Eva Margaret Joan Murphy

Life of Eva Margaret Joan Roberts

I was born March 18, 1933, at the Grey Nuns Hospital in Regina, Sask.  The hospital was on Dewdney Street.

My parents were Anne Margaret Usher and Major Evan Proctor Roberts.  Mother was originally from Liverpool and father from Burnley, Lancashire, England.  My names came from dad’s sister, Eva, Margaret was my mother's name and Joan was the name of the lady with whom dad played badminton in Regina.

My mother, Ann Margaret (Usher) Roberts and her twin, Priscilla Maude (Usher) Maxwell originally lived in Liverpool, England. My father's family originated in Trevor, north Wales and later lived in Burnley, Lancashire, England.

Moms' family came to Canada in 1911 and my dad came in 1918 with a friend Alan Hargreaves.

My family lived at 1122 Montague Street, Regina, Saskatchewan.  I had a sister Daphne Crystal June who was born three and half years later.  In 1938 we moved to Victoria, B.C.  Father was in the Canadian Army with the Royal Canadian Engineers.  The family first resided at 923 Esquimalt Rd. and father was stationed at Work Pointe Barracks.  When we lived on Esquimalt Rd. I went to Lampson St. Elementary School.  During this time, we had to have blackout blinds on our windows so Japanese ships couldn’t find their way into the main harbour!

During the 2^nd World War, father was stationed at the old Vancouver Hotel and the family lived at 2295 Inglewood Drive, West Vancouver.  I attended Pauline Johnson Elementary School.  Then West Vancouver Junior High School when we moved to a house on 1591 Haywood Street.

Later the family moved to Victoria and lived close to Victoria High School where I completed grades 9 and 10.  Our street was Fernwood Drive.

Father was then transferred to Army Headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.  The family lived in Westboro, an Ottawa suburb where we attended the Westboro United Church.  My sister June was three and a half years younger than me, and I was 16 when I lived in Ottawa and my brother Wayne (Charles Gerald Wayne) was born.

Unfortunately, my sister Daphne Crystal June, died just before her 38^th birthday from melanoma (a bad mole on her arm). June married a first cousin Bob Hayes. They had a daughter Tami, while they were posted to England with the air force.  At a later date they were in Nova Scotia and adopted a second daughter Lori. Lori discovered she had brothers so moved back to Nova Scotia for a couple of years after which she returned to the west coast.

Tami has been in touch with me on occasions and came to Sardis to attend a service I had in memory of my first husband, Andy Bigford (Andrew Benjamin Bigford).

Wayne and his wife Elizabeth (Liz) and their daughter Krista, live on 30 acres near Lake Erie, not far out of Hamiliton, Ontario.

I went to a school on Spark Street, Ottawa to learn typing, shorthand, and basic accounting.  My first job was with Alexander Fleck on Wellington St. as a secretary to Chief Engineer, Gordon Biesenthal.

Before I was married, the family lived on Avondale Ave., (west side of Ottawa, Ont.) just off Golden Street. The general area was called Westboro and we attended Westboro United Church, where Andy and I got married. All other members of his family were married there. The minister at the time was Rev. Donald Bruce MacDonald. Mom and I were in the choir.

When I graduated from Nepean High School, I took a course in downtown Ottawa to learn shorthand and typing and went to work for a company that made machinery for pulp and paper mills across Canada. I was secretary to the Chief Engineer, Gordon Biesenthal. They had their offices at the west end of Wellington Street, Ottawa. Alexander Fleck Co, cousins of the Flecks in Vancouver.

After I got married, I was secretary and worked for the plant manager, Mr. Ord and Andy was in accounting at Deloro Stellite; at the time Stellite was the hardest man-made metal. The company moved to Belleville, Ont.

In September 1953, I was married to Andrew Benjamin Bigford, and we lived in Deloro, Ontario, a company town between Marmora and Madoc on #7 Highway.  Deloro produced Stellite the hardest man-made metal which was used to make the exhaust vanes on the A.V.R.O. Arrow Jet plane.  On its first flight from Toronto to Ottawa, the plane broke the sound barrier and blew out several windows in the Parliament Buildings. 

(NOTE:  the A.V.R.O. jet plane was the forerunner of the Concorde, built jointly by the British and French)

Later, Deloro Stellite built a new plant in Belleville, Ontario, the town where my daughter Terrie and son Barry were born. When we lived in Belleville, we lived at 1591 Humewood Drive

My sons Barton and Randy were born in the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, B.C.  Our Childrens’ names are:

                Terrie Lynne Bigford (now Creswell) who has two daughters Evan and Stephanie

                Barry Wayne Bigford who has two sons Thomas and Matthew

                Barton Drew Bigford who has two sons Sean and Ryan

                Randy Brent Bigford – who has a daughter Carrie Anne, son Jeffrey and stepdaughter Lyndsay.

