The Rees Family Commemorative Table/Bench
By Allan Forget
In 2010, the Galiano Club Board, under President Don Anderson, was approached by the children of the late islanders Helen and John Rees, who wished to place a bench on the Community Hall grounds in memory of their parents. The Board agreed to the idea but asked if a more useful picnic table might be installed instead.
The Rees family was put in touch with Richard Dewinetz of Bodega North Woodworks located on the island who had recently opened a business producing original design benches and tables using locally harvested woods. A couple of years passed before the Rees family and Mr. Dewinetz came back to the Board with a final design idea: a four-sided, cedar wood bench/table combo about 2m x 2m in size.
By the summer of 2013 the bench/table was completed and installed by Mr. Dewinetz in the Hall grounds near the kids playground where it was anchored to a wood/cement paving stone base. (Later, the Club added a shade umbrella.)
In August, the Club Board, by then under President Jane Wolverton, organized a dedication ceremony which was attended by many Rees family members including daughters Arlene and Roma, and several island friends and neighbours of Mr. and Mrs. Rees.
The attached commemorative plaque, remembering also deceased son Rod, reads simply:
In Memory of
John & Helen Rees
and Rod Rees
Immigrants from the UK after WW2, the Helen & John Rees family came to Vancouver in 1947. Property on Galiano Is. —- a 196 acre farm located at the corner of Montague Hbr Rd/Georgeson Bay Rd —- was purchased in 1965. Eventually the family came to live full-time on the farm, built a single-level brick house (which still stands). John grew hay, raised cattle & sheep; Helen became an active fruit/vegetable gardener. Somewhat involved in the community, John was an early member of the Galiano Golf Club, Helen served as a Director of the Galiano Club. As John & Helen aged they found the large property increasingly difficult to manage. Piece by piece the property was divided and sold, the house itself going in 2003. Mr. & Mrs. Rees retired to Victoria where they died —- John in 2008, Helen in 2010 —- and were buried.
