“My parents instilled in me a love of history by visiting historic sites on our vacations and telling me of the history they had lived. My life became enriched when I married the son of a naval officer.” – Helen Edwards
I have been writing since my elementary school days when I penned plays and short stories for my classmates; I have been producing copy ever since. I am a lifelong historian and have written on a variety of subjects, but family history is one of my passions.
My latest book is a collection of articles I have written over the last 40 years about heritage buildings and the people who loved them. I have updated the material and provided a current report on the site, as many of the structures are no longer extant. I have included photographs that were not always possible in publications with limited space. Volume One was issued on February 22, 2023, and Volume Two will be published in July 2023.
In “Dutchy’s Decades: Life as a Canadian Naval Officer, 1930-1950—and Beyond,” I document the life of John Crispo Inglis “Dutchy” Edwards during the second phase of his long career. I had binders and boxes full of information and photographs, but I had to organize them before starting writing. The best discovery was a typewritten documentation of his time spent on HMCS Prince Henry in the Caribbean during World War II that gave an insight into the realities of life on a ship that is never revealed in academic histories.
In “Dutchy’s Diaries: Life as a Canadian Naval Officer, In His Own Words: 1915-1929,” you can read verbatim transcriptions of journals kept by my father-in-law, as he served on different naval ships. They are rare first-person accounts of naval life enhanced by material that I researched and added to give context to the journal material.
My first book, “The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria, BC: 1911-2011,” was a thank-you to the many professional players who entertained Victoria citizens for over a century. It took almost eight years to research and write and now finds a home in the Hockey Hall of Fame Archives in Toronto.
There are unexpected connections between my books as my father-in-law (a world-class athlete) writes about going to hockey games in the 1920s and comments on the players; he then mentions hockey in a later era. He and his family were socially active and frequently visited heritage houses.
I am thrilled to share my stories with the world and I’d like to know what you think about Dutchy and his journey. Keeping in touch with me is easy – click here.