Chilliwack is a city I didn’t discover until arriving here back in 1999, a young mother with a baby on her hip and a journalism diploma in her back pocket.
Happy to find a place that was not too big, not too small, we settled in as a family very easily and quickly in a two-bedroom on Harrison Street. We made friends, found our favourite little shops downtown and explored all that the backcountry here has to offer.
I fell in love with the city, the community and its surroundings. After a life spent moving between Richmond, the Okanagan and the Cariboo, I really felt I could make Chilliwack my home. And boy have I ever. I raised three sons here, volunteered in numerous capacities, and have made lifelong friends and connections. I’ve lived in rural neighbourhoods alongside the Fraser River, and in the shadow of Mt. Cheam, but mostly I’ve lived just within a stone’s throw of our ever-changing downtown.
Living close to the downtown core has been lively and entertaining. At one point in time, the Chilliwack Middle School Marching Chargers would make their way to the very front of our house on Maple Avenue to practise, multiple times a week. It was a free show we could count on, whether we wanted to hear it on any given day or not.
Life here has also meant the constant lure of Mother Nature. Even though my writing keeps me somewhat tied to a desk, my most natural habitat is the great outdoors. I grew up exploring coastlines and forests, and so Chilliwack has never disappointed. My only complaint is that there is so much I haven’t even gotten to yet.
I have never actually climbed Cheam, even though I’ve managed to get to the parking area. It remains on my big list of Things to Do, which I’ve been fervently ticking off since beating an advanced stage of cancer in 2018. Some readers may recall that particular journey, as I shared some of its highs and lows in this very column space.
What brings me back to this office, though, was really a call to come home again. For the last few years I’ve been helping out at our sister paper, the Hope Standard, and then filled a reporter position at another sister paper, the Abbotsford News. But my heart never really left the Progress, and honestly I’ve been commuting that terrible stretch of highway for two-years-too-long.
And so here I am. I’m thrilled to join my long-time colleagues here, especially Jennifer Feinberg and Jenna Hauck. The three of us have been working together seamlessly, in various ways, for two and a half decades. We’ve chased stories together, worked late into the night on election coverage, and been there for each other through all of the changes the media industry has undergone.
Chilliwack, I believe, is very lucky to have this newsroom as a resource. Established in 1891, we have 132 years of history here behind us, and the archives to back it up. We have solid journalists who carry with them a vast collective knowledge of this city, its history and its people. We are all invested in its future, too. I firmly believe nobody can cover this city’s politics, crime, arts, business, sports and community quite like our newsroom can.
Keep on reading, Chilliwack.
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