Editorially speaking…
Writing is, as I’m sure most people will accept, a solitary craft. I once used a lighthouse for a company logo and named my first publishing/printing firm, Solitaire Press.
The name said it all!
But, being solitary by nature, doesn’t necessarily mean one is non-, let alone, anti-social. Not a party animal, but hardly a hermit, either.
In short, in all my years of extensive bushwhacking and explorations on Vancouver Island and, to a lesser degree, throughout southern British Columbia while researching history, I’ve rarely done it alone. From the get-go, when still in my late teens, I had friends who were willing to explore the woods with me.
Good company simply made the day even more enjoyable.
And they were never more enjoyable than when I was out with my lifetime, all-time best friend, Jennifer Goodbrand, whose photos appear in several of my books, newspaper columns and, since online, with the Chronicles. (She liked to joke that I only photographed her from her back, this one being an exception.)
In the years-long campaign to try to save the Morden Colliery pithead/tipple from collapsing from neglect even though it’s a provincial heritage park, Jennifer was one of the stalwarts of the Friends of the Morden Mine Society. When the Kinsol Trestle was slated for demolition, Jennifer was in the forefront to get the government to change its mind by giving of her time, her energy and her pocketbook.
Ditto, animals in need of rescue even though she was allergic to cat hair! A member of the BC Naturalist Society, she campaigned to save the environment for future generations. She cared about this world.
She also shared my belief that history isn’t really about the past at all, but about the present and even the future.
For more than 20 years she accompanied me, assisted me and encouraged me on this otherwise solitary course that I’ve set for myself. Everyone who knew us, knew us as a team, as a couple.
That ended last week with Jennifer’s unexpected passing. I shall carry on, the Chronicles shall carry on. But without friend through thick and thin, Jennifer. I have the many good times by which to remember her. But it won’t be the same.
Jennifer Goodbrand
March 9, 1945 – November 4, 2023
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