British Columbia author Jane Vance Rule was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1931. She received her BA from Mills College, Oakland, in 1952 and attended University College in London, 1952/53 as an "occasional student." In 1954 Rule taught at Concord Academy, a private school in Massachusetts. There she met Helen Sonthoff, a fellow faculty member who became her life partner. Rule first came to Vancouver in 1956. After writing for two years, she became the first assistant director of the University of British Columbia's newly-established International House in its first year of operation (1958/59). After that, she taught periodically in the English and Creative Writing Departments at UBC. Jane Rule distinguished herself as one of British Columbia's best fiction writers. She also made significant contributions to non-fiction, particularly in writing about homosexuality and women's rights. In 1964, she published Desert of the Heart, a novel centred on a professor of English literature who meets and falls in love with a casino worker in Reno. It received a chilly reception in most quarters. However, it was made into a movie by Donna Deitch called Desert Hearts in 1985 - both the novel and the movie are now considered classics in their genre. In 1976, she moved to Galiano Island and remained there until the end of her life. Rule served on the executive of the Writers' Union of Canada. Open about her sexuality; she was an outspoken advocate of both free speech and gay rights. Rule was inducted into the Order of British Columbia in 1998 and into the Order of Canada in 2007. She died on 28 November 2007 due to complications from liver cancer.

Nina Rumen was born in 1927 in what was then Poland, and which is now Belarus. In 1930, she "brought her mother to Canada" to join her father, who had immigrated earlier to the Fernie/Cranbrook region of British Columbia. She is the eldest of four surviving daughters.

She graduated from St. Paul's Hospital School of Nursing in Vancouver in 1949 and joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) in 1951. Her military career took her to Churchill Manitoba (1952-54) when Canada's north was opening up. From here she went to Isherholm, Germany with the British Army of the Rhine and then to Lahr, Germany. She served with NATO from 1970-72.

Nina completed her Bachelor of Nursing from the University of Toronto. Following retirement from the services, she moved to Vancouver, where she worked on short-term contracts with various agencies.

In 1941, under provisions of the 'Boundary Waters Treaty' (1909), the City of Seattle applied to the International Joint Commission to raise the level of the reservoir on the Skagit River. This application was approved in 1942. By 1967 it had become necessary to raise the Ross Dam to increase electricity supplies to the City of Seattle. The proposal would have resulted in the flooding of almost 5,000 acres of the Skagit Valley in B.C. By 1969 outdoor and environmental groups began to lobby against the plan citing the devastating ecological ramifications. The R.O.S.S. (Run Out Skagit Spoilers) Committee was formed in 1969 as a coalition of numerous interest groups which organized protests against raising the dam. Plans to flood the Skagit Valley were delayed in light of the public outcry.

Reverend F.E. Runnalls left the Cedar College United Church in Vancouver to begin his mnistry at Knox United Church in Prince George in 1941. He has written a number of books about British Columbia history, particularly the development of the United Church. More biographical information is available from the United Church of Canada BC Conference Archives.

Karl M. Ruppenthal was a professor in the UBC Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration and Director of the Centre for Transportation Studies. He earned his bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Kansas, his MBA at the University of California at Berkeley, and his Ph.D. at Stanford University. He flew regular schedules as a jet pilot for ten years while teaching at Stanford University, where he was Director of the Transportation Management Program. He served as a consultant to many organizations, including the Canadian Ministry of Transport, Boeing, NASA, Peterbilt Motors, and General Electric. He was a national panel member of the American Arbitration Association. He served as an arbitrator in several matters involving airlines. Ruppenthal was also the author of several books and served as editor of the Logistics and Transportation Review. He was an attorney. He was admitted to practice in Kansas, the District of Columbia, before the Tax Court, the Circuit Court for the 9th Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Maurice Rush was born in Toronto in 1915. After he and his family moved to Vancouver in the late 1920s, Rush left school at the age of fifteen to find work in the midst of the Depression. In 1934 he worked in a cannery and helped to organize British Columbia. Rush also joined the Canadian Communist Party (CCP) in 1934, and was elected as the secretary of the Young Communist League in 1935. Rush helped to organize unemployed workers and was involved in the famous post-office sit-down strike by unemployed workers in Vancouver in 1938.
When the CCP changed its position to support of the Second World War, Rush joined the Canadian Army and served as an artillery instructor from 1942-1944. Following this he was sent to Europe and fought in Holland and Germany. He was taken prisoner in February of 1945, and later liberated by British forces.
Upon his return to Canada in 1945, Rush became provincial organizer for the CCP in British Columbia. Following this, he also served as the partys labour secretary, its Vancouver regional organizer and the national education director. In 1960, Rush was appointed as an associate editor of the partys west-coast newspaper the Pacific Tribune. In 1977, Rush became provincial leader and the secretary of the CCP. During this time, the party campaigned against the arms race and was active in various labour struggles, but also became involved in Vancouver civic politics and Rush helped to organize what would later become the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE).
Also during this post-war period, Rush made a number of overseas trips to various socialist countries for Pacific Tribune and as part of his duties within the CCP. The countries he travelled to the USSR, East Germany, North Vietnam, and China. Despite the declining fortunes of communist parties worldwide, Rush continued as an activist, writer and leader of the Communist Party in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, Rush published his political memoir We Have a Glowing Dream.

