Alfred Austral Marles (my father) by Bill Marles Born- July 12, 1901, near Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia Died- June 6, 1978, in Richmond, B.C., Canada Alfred, commonly known as Fred, was the youngest of the 11 children of James and Catherine Marles. Dorothy, about three years older, was the closest sibling in terms of age. She was also Dads best friend throughout the dark years after his breakup with his first wife. My Dad never talked very much about himself when he was alive. Fred was quiet and unassuming. He died in 1978, about nine years after having a major stroke. The stroke impaired his mental functioning a lot, but Mom took pretty good care of him. I was only 20 years old in 1969 when Dad became ill. A lot of what I am writing here is based on what others have told me and my own sketchy memories. Nevertheless I think it is important to write a few things down. What is Dad remembered for in 2014? He was a candy maker, famous for his chocolate and for his fudge. At his funeral, the minister called him the “candy man”. People at the Marles family reunion, not necessarily knowing anything else about him, referenced this fact. Its not a bad thing to be remembered for. I was pleased that he was remembered at all. Coffs Harbour was very small in 1901. Today this tourist and banana- growing centre has more than 60,000 population, but in the early years of the 20th century it was a village. James and Catherine Marles, my grandparents, are recognized as a founding family. The climate in northern New South Wales is warm and sub-tropical. When I visited Coffs in July, the heart of the Australian winter, it was still shirt sleeve weather. If you have a new born baby in these climes, you always made sure your youngster was protected from the Carpet Snakes (pythons) that lurked in the region. Dont let baby run loose or the snake might eat him. Put him in a playpen that has protective bars on the sides so the snake cant get in. Fortunately none of the Marles children met this horrible fate. Fred moved with the family in 1906 from Sydney to Canada in 1906. It was a long and interesting journey, with stops in Fiji, Hawaii ,Victoria and Vancouver. Grandfather James liked British Columbia a lot, but the family settled on a farm, southeast of Red Deer, Alberta. My Dad bonded with his Mom, who taught him about gardening and perhaps a little about making candy. Dads formal education ended at grade eight. This was not unusual for the time. Despite his lack of schooling, I remembered him taking a keen interest in current affairs and finance. Among the publications I remembered him subscribing to, in the 1960s, were The Financial Post, Macleans Magazine and U.S. News and World Report. In contrast to his politically conservative father, Dad was a liberal. Mom and Dad both were staunch supporters of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and of Canada. In 1923, Fred Marles married Elsie Shackleford of Lethbridge.. Their children were Jack (died 1994) and Phyllis. Unfortunately this first marriage did not last. There was rumoured to be a basic lack of compatibility in life goals and values. Elsie, Jack and Phyllis were forced to cope with the Great Depression alone. Dad also fell on hard times and, at one point, slept on the street. The first time I heard about my half brother and sister, I was 19. Dad was very uncomfortable talking about this part of his life, but I was delighted to learn that my family was a little bigger than I assumed. One of the Alberta cousins recently sent a page out of the Lethbridge Herald from June 26, 1936 where Dad was advertising his chocolate business. My best guess is that Elsie and Fred broke up shortly after that. Interestingly my half brother was born in Portland, Oregon, where his sister Dorothy DuPerrier lived. My half sister, Phyllis, was born in Vancouver, B.C., so at one point Elsie and Dad would have moved around a lot. Dad, reportedly, learned how to make candy in Berkeley, California. Fred joined the Canadian Army to fight in World War II. He was in his early 40s and his mates called him, “Pops”. He was stationed in Niagara-On-The-Lake for a while, then he went to England and was stationed near London. Shortly after the Normandy invasion, Dad was sent to France. He was a tank commander at the Battle of Falaise Gap. Falaise was a disaster for the Allies, something like Charge of The Light Brigade in the 19th century. Everyone knew they were headed for certain death but you didnt go against orders in battle. Freds tank was hit by a German bomb. Everyone, except for Dad, was killed. Dad survived because he was stationed in the port hole rather than inside the machine. Fred was able to jump out and run away. Nonetheless he suffered a wound. A stray bullet hit one of his fingers which had to be amputated. Years later, this wound continued to cause him a lot of discomfort and trouble. That said some of the other parents suffered much worse, such as loss of a leg. Dad never talked to me about his war experiences. But that was part of his character. He didnt talk that much about himself. My Mom told me he was greatly bothered by his mates treatment of enemy