So as an experiment in how all things tie together I opened up my cherished copy of “Crowsnest and Its People” and pointed, without looking, at a single randomly selected page. I professed to myself that whatever page it turned out to be that I would share the contents with you the readers and endeavour to make some kind of connection with who or whatever it discussed. My finger landed on page 838 in the family biographies section and on the name Sam and Richard Shone.
Each one of the hundreds of family histories, so carefully researched and inserted into this book by dedicated individuals with the museum years ago, is a wonderful story unto itself. If you really want to connect all the dots together in this amazing melting pot of nationalities that is the Pass then immerse yourself in this bible of who’s who, why, when and how.
So here goes with the Shone story whose original text was done by none other than that intrepid museum volunteer Florence Kerr. Some of the story will be direct quotes from the book and some will be just me trying to make a connection.
Most family stories start with their arrival here either individually or as a family to start a new life and this one was no different. According to Florence: “Sam Shone was born in Chequebt, Lancashire, England of English and Irish parents.” He eventually married Caroline Pugh of West Houghton in 1900. Sam fought in the Boer War and on returning got word of work opportunity in Nova Scotia with the Dominion Mines. “Mrs Shone was not too happy about her husband’s desire for life in the Canadian Maritimes, but cared for their son Dick, who was born October 15th, 1902, while a home was set up for them across the Atlantic.”
She arrived in 1903 where daughter Sarah was born and shortly after that Sam, who had a pit bosses ticket, got word of the rich coal fields in the Pass and they came west in 1905. “Mr. Shone became qualified as mine superintendent while in Coleman and moved with his family to Frank where he held that position. They lived there during the eight month strike of 1911. Strike breakers were brought in from the coast to keep the mines in operation..... Dick found life trying. His friends were children of striking miners, his Dad the Mine Superintendent.”
Dick remembered that he played soccer and baseball with the youngest of the Dunlop boys who are commemorated at the Frank Dunlop Memorial. He also recalled being nervous about living on the east side of Frank as there was always rocks rolling down and clouds of dust. One day they climbed Turtle from the Blairmore side to see if they could find the “piano” wire stretched across the big crack to monitor its widening. “Mr Shone had responsibilities at Lille as well as at Frank and Bellevue, and Dick often travelled to Lille on the Grassy Mountain-Frank train with his Dad.” The Shones moved to Blairmore for a short time and then to Bellevue where they lived “in a large house built for the mine manager.” Dick’s sister Phyllis was born in Bellevue in 1913 and that same year Sam Shone became ill, travelled to Vancouver to improve his health and passed away in Calgary.
“Mrs Shone returned to England with her two children. Since rent was not forthcoming from the duplex the Shones had built in Coleman, Mrs. Shone brought her children back to that town in May of 1914.” She took in boarders and eventually married one, Andrew Dow, in 1916.
Dick Shone had an amazing childhood growing up in Coleman playing soccer and baseball and eventually bought himself a horse when he was 14. He spent a lot of time with Harry Boulton at the ranger station looking after horses. Harry Boulton you will remember is the ranger who led that winter time recovery mission to the 1947 plane crash on Mt. Ptolemy.
Dick worked in a blacksmith shop across from Coleman’s present day post office, did deliveries for the Burn’s Meat Market and eventually went to work in the McGillivray Mine. His mother and stepfather, the Dow’s, bought a theater, built where the blacksmith shop used to be, in 1924 and both he and Mr. Dow worked night shift at the mine and ran the theater during the evenings.
In 1929 Dick lost his right hand in an accident which was a real blow to him as by then he was a very accomplished tennis player. “He immediately began to play with his left hand and in short time took his place again with the top competitors of the Pass.”
Dick Shone also worked at the Ironstone Forestry Lookout, blazed trail into Vicary Creek and by 1959 was working as a watchman at the Race Horse Creek Sawmill. In 1964 while working at the Sentinel Sawmill (Atlas) he lost the first joint of his thumb on his right hand. “He then retired.”
So here is where I can make a connection. As a young boy I fell in love with tennis and spent many hours at the Coleman court pounding balls off of the backboard and practicing my serve. On day in 1964 I observed a man practicing at the courts who was quite remarkable to watch. He used to toss the tennis ball up in the air with a stump of a right arm and drive the ball across the net with a speed that stunned me. I eventually wound up playing him and for a couple years we played on occasion which usually ended up with me desperately trying to return his bullet serves and wicked backhand.
One day he challenged me and said if I could beat him he would buy me a tin of tennis balls. I finally did and he honoured the offer. I was so excited that day but on reflection now I wonder if I really did beat him? He was a charming, gracious and very competitive man and it was an honor to have known him. I learned an important lesson in perseverance and overcoming handicaps from Dick Shone.