Margaret Rushton was born in England and came to Canada in 1930. She first became active in the theatre when she joined the Vancouver Little Theatre and served as president for five years (1949-1954). She also acted in several plays during her years with the Theatre. Rushton became a Dominion Drama Festival National Executive member and served as the British Columbia Drama Association president for eight years. She was very interested in theatre for children and joined the Holiday Theatre Company shortly after it was established, later becoming Tour Coordinator. When Holiday Theatre was incorporated into the Playhouse Theatre Centre, Rushton became Public Relations Officer and toured B.C., organizing tours for the company. In 1971, Rushton retired and began to write a history of the Holiday Theatre.

Eugen Ruus was born in Pärnu, Estonia in 1917. He graduated from the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia with a degree in engineering. Ruus escaped to Finland during World War II, and in 1950 emigrated to Canada with his family. He then returned to Europe in 1957 to complete his Doctor in Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. He joined UBC’s Department of Civil Engineering in 1958 as a lecturer, and became an assistant professor the following year. In 1972 Ruus was made a full professor, and remained a faculty member until his retirement in 1985, when he was named Honorary Professor. Outside of his civil engineering work, he was an ordained clergy member for the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church. Ruus died in 2000.

H.W. Ryland, clerk of the Executive Council of Lower Canada (1793-1838), was born in Northampton, England in 1760. He also served as treasurer for the Office for the Management of the Jesuits' Estates.

Wilfrid Sadler was born in Haughton, Cheshire, England, on December 22, 1883. He was the son of James and Emma Sadler. His father had been prominent in agricultural and dairy organization work in Great Britain for many years. In his early years, he attended Wesleyan Schools in Nantwich and Teachers' School in Crewe. In 1906, he entered the British Dairy Institute at University College, Reading. He then became an Instructor in Dairying at Hampshire from 1907 to 1908 and Assistant Instructor in Dairying and Dairy Bacteriology at Midland Agricultural and Dairy College, Kingston, Derby, from 1908 to 1912. In 1912 he published a book entitled Bacteria as Friends and Foes of the Dairy Farmer. Sadler emigrated to Montreal in 1912 and was an Assistant in Bacteriology at Macdonald College of McGill University from 1912 to 1914. He received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Macdonald College in 1915 and gave the Valedictory Address at his class graduation. Sadler later graduated with an MSc from McGill. In his graduating year, he received two awards: the Macdonald College Gold Medal and the Governor-General's Graduate Research Medal. The inscription beneath his graduating picture in the college yearbook described Sadler in the following manner:
"A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the best of men."
The yearbook also described him as a debater and bacteriologist. After graduation, he became an Instructor in Dairying at Macdonald College. From 1916 to 1918, Sadler was involved in bacteriological research for the Biological Board of Canada. In 1918, he became the first appointment to UBC's newly created Department of Dairying in the Faculty of Agriculture. Besides his teaching activities, he was involved in bacterial research and contributed to public health and technical journals relating to dairying science. In 1922, Sadler became head of the department and served in this capacity until he died in 1933. Blythe Eagles succeeded him.

Jessica Sage was the mother of Walter Sage, Head of UBC's Department of History.

Margaret Sage (b. 1919) was born in Vancouver and received her BA from the University of British Columbia in 1941. After obtaining a Diploma of Social Work from UBC in 1943, Sage served as a social worker in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. In 1945 she became Welfare Manager, Japanese Division, Federal Dept. of Labour at Tashme, B.C. In 1946, Sage returned to UBC, where she specialized in reading therapy. In 1964 she moved to Simon Fraser University as assistant professor of Psychology and director of the Reading and Study Centre. Sage married UBC chemist Douglas Hayward in 1956.

Donalda MacKinnon Sage, who went by "Nelda," was born in Finch, Ontario. In 1915, she married Walter Noble Sage (1888-1963), who later became Head of the UBC History Department. Nelda earned University of Toronto certificates in (voice and piano). She was both an artist and writer.

