BC Tel- Plant- Terrace- Stores

The Stores Department held all the material, used by all the various departments, especially the I&R and Construction forces.
They were housed in a plywood Office area, on the left side as you entered the old Wooden WWII Drill Hall, at 4400 birch Ave, up on the Bench, off the east end of Park Ave. in Terrace.
One of the first Stores man I remember was John Stinson.
John was quite the horse trader. I believe even to this day, his old house off of Queensway Drive in Thornhill, has a metal door off of a BC Tel Phone Booth.
It still has the white top, blue middle strip, and BC Tel yellow bottom.
Haven't been out that way for a while, but it had those colors for years.
John transferred into I&R, and eventually retired to the south.
We heard Evelyn and John stories for years after they left town.
I'll never forget the night they came over to my house, to play the game of Risk. It turned out to be quite a night, Boy did they take that game seriously!
It is a game about taking over the world, and I think they figured they were really doing that. I thought we were going to have a murder in the house that night.

After the Barn fire, May 8, 1975 @ 9:30AM, the Stores Department was moved to the basement of the Primary Center, or Toll / Operator building, with Vic Filby as the stores man, until the new barn at 5215 Keith Ave in Terrace, was built.

Vic later moved to Smithers as the Stores man there, finally to Prince George Stores, where he passed away, just days before he was to retire.
In my radio history pages, I give Vic credit as a hero, for saving the lives of those in the barn when the big fire hit.
Even though he suffered facial burns from a previous fire, he still went to each room in the barn to get people to leave, by the back door. They all escaped with no loss of life.
I would hazard a guess it was the most expensive fire in the history of Terrace. Possibly the TPA hanger at the airport was costlier, but would be close.

Article from the Terrace Herald after the fire, May 8, 1975 @ 9:30 AM

Picture from the Terrace Herald during the fire

The City of Terrace Garbage truck that started the fire

Headline photo of the fire, May 1976

Picture of the barn fire taken by Mel Anderson

The Stores Department was housed in the Plant Center in what we called “The Barn” at 5215 Keith Ave in Terrace.
It occupieds, the whole end of the building, minus some Office space in the corner, Where the original Stores Department area was.

Vik Filby photo Brian Wolfe Collection

• John Stinson
• Ken Blanes (who became I&R, then Facility man)
• Mel Anderson (became I&R and CO Maint) Retired in Terrace
• Victor (Vic) Filby (Deceased)
• Bob Forsyth (went to I&R then construction, now retired in Kamloops)
• Jim Shepherd (hired in 1976- went to PG, resigned there in 1981))
• Betty Stephenson (1981)
• Betty Hammerstrom (retired in Terrace)
• Gordon “Gord” Lund (1981) (retired in Terrace) b- Mar 29, 1929, d- Dec 11, 2017, Terrace View Lodge, Terrace
• Debbie Menzies, now Ziegler. (retired in Terrace)

Gord Lund used to play Santa Claus for all the Company Christmas Parties.

Debbie was the last person in Terrace Stores

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