The Whistler of 51 years ago wasn’t exactly the international tourist destination it is today, but it was still the place where Tom Kelly decided to bring his family to show off the rugged beauty of Canada’s West Coast.
Kelly, a millwright, and his wife Lorraine, a nurse, made their way to the resort from Spruce Grove, Alta. with their two young children in August 1971 for a summer vacation. His parents, Norman and Catherine Kelly, travelled from Paisley, Scotland to join in the fun and explore their son’s new home country. The young couple had just finished building a home and were expecting their third child, after meeting in Edmonton three years earlier.
The Kellys rented a cabin on the shores of Alta Lake, where they planned to spend their visit swimming, diving, cycling and generally enjoying the great outdoors.
The family vacation took a tragic turn on Aug. 21, 1971, when Tom and his father, Norman, drowned in a rowboat accident. Tom’s body was never recovered from Alta Lake.
Shari-Anne Doolaege was born following her father’s death, but stories, diary entries and postcards left behind paint a picture of a well-travelled, ambitious adventurer with a passion for cycling, who always remembered to send heartfelt, often humorous updates to family members back home.
As Doolaege explained, Tom embarked on a solo bike trip from Belgium to Naples in 1965 when he was 19 years old, pedalling the 2,300-kilometre route before returning home to Scotland via a 3,500-km path that took him through Rome, Barcelona, and Paris. He also cycled throughout Scotland and England, she said.
“He treasured his family and his parents and you can imagine how excited they would have been, for his parents to come and experience Canada and visit, and what a tragedy that was,” Doolaege said.
Doolaege and her children will return to Whistler next month to honour the lives of her father and grandfather “that were well-lived and lost too soon,” she said, after first travelling to the resort last year. Visiting Alta Lake for the first time “was a bit surreal, and a bit ominous,” said Doolaege, but “beautiful.”
“I felt a closeness there.”
This time around, Tom’s children and grandchildren plan to explore Whistler by bike, including cycling around Alta Lake as part of a “legacy ride.” (Bike trail suggestions are welcome, Doolaege added.)
Doolaege said she also hopes to eventually install a more permanent memorial marker somewhere in the area.
One family member who won’t be joining in the trip is Tom’s widow, Lorraine.
Following the tragedy, Lorraine “learned the hardship of being a young widow, working as a nurse and raising three children on her own,” said Doolaege. Still, “she was able to rise above it” and find happiness again, remarrying in 1976 to Gerard Badry, a dairy and grain farmer from Heisler, Alta. The couple went on to have four more children.
“My mom has never been back [to Whistler] and she never intends to go back,” Doolaege said. “It’s just too hard for her.”
As Doolaege wrote in a message to Pique, “The Kelly family will always have a connection to the Whistler area. We extend appreciation to the Whistler RCMP detachment and community members who helped retrace events from 50 years ago.”
Have bike route suggestions to share? Send them to Doolaege at [email protected].