Born in London, Ontario, Walter Sage was educated at the University of Toronto (BA, 1910) and Oxford University, where he obtained his MA in history (1916). He later earned a Ph.D. from Toronto (1925). His first teaching position was at Calgary College in 1913 as a lecturer in history. After teaching there for two years, he went to Queen's University. Sage joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia in 1918 as an assistant professor of history, rising to head the department fourteen years later (1932). He continued serving as a head until his retirement in 1953. He became a leading authority on the history of British Columbia, writing numerous articles and delivering countless addresses on the subject. Sage participated in multiple historical associations accepting the presidency of the British Columbia Historical Association (1939), the Canadian Historical Association (1945), and the American Historical Association (Pacific Coast Branch) (1950). From 1944 he was a member of Canada's Historic Sites and Monuments Board until he died in 1963.

Percy Saltzman was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1915. He graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BA in 1934, eventually moving to Montreal's McGill Medical School to become a doctor. In Montreal, he left McGill and married in1935. In 1943, he embarked on a career in meteorology as a Meteorological Officer in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (1940-1945) (BCATP), the Aerodrome of Democracy, following which Percy remained in meteorology as a full-time employee of the official federal weather service for 25 years (1943-1968). In 1953 he became Canada's first TV weatherman (1952-1982). He co-hosted the CBC show Tabloid and CTV's Canada AM. Saltzman gave thousands of weather forecasts, conducted numerous interviews, and was also involved in radio broadcasting. In 2002 he was awarded The Order of Canada, and in 2004 he became a member of The Broadcast Hall of Fame. He married twice in 1935 and again in 1988.

Sam Shee was born in Canton, China, in 1896. She was brought to Canada and arrived in Victoria, BC on July 1, 1914, at the age of 18 years. She was arranged to marry a Canadian-born Chinese, CHAN Sun Sang, on July 4, 1914, a man she had never met before. Upon marriage, she became known as Chan Sam Shee.

She had two children with CHAN Sun Sang: Leslie Shue Hong Chan and Diamond Yee Jing Chan Quong. Within three years of arriving in Canada, her husband died.

She spoke no English but made money by becoming a seamstress. And although she never remarried, she raised and provided for her two children and bought a house in Vancouver in the 1940s. She lived with her son, Leslie, until she passed.

Chan Sam Shee passed away in New Westminster, BC on August 22, 1977. She was 81 years old.

Kam Len "Douglas" Sam was born in Victoria, BC on April 6, 1918. He was the eldest of nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. SAM Wing Wo, who immigrated to Victoria from [恩平 Yinping / Enping] county, [廣東 Guangdong] province, China.

While a teenager at Victoria High School, a classmate inscribed in his yearbook, “Doug has aspirations to become the Chinese Lindbergh.” Not just interested in aviation, Sam possessed great linguistic abilities, developing working fluency in Cantonese, Mandarin, French, and Japanese over the course of his career.

After the outbreak of WWII, Sam attempted to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941, but was barred for being Chinese. He was successful a year later when the government removed racial clauses in entry rules, and his Chinese ancestry later proved to be an asset.

While in the RCAF, Sam flew 28 terrifying raids over “Fortress Europe” in 1943 and 1944, including a mission over Nuremberg that saw 94 Allied bombers go down and another sortie over Berlin that resulted in 73 planes lost.

In early July 1944, Sam was presumed dead after his Halifax bomber was shot down in an air raid over Northern France. According to his son, Trevor Sam, Douglas’ grandmother remained certain he was alive after consulting a joss stick oracle in Victoria’s Chinatown temples, despite being a devout Anglican. She was correct.

Sam was alive, having parachuted narrowly to safety, and was now embedded in the French Resistance actively fighting the Nazi occupation through espionage and intelligence gathering. His orders from London were to stay in France to coordinate the escapes of other Allied airmen.

Resistance members provided him with clothing and forged papers to identify him as an Asian student trapped in France by the German occupation. Dodging the Gestapo and German army in numerous close calls, he witnessed the Holocaust in France while rising to leadership in the Resistance. When the American 3rd Army entered Reims, not far from Paris, their street maps were provided by Sam’s Resistance cell, already engaged in street fighting with air-dropped weapons. This was to be Douglas’ last fight in WWII and, for his efforts, he was awarded the high honour of the French Croix de Guerre with a Silver Star.

After reuniting with his joyous family, Douglas remained committed to the Canadian Armed Forces. He later served as a counter-insurgency specialist during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s. He made use of his language skills to break up Chinese Communist efforts under the oversight of British Intelligence.

In November 1967, after 25 years of continuous service, including stints in London and Washington, Douglas retired from the RCAF with the rank of squadron leader, the most decorated Chinese Canadian ever. However, after retirement, the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa was asked to reassign him with the Primary Reserve, Canadian Armed Forces as a lieutenant colonel until his honourable release in March 1978. He was the first, high-ranking Lieutenant Colonel in Chinese Canadian history.

