On a recent sunny afternoon, the view of Hugh and Sue Fraser’s garden is interrupted by two small heads rising up and down, as regular as a pair of metronomes.
Hugh’s great-grandchildren are taking their first bounces of the season on the trampoline he cleaned up for them in anticipation of spring. Hugh is inside, relaxing after his labours, with two dogs, family and visiting, dozing at his feet and the family cat asleep on his lap.
“I can’t get up,” he says. “I have COL (cat on lap).”
Fifty-two years ago, the Frasers left their home in Africa. They were part of the British diaspora during the 1960s when many of Britain’s colonies sought and gained independence.
For the Frasers, this meant giving up their farm in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. They packed up their three children, two still in diapers, and Hugh’s mother, recently widowed. They left friends, family and the heritage of the 13 generations of life in Africa they shared between them, to find a new home somewhere in the wide world.
A letter describing a beachside Christmas day champagne fest, and advertisements for West Vancouver real estate placed in the Kenya Weekly News by realtor H.A. Roberts tipped the scales in favour of British Columbia.
In 1965, a year after coming to West Vancouver, Hugh stopped at a house on Marine Drive. Mr. Thornycroft, the homeowner, was pounding in a For Sale sign.
“Our agent at H.A. Roberts came over and I wrote a cheque for $100 to seal the sale,” recalls Hugh.
Over the years the house has been home to five generations: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and Hugh’s mother.
Back home in Africa, Hugh was a farmer, almost by default. Dyslexia, a condition undiagnosed in his youth, affected his education with low marks in subjects that required reading and top marks in mathematics. Happily, the topsoil on their land was 18 feet deep and any crop planted would thrive. Baboons, attracted by the bounty, and elephants following migration tracks had to be watched. This wasn’t a problem for Hugh, a lover of sports and the outdoors.
Hugh’s entrepreneurial bent showed up in connection with his company, Kenya Apiaries.
He developed a non-chemical process for treating the beeswax that attracted the makers of Brylcreem to use it as a stabilizing agent in their popular hair pomade.
In Canada, although Hugh did own a farm in Surrey for a time, he found more scope for his business acumen.
“We imported mosquito coils from Kenya, calling them ‘dudus,’ the Swahili word for insect. Dudu Coils was a seasonal business, of course, so we began making boomerangs for the Christmas trade,” he recalls.
Next came the purchase of a fish boat and a license. The fishing business turned out to be more of a recreational pursuit, and the vessel was adapted to Hugh’s next venture: hydrographic surveying for lumber mills on the B.C. coast. Hugh sold his business interests and retired at the age of 70 with some laurels to rest upon.
He was scoutmaster to the 1st West Vancouver Scout Troop. With his friend and neighbour, Lawrence Boothroyd, known by all as “Boots,” he brought girls field hockey to the community.
“Boots noted that our families had three girls and one boy. The boys had soccer but there were no field sports for girls,” says Hugh.
Today, the sport is thriving, with West Vancouver hosting the Women’s World League tournament earlier this year.
The man who had a farm in Africa is now a gardener. Hugh and Sue tend their garden and their chickens and enjoy life with family and friends, some of who have their own garden plot on the property.
Dogs and cat snooze, chickens roam their domain, and the little ones bounce on the trampoline. Hugh, his son, and his great-grandson are preparing for the Art in the Garden tour this weekend, putting a fresh coat of paint and a new latch on the garden gate. All is right in Hugh Fraser’s world.
Contact Laura Anderson at 778-279-2275 or e-mail her at [email protected].
