HISTORY

I think Dee painted a copy of it before I had a copy made. I'm not sure. When she made the copy. She had the river running downhill.

I wonder where that one is?

None of the ones at the reunion had the water going straight down the hill. So that one must be missing.

Hi Vera. It's 7 o'clock and I just thought I better get back to you on this picture. Shelly has the picture that Grandma had. You're welcome to borrow it if you want.

She had one done for herself and asked Uncle Dave if he would like one. He said , "Yes, so she had two copies made. by then Betty had borrowed the original and Donna made this one for her mom's birthday present. so now there are six. Mom's still insisting that Dee made one because there's another copy somewhere where the water seemed to flow down. I have a record of Mom saying she liked the painting but that it wasn't like the original. I don't know where it went --if there is such a one. In these the water isn't flowing steeply. Betty remembers being there when David put the ball through this one. I'd like to hear his version of that .

It sure changed from picture to picture.

So I guess everyone in the Bowman family that remembered that in the living room wanted a copy. Is that the way it went?

Mm, could be, could be. I imagine that we all would have liked to have had a copy. Now, Carrie, you mentioned that you saw that picture painted? I said something to Sandy about it--that you said you saw it and he didn't think that you could have.

Well, it was a Fair day.

It was at Minburn?

At Minburn. And I was at the...not a Fair day but a Sports Day.

Ohh, a Sports Day!

A Sports Day. And I was at ...we always went. All us kids went and we all had fifty cents to spend. So I was at the Sports grounds.

Mm hm.

This fellow was sitting off away from the crowds painting this picture.

Oh, yeah.

With a "For Sale" sign on it. I don't know who bought it. Whether it was my father or whether it was somebody in the family bought it and gave it to Grandma or how it got there.

Did I say Vegreville?

Yeah, I think you said Vegreville. You never saw much of the parlor in Vegreville.

Yeah, but I know where it hung in Vegreville. In the living room. And ah...

It was Great Grandma's . I don't know who gave it to her.

It was Great Grandma's?

Yeah.

Well, I thought...I don't know who bought it either or gave it to her but I watched that picture being painted at a sports Day on the 24th of May or the 1st of July. At one of those Sports Days there was a man with his easel painting pictures.

But that was Grandma Park's picture and she never went to one of those Sports Days.

I know she didn't. But your Great Grandpa did or somebody did and gave it to her--I presume--and she hung it in her parlor.

Where do you think it came from?

I have no idea. It was there when we moved into her house in Minburn. That's all I know.

Yeah.

But you don't know how it got into Grandma's house?

No. I don't know who gave it to her. I don't know whether her husband, your great grandfather, bought it and ah, took it to the house or what. I don't know . Your great grandfather died in 1915.

Yeah.

The original went from Mom to her sister, Mary, who found someone near Westlock, a woman by the name of Alice Anderson. At that time she also asked their brother, Dave, if he wanted a copy. He said. "Yes." So this is one of the two Alice copied--the one my aunt gave to David.

It's from the original.

It's from the original, yes.

My cousin remembers going with her grandmother in 1970 to pick these up.

This one's been hanging in Prince George at my uncle's lakeside home and this one has been hanging in Shelly's home.

Do you know this one?

That used to hang in the parlor at Minburn.

Not that one.

I think it is.

No, not that one.

[unpacks another one]

I painted that just a few years ago.

Oh, you painted it? Good for you.

[She chuckles]

It looks a lot like the one that hung in our parlor

She copied the copy. But I was wondering about the story of this. When they left Vegreville after Great Grandma died.

So Grandma and Grandpa got that painting from Great Grandma.

Right.

And then what?

Well, when they moved to Edmonton they brought it with them I guess. I don't know where it went from there. Maybe it went to Mary. She had it copied too.

It was Dee that copied another one for Mary.

No, someone said Dee didn't copy it.

It was one of the Sterling girls then.

I'm sure Mary told me Dee painted that.

So no one knows what happened to the original after Grandma died?

I don't know where it went from there.

Well, I thought...I don't know who bought it either or gave it to her but I watched that picture being painted at a sports Day on the 24th of May or the 1st of July. At one of those Sports Days there was a man with his easel painting pictures.

But that was Grandma Park's picture and she never went to one of those Sports Days.

I know she didn't. But your Great Grandpa did or somebody did and gave it to her--I presume--and she hung it in her parlor.

Where do you think it came from?

I have no idea. It was there when we moved into her house in Minburn. That's all I know.

Yeah.

But you don't know how it got into Grandma's house?

No. I don't know who gave it to her. I don't know whether her husband, your great grandfatherr, bought it and ah, took it to the house or what. I don't know . Your great grandfather died in 1915.

Yeah.

How did you come into possession of it?

Well, I asked for it so I could use it in this project. I'm just borrowing it.

Oh.

I don't know who owns it now. Donna nearly threw it away. Betty says Mom gave it to her.

Well, I don't remember where I got it.

You got it in order to have Rosie make this copy .

Yeah. But I don't remember where I got it.

Well, you probably got it.... I'm almost certain that Mary had it and George gave it to you after she died.

No.

It was way before that that Rosie did this copy though. Nobody dated their copies. Oh, yeah, this one is dated 1992.

But that one's not dated.

Did you see the old painting sitting around there anywhere?

I had seen it when Grandma had taken it to get it copied. And it seems to me that it was in an old frame like quite a heavy ornate frame.

Yes.

And it seemed to me that there was a hole somewhere up in the corner where it had been taped.

Yes.

Was there?

Yes. There was. Your memory is good there .

[She laughs]

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