Driving by Fred Milne Park on Sooke River Road, one has to navigate very carefully, especially on weekends when youngsters are playing soccer and vehicle parking is jammed.
Soccer has been around for quite a while, as the museum’s first soccer team photos date from 1907. If there’s one thing that unifies Sooke families, it’s sports; they demonstrate terrific support for their kids. This 1953 photo is an example – taken more than 70 years ago, it shows that soccer has been very popular here for more than a century.
This photo was taken when our secondary school was still called Milne’s Landing High School. The first high school west of Victoria, its first classes were held in the fall of 1946, on grounds that had been an army training camp during World War II, and part of the Milne farm before that.
From left rear, the young fellows are Barry Cyr, Norman Essery, John Martin, Charlie Ohara, George Pedneault, Evan Haldane, Tim Goudie, Pat George and Sid Morton. Seated in front are Jerry Filippo, Gordie Eve, Dennis Hird, and Bob George holding the soccer ball, alongside coach Newman. Next are Everett Sandberg and Merv Brooks.
Most of these boys’ families are well known in the community today, with their names, or their siblings and children’s names coming up regularly. For example, Evan Haldane, whose two sons, Herb and Dean, are particularly active in the Sooke Community Association. Or, Bob George, who grew up to become Chief of the T’Sou-ke People, serving from 1979 to 1983.
Missing from this photo are four young fellows who had attended a sports event on the mainland that year, competing for a Softball Championship. Unfortunately, they had each fallen ill with the scourge of polio, one after the other. The boys were Dave McClimon, Dan Lajeunesse, Bob Hodges and Jim Baker. Hit the hardest was Dave McClimon, who spent a year in an iron lung respirator. I can recall the relief everyone felt when a vaccine for this dreaded disease was perfected by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955.
Looking back at this photo, it’s a great reminder of the good times and the sad times, and the importance of sports in this community of Sooke.
Elida Peers is a historian from Sooke Region Museum