soldiers. He recognized that Germans were humans too. He was always a sensitive man. Both my parents disdained pretension and social climbing. They were very down to earth. Fred was working for Adams Distilleries in south Vancouver when he met his second wife, my mother, Williamina May MacKay, in 1947. Shortly after Fred and Ina were married. They were living at 7th Avenue and Commercial Drive when I appeared on the scene in February 1949. Six months later, the newly minted Marles family moved to a Veterans Land Act subdivision called Cora Brown on Sea Island. At the time, Cora Brown was a community of about 50 modest houses on one acre lots. We were surrounded on three sides by farms and on the north by the Fraser River and MacDonald Beach. Even though it was delta land, it resembled the farms near Red Deer and that is probably why Dad was attracted to Sea Island. Mom, who was a city girl, was reluctant to move to Richmond at first. Eventually she learned to appreciate the benefits of living in the “country”, only 10 miles away from downtown Vancouver. Cora Brown was an ideal place to grow up in the 1950s and early sixties. It was also unusual in that most of its residents were close to the same age and everyone started a family about the same time. I never lacked for friends! Everyone knew everyone else and the neighbours were all very protective of everyones children. Today Cora Brown is a wildlife preserve that abuts MacDonald Beach Park and the river. Nobody human lives anywhere near there. The federal government expropriated the land about 1972. Two familes held on till the early 90s, but eventually even they moved on. Today, the main passenger terminal of Vancouver International Airport is only a few miles south. A major mail sorting centre for Canada Post has just opened up on the edge of the old neighbourhood. I remember looking out at a house in winter surrounded by water with a rowboat tied to the front porch. This was where the huge facility is today. Dads passion was his garden, which took up about a quarter of an acre. He grew just about everything. We had strawberries, raspberries, two different kinds of grapes, tomatoes, potatoes and much more. Besides all the good eating, I benefited in another way from Dads hobby. I had a vegetable and fruit route with about four customers. I would write down the orders in my notebook and then go into the garden and gather up the produce to fill their requests. I would pile the orders in bags in my little wagon, walk to deliver the goods and make a little money for myself. My parents, of course, determined the prices and how many customers I could have. They didnt want anything to interfere with my schooling or church attendance. Dad started a candy store in a small storefront on Commercial Drive at First Avenue in the 1950s. The building is still there today. It has never been renovated. Once Dad made the mistake of leaving me alone in the store, while he and “Mrs. Beaton” worked below. Of course, I did what any child would do. I gorged on jelly beans and made myself very sick. Woodward’s Department Store ordered an especially large batch of chocolates for Christmas which they opted to store near a heat radiator. This of course destroyed the candies. The department store refused to pay for them. This, combined with other problems, sunk the business. For a few years, we were drastically short of money. Somehow we muddled through. I went without a few things I wanted, but otherwise I didnt suffer much. Mom was hit much harder. She would buy me an ice cream cone and not have money left over for a coffee for herself. At one point, she lived off the corn in the garden. In her later years, she came to hate corn. Dad went to work as a candymaker for Kelly Douglas in Burnaby for several years to bring in an income. But nothing ever stays the same. After a few years, we paid off our debts and our Triple A Credit Rating was restored. We inherited some money and life suddenly became a lot easier. Dad retired in 1961 at the age of 60. Dad, Mom and I lived in Cora Brown till about 1964, when we moved to Garden City Road and Blundell on Lulu Island. I was heartbroken. I was separated from my friends and my beloved community. I had trouble making new friends and adjusting to life at Palmer Junior High School. I have never really gotten over moving away from Sea Island. Dads astrological sign was Cancer and that seemed to fit him. Much of his working life was in the food industry, nurturing people by growing vegetables and making candy. He enjoyed home life and family. In 1969, Dad had a major stroke which disabled him for the rest of his life. These were the consequences of being a heavy smoker. Mom gave him a pretty good life in his last years. Since Mom never was able to drive a car, they would take a taxi once a week to Richmond Square Shopping Centre to get groceries and eat at Mr. Jakes Steak House or the International House of Pancakes where Dad would always order the same meal. He had become an old man. Fred died, in his own bed at home in Richmond, in 1978.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 02:29:01 +0000
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