In 1956, I went to Ottawa to live at my mom and Dad’s and in early July Andy joined me there.  After we all left to move to Victoria, B.C. driving our two cars across the country, stopping a few days in Regina to visit.

When we got to Victoria, Andy went looking for a job. He was hired by B.C. Power Commission, and we were sent to Port Alberni for 3 months, then moved back to Victoria. Our next move was to Nanaimo for two years, then back to Victoria where we lived on Easter Road.

Our next move was to where we lived in an apartment on Kingsway in Burnaby near New Westminster for eleven months until we found a new house to buy in Coquitlam on Orland Drive. We lived there for 28 years while the children went through the school system and finally moved to their own homes.  We decided to sell the house and move to a new home in Amble Greene subdivision in White Rock.

Mom, Dad, and Aunt Maude (after Uncle Bill died) moved from Victoria and went into an apartment complex near White Rock mall. Andy had heart surgery at St Paul’s Hospital, so he had most of the summer at home recuperating. Andy worked at B.C. hydro building at Burrard and Nelson until his retirement. At the time we decided to move out to Chilliwack and had a new house built on Wells Road in Sardis – 45549, next door to my cousin Agnes and Bill. Luckacuck Creek ran across the back end of our property. Douglas Newby lived on the East side of our place. We had a suite finished in our downstairs for Mom and Auntie Maude and Mom's car fit in beside our pick-up truck in the garages and we had a finished garage attached for our motorhome. We had a large balcony outside our kitchen and living room and the twins has a patio underneath.

After the twins were gone, we went on a camping trip with friends and ended up in Calgary when Andy was sent by ambulance from Banff. He had a brain haemorrhage and passed away at midnight. Barton has flown in to be with me and drove our unit back home for me.

Once I was home, I spent weeks sorting through all our belongings and got rid of things I didn’t need.

I sold the house and moved in 1999 to Crown Pointe II on McCallam Road, southside of the freeway in Abbotsford (unit 47) to be close to Bart and Monica. They eventually moved to Kelowna, B.C. and I met Ross Murphy and got married so moved to his unit #7. We had some great trips together until he passed away during surgery. His family were originally from New Brunswick.

I planned to stay in #7 Crown Pointe as long as possible. I drove my Ford 500 car to visit Maple Ridge where Randy and Julia lived in a townhouse. Julia’s daughter is Lyndsay.

I very much enjoyed attending my grandson Sean’s marriage to Sarah in Hawaii. My granddaughter Carrie got married August 16, 2014, to Jacques at the Minnacatta Lodge up the west side of Pitt Lake. They went cruising the Mediterranean for their honeymoon. Carrie is a schoolteacher in Coquitlam. I met Jacques’ family at the wedding. They are Dutch background and lived in South Africa.

Recently my daughter Terrie said she had toured a 300-year-old mansion that had belonged to the Bigford family. The estate was sold to the National Trust of England who had it restored and unfortunately, burnt to the ground the night before it was to be opened to the public.

Terrie moved from Vancouver to England and lives in Chertsey, Surrey. She has daughters' Evan and Stephanie. Their village is on the road from London to Windsor Castle. Evan is artistic (animator and an accountant) and has done work for Disney and Stephanie works in financial markets with an American company in London. Terrie has a buddy living with her. His name is Jeremy White.

My oldest son Barry and his wife Karen, lived in the Whalley area (now known as Central City) of Surrey, B.C. and moved to Abbotsford.  My middle son, Barton and his wife Monica live in the Okanagan, in Kelowna and my youngest son Randy and his wife Julia lived in Maple Ridge, B.C. have moved to Keremeos in the Okanagan.

Mom leaves her loving family:

Brother Wayne & wife Liz and daughter Krista.

Her four children:  Terrie (& Jeremy), Barry (& Karen), Barton (& Monica) and Randy (& Julia)

Grandchildren:  Evan (& Liam), Stephanie, Thomas, Matthew, Sean (& Sarah), Ryan (& Shayla), Carrie (& Jacques), Jeffrey, Lyndsay (& Dale)

Great Grandchildren:      Robyn (Evan); Olivia and Ethan (Carrie), Mason, Luke, Giselle & Lola (Sean),

Ryan (Jeffrey), Lena and Step-great granddaughter Spencer (Ryan)

Wesley and Madilynn (Lyndsay)

And all the rest of her vast family from near and far.

In Lieu of flowers, donations to Alzheimer’s in BC would be appreciated.