This citys favourite historian passed away in November of last year, but in his death Chuck Davis created a legacy that brought together a community of artists, says Courier columnist Allen Garr.
I spoke with Garr this week about The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Greater Vancouver, which was completed posthumously by a team of mostly volunteers and friends who did everything from completing unwritten chapters to creating the beautiful book jacket. The book was released just weeks ago.
Garr was one of those contributors, writing four chapters after his friends death in November 2010 at age 75. Garr agreed to help Chuck finish the book after the historian discovered he was dying. Chuck was diagnosed with skin, bladder and prostrate cancer in a single week in 2007, but the disease didnt really take its toll until 2010.
Their plan was that Garr would feed Chuck research material about the history of Vancouver, while the author compiled it into chapters. Two things Chuck wasnt good at were deadlines and budgets, Garr says laughing at the memory. He spent a decade working on this book.
But when Chucks health took a sudden and unexpected turn for the worse last year, the pair of writers decided to go with a Plan B, but unfortunately time ran out.
A few days later he was gone and then it was like, now what the hell do we do? Garr says.
Garr offered to do whatever he could to get the book finished. He was then asked to a meeting at the Sunshine Coast home of Howard White, publisher of Harbour Publishing.
I thought it was just going to be a couple of us, but when I arrived there were a dozen people including writers, graphic designers and staff from the publishing house, Garr remembers.
It was then the group came up with a plan, determined to finish Chucks work in time for the City of Vancouvers 125th birthday this year, which they did.
Garr suggested I open the book at any page and begin reading, so thats exactly what I did and coincidently landed on a page from 1932 with a reference to Christmas. What I discovered was that on Dec. 25, 1932, Greater Vancouverites listened to the first Christmas radio message from the sovereign as King George V spoke from the royal estate in Sandringham, England.
Its like eating peanuts, says Garr. Once you start you cant stop.
Its true. Were it not for my deadlines Monday, I could have easily spent hours poring over anecdote after anecdote about our citys history. I discovered that in 1938 the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery was reluctant to purchase a painting by Emily Carr because it cost $400 and that in July 3, 1960, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Fire Department battled its first five-alarm fire. And heres a tidbit: in 1909, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»took its first mechanized ambulance for a test drive and ran over and killed an American tourist.
The book is also a sure winner against anyone who argues print is dead. Its a tome of a book with hundreds of historical photos that capture the spirit and feel of the city decade by decade. The first thing I noticed after unwrapping a copy of the book was the glossy feel of the pages and the smell of fresh newsprint, something Ive never experienced reading online.
Garr says the publisher was initially uneasy ordering a first printing of 5,000 copies. But the copies of the book quickly flew off the shelves of stores across Greater Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»until all that remained were the back orders. Garr says luckily a second edition was ordered just in time for Christmas and Hanukkah and should be delivered to major bookstores across the city Wednesday (Dec. 21). Thats fitting because the book is truly Chucks Christmas present to us all. And when it comes to deadlines, it looks like Chuck finally managed to meet the most important of his long and illustrious careerwith a little help from his friends.
Twitter: @sthomas10