Douglas also joined the Department of Employment and Immigration in 1967 as an intelligence analyst, rising to become the department’s chief of immigration intelligence for the British Columbia-Yukon region. After an historic and groundbreaking career, Douglas died in 1989 at age 71.

His son Trevor sums up his father’s dreams this way: “I think that from the time he was old enough to see the blue sky, he wanted to grasp it; he wanted to fly. And so, he did.”

SAM Fook Gam was born in 1906 in Guangdong where he grew up with his family until the age of 16.

In search of a better life to support his family, Fook Gam left China for Canada in 1922. He settled in Vernon, BC, working long and hard at various jobs to make ends meet.

Fook Gam earned enough to afford several trips back to China. During one of these trips, Fook Gam married ENG Gee Quan. A few years later, he would return to Canada to pursue work while his wife stayed behind to take care of the family.

Fook Gam and Gee Quan were reunited when she came to Canada in 1953. The couple did not have children but they enjoyed a very close and special relationship with their niece, Susan Show Ha LOUIE and her family from Nelson, BC. They adored Susan like their daughter. They cherished her husband and children like their son and grandchildren. This special, familial bond carried on throughout their lives.

For over two decades, Fook Gam and Gee Quan operated a huge vegetable farm in Vernon. Together, they worked the land and toiled away to make an honest living—all manual labour. Fook Gam and Gee Quan grew the best tomatoes and largest peppers, hands down! They sold their marvellous produce on site, much to the delight of summer vacationers and locals alike. They gifted any customer making a purchase with extra veggies on the side and lavished treats of candy and gum upon any visiting children. The couple also sold their produce to Vernon’s Fruit Union Packing House.

Fook Gam and Gee Quan retired in 1976 to enjoy life at home. Their farming skills continued with the maintenance of a sizeable garden in their backyard.

Fook Gam enjoyed long walks to Polson Park, watching curling at the local rink and visiting with friends in town. He and Gee Quan enjoyed their frequent outings for lunch and coffee at their favourite lunch counters and eateries. The couple especially enjoyed and cherished their summer visits from their Nelson family. Their Nelson family equally loved their visits with them, in Vernon.

According to Terry Louie, Susan Louie’s son, “Fook Gam was one of the best cooks ever! He could make everything and anything. Whenever we visited, he would always ask us what we wanted to eat for dinner and he would never disappoint. He even prepared for us his legendary Chinese-style roast turkey—in the dead-heat of Okanagan summer—when temperatures soared past 35 degrees celsius!”

Fook Gam Sam passed away in 1991. He graced his family and friends with his kindness and generosity, always willing to lend a hand of support to anyone in need. Fook Gam and his wife has left an indelible mark on everyone they’ve touched. Their Nelson family are grateful and feel forever blessed.

Born LOW Sui Oy, Lilian Sam was a headstrong feisty waitress, "glamour girl", translator, seamstress, and mother of six.

She was born on August 26th, 1919 at 389 E. Hastings Street, Vancouver to parents Low Wing (father) and Wong Shee (mother). Not much is known about her father, whom she claimed she never knew (though there is photo evidence they met), but there are tales of him being a butler for a member of parliament or a cook.

Lilian said her mother was a musician who played the "Chinese piano" in the brothels of Chinatown, though it was likely her mother, Wong Shee, was a sex worker and/or madam in the same establishments she played at. During Lilian's childhood, she spent many years in an orphanage for Chinese children in Victoria (possibly the Oriental Home and School) alongside her sisters, Jessie & Sui Hing Low, while her mother relocated to Toronto and Ottawa with her 4 sons: Richard, Harry, Tommy, and Jimmy.

At the age of 13, Lilian dropped out of school to support her family and began to waitress at the BC Royal Cafe and then the Pender Cafe. During those years waitressing, Lilian and her friends, Dorothy Burton and Marie Bandura-nee Joseph (sisters from the Qayqayt First Nation), were known about Chinatown as the "Glamour Girls" as they would often dress up in the latest fashions, gaining them attention from the young men of the neighbourhood.

At the age of 21, Lilian was betrothed to a man named Kenny Sui Yuk, who after impregnating her left her for another woman - leaving Lilian to raise their son, Robert Yorke (his last name was changed out of spite), alone.

In the 1940s, being a single-mother with a child out of wedlock, Lilian was ostracised from Chinatown, causing her to have many feelings of resentment towards the community and ultimately leading her to move from the area to the Commercial Drive area in the 1950s.

While in the new neighbourhood, she met Gordon Sui Chong Sam, a nearby mechanic, whom she later married in 1953. Together, they added five more children to their family and were deeply in love until Lilian passed in 2017 surrounded by her large family, shortly after her 98th birthday.

Lilian was loved deeply by her family and those who knew her. She was admired for her stubborn attitude, great-sense of humour, and determination to be happy - against all odds.