Growing up at Deer Lake

Growing up around Deer Lake is recalled
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Dec. 25, 2002

One of Burnaby's most fascinating and respected pioneer families is the focus of a new book written by city historian Harry Pride and published by city hall's community heritage commission this month.
Life With the Moores of Hart House is a 92-page look back at the family that lived in one of the most spectacular heritage homes in the entire city.
"This was a very important time in our history," says Pride. "This was the era before TV, when we had hardly any radios, airplanes or cars. It was a 50-year period that saw tremendous development."
And what better place to reflect on those bygone days than in the midst of one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the entire Lower Mainland.
Originally named 'Avalon' when it was built in 1910 by realtor Frederick Hart, the grand Tudor-style mansion on the east side of the lake was intended to be a family estate, complete with fruit trees, strawberries, raspberries, and vegetable and flower gardens.
The palatial estate captured the eye of retired army major Montague Moore, who moved into the waterfront home with his wife Harriet Ethel Hutchings, and the first of what grew to be a family of seven children.
"The Moores were well known for being kind to lots of people," says Pride. "Their house was the centre of the community - a warm and welcoming place with lots of parties.
"This was also a time when you could leave your doors unlocked. That was the lifestyle then. People had responsibilities and a hopefulness and that gave everyone a lot of freedom."
For Rolie Moore, that freedom extended to the sky when she became the second woman in Canada to earn her pilot's licence. Rolie helped start a pilot school for women in 1941 that had 300 women apply for just 40 spaces, and she even flew aerobatics with famed U.S. barnstormer Tex Rankin.
She was a member of the Flying Seven, a group of female pilots who petitioned the government to serve in the Armed Forces but who settled on dropping leaflets over Vancouver in support of the "boys overseas."
Rolie, who passed away three years ago, has a plane watcher's bench dedicated to her memory at the Pitt Meadows Airport by the "99s," an international alliance of female pilots.
The other focus of the book is youngest son, 81-year-old Dinty Moore, whose matrimonial home on the south side of the lake was sold to the city of Burnaby during the expansion of Deer Lake Park in the late 1990s.
Dinty was the king of canoeing in Burnaby and a lifelong watchdog around the pristine lake.
He says winters were typically colder in the old days, and the lake would frequently freeze up enough for ice skating.
Several pages recount Dinty's many adventures as a canoeist, including his volunteer work as a founding member of the Dogwood Canoe Club.
Much of the book is filled with family photos and other pictures from Burnaby's past, plus a charming 1910 map showing a bird's-eye view of the neighbourhood that was serviced by just two roads - Sperling and Douglas - plus the old Interurban tram line.
The book is chock full of original cartoons by Merv Magus.
The publication came together with much assistance from Dinty and his wife Joan (Sievenpiper), former city councilor Doreen Lawson, and Burnaby NOW columnist Annie Boulanger, who transcribed many hours of taped interviews.
Pride says the work is important because it shows much of what is right with the world.
"The trouble today is people have a lot of freedom, but very little responsibility," says the historian. "What I'm hoping for is that people will see that it was ordinary citizens who took it upon themselves to be responsible that gave us the freedoms we have today."
The first 100 copies of Life with the Moores of Hart House is almost sold out, but a second printing is expected soon. The book will be sold at Burnaby city hall and the Burnaby Village Museum.