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.
Fonds consists of sixty prints and slides dating from 1951 to 1971. It includes scenes of of Cortes Island school students, logging, and the Union Steamship. Most photographs are from the Whaletown area. There are 16 slides of a logging camp at the Quatam River in Ramsey Arm, BC.
The Maclean family (parents Don and Doris, and children Janice, Heather and Ian) lived in Whaletown from 1961 to 1973.
Don Maclean's parents, John and Edna Maclean, lived for many years in Edmonton, Alberta. When their son came home from the war they bought property near Coulter Bay and moved to Cortes Island. Don Maclean became a fisherman, eventually living on his fishing boat.
Doris Lancaster Maclean was born and raised in Victoria, B.C. In the late 1940s she answered a call from the Anglican Church to come and do Vacation Bible School with the Columbia Coast Mission on Cortes and nearby islands.
Doris and Don married in 1954. They moved to Cortes Island in 1961 when Don was hired to operate the Columbia Coast Mission boat, the "Alan Greene". They lived in the Mission house in Whaletown, next to the church. Don Maclean acted as a Lay Reader for the Columbia Coast Mission in the 1960s when no clergymen were available, holding services in the three Anglican churches on the island.
In 1967 the Diocese sold the "Alan Greene" and the Macleans were required to move out of the mission house. Maclean built a house on the beach of what used to be called Jardine’s property, although by this time it was owned by a cousin of Doris Maclean. He was hired as the Industrial First Aid man on site for the building of the Whaletown Ferry dock and after that worked as a clam digger.
The Maclean family left Cortes in 1973 and moved to Regina, SK. The house that Don built was rented for a couple of years and then sold and moved to a new location; it burned down a few years later.
Custodial History
Twenty-seven photographs and 15 slides were mailed to CIMAS by Janice Maclean Kerr in 2019; two more photos were mailed in Apr. 2021; 16 slides were mailed in Sept. 2021
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of sixty prints and slides dating from 1951 to 1971. It includes scenes of of Cortes Island school students, logging, and the Union Steamship. Most photographs are from the Whaletown area. There are 16 slides of a logging camp at the Quatam River in Ramsey Arm, BC.
Item is a Christmas card with a photograph on Whaletown as seen from the opposite bluff. The front says "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - John Nagel".
Item is a Christmas card with a photograph on Whaletown as seen from the opposite bluff. The front says "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - John Nagel".
Photograph of the "Rendezvous" in Whaletown Bay. This boat was owned by the Columbia Coast Mission from 1924-1955. It was operated by the Rev. Rollo Boas out of Whaletown from 1944 to 1954 and then briefly by Joe Titus, before being sold to Ed Tooker in 1955. Tooker renamed it the "Tari Jacque" after his two daughters, and used the boat for his work as a fisheries patrolman for the DFO. In 2015 Tooker sold the boat to Robert Critchley, who is the present-day owner (2021).
Photograph of the "Rendezvous" in Whaletown Bay. This boat was owned by the Columbia Coast Mission from 1924-1955. It was operated by the Rev. Rollo Boas out of Whaletown from 1944 to 1954 and then briefly by Joe Titus, before being sold to Ed Tooker in 1955. Tooker renamed it the "Tari Jacque" after his two daughters, and used the boat for his work as a fisheries patrolman for the DFO. In 2015 Tooker sold the boat to Robert Critchley, who is the present-day owner (2021).
Teacher Don McDevitt with group of Whaletown pupils holding ribbons and trophies.
L to R: Pat McCoy, Johnny Weiler with Jeannie Matthews in front, Sheryl Matthews, Brigid Weiler with Janice Maclean in front, Mr. Don McDevitt with Ian Maclean in front, Heather Maclean.
Teacher Don McDevitt with group of Whaletown pupils holding ribbons and trophies.
L to R: Pat McCoy, Johnny Weiler with Jeannie Matthews in front, Sheryl Matthews, Brigid Weiler with Janice Maclean in front, Mr. Don McDevitt with Ian Maclean in front, Heather Maclean.
Photograph of Santa and students holding their Christmas presents.
L to R: Heather Maclean, Johnny Weiler, Philip Bergman, ? Santa, Janice Maclean, Gary York (?), Ian Maclean, ?, Jeannie Matthews, Sheryl Matthews, Ricky Matthews. Kneeling in front: Doug McCoy, Barbie McCoy.
Photograph of Santa and students holding their Christmas presents.
L to R: Heather Maclean, Johnny Weiler, Philip Bergman, ? Santa, Janice Maclean, Gary York (?), Ian Maclean, ?, Jeannie Matthews, Sheryl Matthews, Ricky Matthews. Kneeling in front: Doug McCoy, Barbie McCoy.
Back Row L to R: Kim Hogan, Janice Maclean, Nita Prestley, Johnny Prestley.
Middle row L to R: ?, Ernie Halliday, ?, Kelly Hogan, Eugene Hogan, Jeff Hogan, Jeannie Halliday(?).
Front row: Nancy Jenkins, teacher
Back Row L to R: Kim Hogan, Janice Maclean, Nita Prestley, Johnny Prestley.
Middle row L to R: ?, Ernie Halliday, ?, Kelly Hogan, Eugene Hogan, Jeff Hogan, Jeannie Halliday(?).
Front row: Nancy Jenkins, teacher
Verso says "Easter Egg Hunt 1966. Johnny Weiler (back); Janice Maclean, Heather Maclean, Ian Maclean (back), Philip Bergman, Doug McCoy, Sarah Weiler (kneeling)
Verso says "Easter Egg Hunt 1966. Johnny Weiler (back); Janice Maclean, Heather Maclean, Ian Maclean (back), Philip Bergman, Doug McCoy, Sarah Weiler (kneeling)
Photograph of teacher Don McDevitt and Sarah Weiler blowing out the candles on a birthday cake inside the Whaletown school. Mr McDevitt and Sarah had the same birthday.
L to R: Don McDevitt, Janice Maclean, Jeannie Matthews, Johnny Weiler, Heather Maclean, Sheryl Matthews in behind Heather, Philip Bergman, Doug McCoy, Ian Maclean, and Sarah Weiler.
Photograph of teacher Don McDevitt and Sarah Weiler blowing out the candles on a birthday cake inside the Whaletown school. Mr McDevitt and Sarah had the same birthday.
L to R: Don McDevitt, Janice Maclean, Jeannie Matthews, Johnny Weiler, Heather Maclean, Sheryl Matthews in behind Heather, Philip Bergman, Doug McCoy, Ian Maclean, and Sarah Weiler.
