Vivienne’s father was an officer in the British Army, posted in Bombay, India, where she was born. Her mother endured life as an army wife while her two daughters were sent to Kimmins Boarding School in the cool mountain region of Panchgani.

The family was one of the last to leave India after the war, in 1948. They came to Deep Cove, deemed by Jack Villiers, a friend of her father’s, as “the only place worth living in Canada.”

Art was born in Yorkshire, England where, at sixteen he apprenticed in the steel work industry. In 1952, with Britain still reeling from the War, Art set off to find a better life working for the CNR in London, Ontario. A short while later he and his first love (a British Motorcycle) rode out west to Vancouver, where Art took a job with Dominion Bridge just as they began building the Granville Street Bridge. Art became a Senior Template Maker and would lay out the steel work with all the holes in place, from blueprints. By this time, Vivienne had long left her family home and was working at Robert Simpson’s in Vancouver on Water Street. Her boss’ husband happened to be a British Motorcycle enthusiast and through them, Vivienne took an interest in biking. Her interest grew into a life of its own when she met Art at the British Motorcycle shop on Fraser Street. The rest, as they say, is their history.

They were married, in 1955 in the chapel of Christ Church Cathedral and lived in Vancouver for a year.

Vivienne’s father, who had stayed in The Cove on what is now Badger Road, was ailing. The Coverdale’s moved in to the house next door to be on hand to help.

In 1957, they took three months off and went to England. Growing up in Bombay, Vivienne had never known her British relatives and this was her chance to look them up and to learn more about Art’s family roots.

Eventually Vivienne’s father passed away and they moved in to what had been her first Canadian home. In 1968 they adopted a son Stuart, followed by a daughter, Lisa, just a year and half later.

Art stayed with Dominion Bridge until it closed. Its last big job was the Peace River Power Station. He later started his own home renovation business. In 1980 Art flew to a job in Inuvik. He recalls it was bright all night and it was “so cold they needed fur lining on the seat of the outdoor plumbing.”

Vivienne made home her career after the children joined the family. She and a friend organized a weekly get together for mums at the Community Centre. They did exercise, swapped recipes (Vivienne taught how to cook with curry), did crafts and compared notes while the children were baby sat at the Yacht Club for fifty cents and hour.

The Coverdale’s remember the community life that revolved around the original Yacht Club and the Fire Hall/Community Centre (first home of Deep Cove Stage) with summer events and parades sponsored by the Kiwanis and the Kinsmen. They are original members of the Yacht Club, Art was Commodore in 1968. Always an avid fisherman, he recalls fishing for pink salmon right off the dock and digging for clams on the beach.

They remember having lots of fun but little money (a skilled man would earn $1.50 per hour) but those were the days when you could go into town for a movie and a White Spot hamburger for a dollar, and draft beer was a dime.

Art remembers so little traffic along Dollarton Highway, the only road in or out. He says “If you were driving home along Dollarton and your car broke down, you had to be prepared to stay there for a while because there would be no one coming along behind you any time soon.” It was so quiet you could “hear the frogs croaking.”

The Coverdale’s and The Cove have seen many changes over the years but both have retained their sense of community. Art and Vivienne are active, resourceful members of the Deep Cove Heritage Society who believe in preserving the past for the future.

—written by Shelley Harrison Rae