown Store. When Gary and Velma Bergman bought the store in 1956, Ottie was offered the position of Whaletown postmaster, a job he held until a few months before his death.
Mary was an artist—a talented and serious one. In spite of the isolation of Cortes Island in those days, she made a name for herself as a British Columbia artist of note, showing her work widely and selling internationally. Her studio was the dining-room table, surrounded by a swirl of children, and her paintings and prints were created in the midst of the gardening, fishing and canning necessary to country survival.
Ottie was a writer---he had been a journalist before the war---and was a passionate gardener, fisherman, hunter and forager who tirelessly explored the trails and homesteads on the north end of Cortes, and beachcombed all his firewood.
They were both dedicated to community service. Ottie was Justice of the Peace, a thoughtful counselor once famously referred to by Gilean Douglas as 'a Justice who really practiced peace' and he also served on the boards of the Whaletown Community Club and other organizations for many years. Mary acted as a community nurse, as well as teaching First Aid classes, holding monthly clinics, and canvassing for the Canadian cancer society. She taught annual art classes and workshops for adults and children, and in the late '60s, she and Ottie opened a summer art gallery in their Whaletown home---the Garden Gallery---as a showcase for local artists and craftspeople.
Ottie and Mary had four daughters---Christina, born March 23rd, 1951; Brigid, born June 6th, 1953; Alexandra (who, however, has always gone by the nickname “Johnny”) born May 5th, 1955; and Sarah, born September 27th, 1958.
In 1973 Ottie died after a short illness, and Mary didn't want to stay in their dream home without him. In 1974 she sold the house and said farewell to Whaletown. Mary Weiler went on to many more adventures—studying, travelling, and always making art---and died in Victoria in1999.
[by Brigid Weiler, March 10, 2016]
Custodial History
This material was created or collected by Mary and Otto Weiler and donated to CIMAS by their daughter Brigid Weiler. The first accession was in 2003 (Accession #2003.002). There are two accruals: #2009.002 and #2017.001.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists primarily of photographs and slides taken by Mary Weiler. Textual records include correspondence, several issues of the "Log" of the Columbia Coast Mission, and material about Victor Von Donop, for whom Von Donop Inlet is named.
Fonds is arranged in five series: 1: Photographs, 2: Correspondence, 3: Von Donop, 4: Ephemera, and 5: Books.
File contains pages from a ledger with accounts of income and expense of the SCCA, including Dental Clinic and Recreation Commission accounts. Pages are oversize.
File contains pages from a ledger with accounts of income and expense of the SCCA, including Dental Clinic and Recreation Commission accounts. Pages are oversize.
Photograph of four young women, Margaret Copland, Violet Stoney, Muriel Cunliffe (teacher at the Whaletown school) and Joyce Allen, seated on a bench against the front of the freight shed on the Whaletown wharf. Posters advertising the Vancouver exhibition and a dentist can be clearly read on the side of the freight shed.
Photograph of four young women, Margaret Copland, Violet Stoney, Muriel Cunliffe (teacher at the Whaletown school) and Joyce Allen, seated on a bench against the front of the freight shed on the Whaletown wharf. Posters advertising the Vancouver exhibition and a dentist can be clearly read on the side of the freight shed.
Series consists of five folders containing a hand-written constitution, meeting agendas, planning documents, a list of donations and a schedule for first aid respondents on call.
Series consists of five folders containing a hand-written constitution, meeting agendas, planning documents, a list of donations and a schedule for first aid respondents on call.
Series consists of one folder containing responses to a survey of islanders designed to establish the feasibility of establishing an emergency first aid service.
Series consists of one folder containing responses to a survey of islanders designed to establish the feasibility of establishing an emergency first aid service.
Series consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence generated during Douglas's residence on Cortes (1949-1993) and covering subjects of primarily local interest. Before the advent of telephone service in 1968, island residents communicated extensively through the Post Office, and much of this correspondence consists of notes and letters from Douglas's neighbours. Subjects covered include daily life, community activities, B.C. and Cortes Island history and Douglas's health concerns.
Series consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence generated during Douglas's residence on Cortes (1949-1993) and covering subjects of primarily local interest. Before the advent of telephone service in 1968, island residents communicated extensively through the Post Office, and much of this correspondence consists of notes and letters from Douglas's neighbours. Subjects covered include daily life, community activities, B.C. and Cortes Island history and Douglas's health concerns.
Sedley Bell-Irving Sweeny (November 29, 1917 - December 19, 2013) was born in England. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada with a commission in the Royal Engineers and went on to serve in World War II with the 8th Army from El Alamein onwards, then in Sicily, Italy and Greece; he was awarded Military Cross for valour at the Garigliano River crossing in Jan.'44.
He married Diana Game in 1941 and they had three daughters: Nicola, Terry and Robin. He retired from the army in 1957, bought a farm in Wales, and for the next thirty years devoted his energies to sustainable land management, self sufficiency and, increasingly, the welfare of marginalized people. With Diana, he managed an orphanage for Tibetan refugee children in Simla, India, on behalf of Save the Children Fund, subsequently founding The Society for Training in Rural Industries and Village Enterprises, through which he provided instruction and practical experience for Tibetan family groups on his farm.
Sedley returned to BC in 1985, divorced and single again. At age 71 he rowed to Cortes from Vancouver, where he met and married his second wife, Trude Albright, in 1989. Sedley was a Self Sufficiency advocate promoting a Cortes wide vision of cooperation and skill sharing. He and Trude were involved in many Cortes community initiatives including an emergency first aid and ambulance service; the Friends of Cortes Association; the Cortes Ecoforestry Society; the Cortes Earmark Book of islander skills; and The Cooperation For Cortes Self Sufficiency. Many of the associated activities happened at Trude's Café. A skilled boat-builder, he converted a fishing boat into a junk-rigged yacht, and he also instructed Cortes youth in boatbuilding and sailing.
Sedley died at home at the age of 96 and is buried in the Whaletown cemetery.
Custodial History
There is no accession record; fonds has been given an arbitrary FIC (Found In Collection) number based on the date of processing.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of writings by Sedley Sweeny, including a book, "The Challenge of Smallholding", and two photographs of his sailboat, "Wild Rose".
Photograph of the clinic building, with the Rectory beside it. Note the lack of telephone and electrical lines, which indicates the date is between 1950 and 1969.
Photograph of the clinic building, with the Rectory beside it. Note the lack of telephone and electrical lines, which indicates the date is between 1950 and 1969.
Dr. Dale Anderson's Marine Dental Clinic provided dental services for Cortes Island and nearby islands from 1995 - 2020. The dental office was originally in this sailboat and then moved into the float house clinic at the Whaletown dock (seen at the bottom of the ramp).
Dr. Dale Anderson's Marine Dental Clinic provided dental services for Cortes Island and nearby islands from 1995 - 2020. The dental office was originally in this sailboat and then moved into the float house clinic at the Whaletown dock (seen at the bottom of the ramp).
