Interview with Jim Goodacre
https://search.bvmuseum.org/link/descriptions12247
- Date Range
- April 23 1991
- Collection
- BVM Oral History collection
- Description Level
- File
- GMD
- sound recording
- electronic record
- Scope and Content
- Interview with Jim Goodacre, recorded on April 23rd 1991 by Smithers Alternate School student Curtis Barger. Includes raw and edited .WAV files, a MP3 access file, and a .jpg release form.
- Collection
- BVM Oral History collection
- Description Level
- File
- Creator
- Curtis Barger
- Fonds No.
- C5
- Item No.
- 2021.21.40
- Accession No.
- 2021.21
- Physical Description
- 1.36 GB of digital records
- Date Range
- April 23 1991
- History / Biographical
- James ‘Jim’ Goodacre (1925-2010) was born in Telkwa to Clarence and Winnie Goodacre; he moved to Smithers with his family in 1927. Jim served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War and afterwards joined his father and brother in running the family grocery store, Goodacre’s. He married Margaret Dunn in 1949 and had five children: John, Bill, Mary, Patti, and Donald.
- Scope and Content
- Interview with Jim Goodacre, recorded on April 23rd 1991 by Smithers Alternate School student Curtis Barger. Includes raw and edited .WAV files, a MP3 access file, and a .jpg release form.
- Type of Record
- Archival Description
Audio Tracks
Interview with Jim Goodacre - April 23 1991
Interview with Jim Goodacre - April 23 1991
https://search.bvmuseum.org/media/Digital%20Fonds%20and%20Collections/C5%20BVM%20Oral%20History%20collection/2021.21.40_Goodacre,%20Jim/Goodacre,%20Jim%201991_04_23.ACCESS.mp3
Jim Goodacre begins the interview by recounting his school days, in particular how his high school graduating class had only 3 students due to so many joining the war effort.
air force; corporal punishment; discipline; graduation; Harry Kenney; principal; Vernon Crockett; war conditions; work
education; high school; school; war effort; World War II
Goodacre recounts his experiences in the Air Force during World War II, as well as the presence of military personnel, aircraft, and airstrips in the Bulkley Valley.
airports; Aleutian Islands; army; army training; Duthie Mine Road; Fred Riffel; highway; Olaf Hanson; pilot training; planes; Summerside, Prince Edward Island; Tatlow Road airstrip; Telkwa airstrip; Town Hall; VE Day
air force; military; World War II
Goodacre discusses working at the family's store, which was founded in 1937 and later became a Super Valu.
bartering; credit; Cyril Mehaffey; farmers; Fred Watson; Jean Mehaffey; Super Valu; unpaid work
business; Clarence Goodacre Sr.; Goodacre's Store
Goodacre discusses the rise and fall of Aldermere, to which his father (Clarence Goodacre Sr.), grandmother (Mrs. Robert Burns), and great-grandfather (R.J. 'Black Jack' McDonell) had come in the early 1900s. He also mentions how many residents of Telkwa gravitated towards Smithers as the town grew in size and stature.
Black Jack McDonell; Clarence Goodacre Sr.; hotels; Hudston Bay Ranch; Mrs. Robert Burns; Port Essington; R.J. McDonell; railroad; riverboat
Aldermere; family history; Telkwa
Goodacre discusses growing up in Smithers during the 1920s and 30s, including what amenities were available, what was done for recreation, and what modes of transportation were used in the area. He also mentions his family's early days in northern BC and where they originally came from (segment starts around 19:27).
alderman; baseball; Black Jack McDonell; cars; Clarence Goodacre Sr.; Fort George; Hazelton; heater; hockey; hotels; livery barn; Mr. Jones; Nottingham, England; principal; R.J. McDonell; skating; skating rink; skiing; Smithers Public School; stagecoaches; steamboats; taxis; tent town; train; Victoria; water pump
amenities; childhood; family history; recreation; school; Smithers; sports; transportation
Goodacre discusses housing prices and construction, the family home, the struggles of building a town on a swamp, the general layout of Main Street and Railway Avenue, the maintenance and eventual filling of the Main Street ditches, and how poor road conditions made it difficult to deliver groceries from his family's store. He also explains how his brother 'Slim' received his nickname.
basements; Bigelow Creek; boardwalks; building foundations; Chicken Creek; Clarence 'Slim' Goodacre; corduroy road; deliveries; drainage; family home; Goodacre's Store; housing prices; piles; piling; Railway Avenue; road collapse; road conditions; sidewalks; Sorento Motel; swamp
buildings; construction; houses; infrastructure; Main Street; Main Street ditch; Smithers
A brief story on how Jim Goodacre received his driver's license at the age of fifteen.
Charlie Wilson; Constable Grant; ice cutting; ice harvesting; ice houses; Lake Kathlyn
driver's license; driver's test; driving license; driving test
Continuing on from the driver's license story, Jim Goodacre discusses elements of winter in Smithers, including as ice cutting at Lake Kathlyn and sports such as skiing and skating. He also mentions how he collected beer bottles in order to save up money for a bicycle.
BC Ski Jumping Championships; beer bottles; bicycle; Bigelow Lake; biking; Canadian National Railways; canneries; clearing streets; Hudson Bay Mountain; ice saws; ice sculptures; Lake Kathlyn; Prince Rupert; shovelling; skating; ski jumps; skiing; sledding; sleighs; snow chains; snowfall; temperature; Warren's Hill
ice cutting; ice harvesting; recreation; sports; winter
Goodacre lists other businesses in Smithers during the 1920s-40s, including some of those which burned down in the devastating Main Street fires of 1944 and 1945.
bakeries; Bill Grant; Chuck Morris; Eby's Hardware; Leach Brothers; Marcella Edmonds; meat markets; Newberry Bakery; Noel's Department Store; Telkwa Hotel; Watson's Store; Wing's Bakery
buildings; businesses; fires; Main Street; Main Street fires
Goodacre concludes the interview with various additional memories, including: picking up produce/delivering groceries to the farms around Smithers; the brass band he played in; the population of Smithers and nearby towns at the time; farms which were settled after WWI, abandoned during the Depression, and taken up by newcomers after WWII; his maternal grandparents' (McDonald family) farm and house in Telkwa.
Alex Murray; ball park; bandstand; brass band; Doughty; Helen Murray; heritage house; McDonald house; Telkwa; Tom McDonald; Tyhee Lake; Victory Bond tour
band; deliveries; farms; McDonald family; memories; population