By Jeanne Bacigalupo
Life was a series of moves for Helen and her loved ones for some time, Boots married Fred, Tom got a job at Merritt, during May 1960, they all moved to Creston where they stayed until 1961. Then, Boots and Fred bought property in Yahk, one hundred and twenty acres of rather forested and rocky land. It was very beautiful country with few other people dwelling nearby. The plan was to develop some of the property into a campground. Tom built a small two-room house there and Boots and Fred lived in the other older house that was already on the place. Later, Tom and Helen bought the property from the young folks who had moved to Vancouver to look for work. Tom and Helen lived on the property for seven years, from 1961 - 1968. In 1966, they were married. In 1968, they sold the property and moved to Creston where Tom continued to work in the sawmill another three years until he retired in 1971.
The family had an interesting experience with a bear while Boots and Fred were first living on the Yahk property alone. A brown bear came prowling close to their little house. Their small feisty dog charged after the bear and ended up being cornered under the washing machine with the bear g to get him out. The only weapon the couple had was a BB gun; they did manage to frighten the bear away temporarily by making a racket. They drove to Creston, borrowed Tom's gun and on their return, found footprints of the bear very close to their front door. Just as they had feared, the bear returned during the night. This time, Fred was able to defend the home by wounding the bear severely. It was later found dead near the edge of a stream a little distance away.
In a letter to her niece, Jeanne, dated Sept. 29, 1961, Helen describes some of their life style while living in Yahk: "Fred and Diana (Boots) bought a small place about 7 miles from Yahk (between Creston and Cranbrook) last summer. We have built a small house for ourselves on it which is built on skids so we can move it when we want to". Both Fred and Tom are working away from home but get home every night. We had a garden but Sanda, Joe and family were here twice since we moved here, once in May and again in July. They like it here and we went for walks around the bush and picked flowers and strawberries. The highway is just beyond the gate and we can see cars and big transports etc. going by all the time. Other than that, our nearest neighbours are 2 miles to the North and about 2 miles to the South, only off the road. A ways farther along the road to the South it is about 5 miles to a neighbours so we are right in the wilderness, only the railway track isn't far away and we hear the trains.
August 20, 1966, Tom and Helen were
married in the Cranbrook United Church. Norma and Jeanne, Ethel's
daughters, were able to travel to be with their Aunt Helen on her
special day. The Beers from Chilliwack came with the large
station wagon loaded with their children. The Bacigalupos were
living in Salt Lake City, in Stadium Village, cheap student
housing, as Jeanne and Barry were students at the University of
Utah. They travelled to 
Yahk in an ancient Cadillac, which gave them
some trouble on the way and made them late. They were in time for
the family gathering and meal after the wedding. It was wonderful
to visit with relatives whom they had not seen for many years. In
Yahk, the Bacigalupo children were fascinated with the gas
washing machine, gas lamps, the older buildings and the beautiful
countryside. They had been confined to city life; the wide-open
spaces and different life style were very appealing.
In Vancouver, Boots and Fred were
unsuccessful in finding work; they came back to Creston and
rented a home. About that time, Tom and Helen also moved to
Creston where Tom worked in a mill for three years. In 1971, they
bought three and a half acres of property in Windermere, built a
garage in which they lived while they built the house, with the
help of Arthur Northgraves. During 1974, a couple from Sweden
wanted to buy their house; Tom and Helen moved to Enderby, but in
1975, the Swedish couple had difficulty and the sale fell
through; Tom and Helen received two thousand dollars for the
trouble. They sold their Windermere place in 1978 and moved to
Osooyus for six months then bought a house in Armstrong where
they stayed for four years then rented the house out and bought
another at Sicamoose. January 12th, 1984, Tom passed away. March
1984, Helen made application for residence at the Invermere
apartment
complex and was able to secure an apartment
there by July 1 st. At Sicamoose, she held a sale of the things
that she no longer needed. All of her children helped her to make
the move back to Invermere, where she still resided until 1998
when she moved to Cranbrook. Tom's ashes were scattered on
Windermere Creek.
Helen is happy in her apartment in Invermere. Sanda and Joe live about four miles away in Windermere. Their children, Faith and Rodney and spouses live in homes very close. Faith and her husband have two children; Rodney and his wife have two children also. Helen sees her family often, and has often stayed at Sanda's place a week or more at a time, house sitting or helping with some of the work. Helen gets out on little trips with friends and family; she has not been one to sit around the house. She still has good health for her age.
Boots and Fred live in Abbotsford, B.C. They have two sons, Jeffery, born April 16, 1962 that lives at Kelowna, B.C. He has two children from his first marriage and a one-year-old child in his present marriage. Corey, the other son, was born March 30, 1965, is a single man and lives in Whitehorse, B.C.
Karl was born in Lacombe, Alberta on
Jan 15, 1939. Helen, Frank and the two girls had been staying
with Val and Maude since the November before. They had to leave
the Kootenay for the birth. Karl went into the Kootenay when he
was about six months old and lived there until he was six years
old. He lived in Invermere with his mother and the girls and went
to school there for almost a year when the family moved to the
farm four miles from town. When he was fourteen years old, Helen
and Karl moved to Penticton for a few months and then to
Chilliwack. When he was seventeen, he moved back to Invermere and
got
work. Later, he lived with Helen and Boots in Kamloops and got
work there. He also worked in Lillooet and Creston. In 1962, he
married Kay Goffie and they had two children, a son, Curtis, in
Dec. 1963 and a daughter, Carrie in 1966. In 1966, he and Fred
bought the Shaw place in Wasa and lived there for a few years.
Then he built his own house and lived there another few years. In
the meantime, he started work for the Skookumchuck Pulp Mill when
it was first built. Later, he moved with Curtis to Kimberley and
bought a house. (Curtis was married.) Karl lived in the house for
five or more years; then sold it and bought another house in
Marysville. They were together for about nine years. Karl retired
from the pulp mill in 2000. Curtis and his wife have two small
sons and they also live in Marysville. Carrie is single and is
studying for a job in forestry.
Helen's former cabin in the Kootenay is now being used for a resort for cross-country skiers; the owner has some pictures hanging on the walls of Helen, taken when she was young. The log house is gone. An Indian had been doing some work nearby and had lit a bon-fire. He left it unattended while he went to look for his horses. The fire spread to the log house and burned it, Helen’s dishes and other things that were inside. The cabin is one or two miles from Windermere. People had been hauling logs out of the Kootenay area. The government built a bridge across and the property is much more accessible. Helen stayed in the Seniors Home in Invermere for many years where numerous friends and relatives visited her often.
About Religion
Helen responded to a question asked by a family member about the religion of Arthur and Eliza Kent and how did many of the Kents become Christian Science members. She said that Eliza and Arthur belonged to the High English Church but that their daughter, Jessie, started with the Christian Science people. She was instrumental in bringing in some of her siblings. Maude read a lot of the literature but never joined. She and Valentine never went to church. When they were young, the Redig girls walked to Sunday School at St. Cyprians English Church a mile and a half or so away.
Sanda and Joe Taylor
Diana and Fred Custaloe
