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North Van senior celebrating 95 years of skating, dancing, and service

Evelyn Ralston remembers walking with her sister from their home on Cambie Street in Vancouver to the family fish and chip shop at Lost Lagoon. “‘British Fish & Chips, J. J. Johnston, Prop.’ I can see the sign now.
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Evelyn Ralston remembers walking with her sister from their home on Cambie Street in Vancouver to the family fish and chip shop at Lost Lagoon.

“‘British Fish & Chips, J. J. Johnston, Prop.’ I can see the sign now. Daddy would give us each a plate of chips, no fish, just chips, and we would walk back home eating those delicious chips,” recalls Evelyn.  

Note that she doesn’t mention helping at the shop. It’s up to her daughter Lyn to deliver that part of the story: “She was six when she started looking after her younger brother.

And then she helped at the fish and chip shop, nobody asked her, she just pitched in.”  

Evelyn Jeanette Johnston was born at Vancouver General Hospital on July 24, 1922, to J.J. Johnston and his wife Nellie, both originally from Calgary. By 1930, the Johnstons had returned to Calgary, where they lived above the family grocery store through the Depression and Second World War.

Evelyn left school after Grade 9 and went to work in the store. Her first pay bought a pair of ice skates. “No more sharing skates with my sister, one each. And not tube skates, they were real speed skates,” says Evelyn.

Skating was a big part of life on the Canadian prairie, even through the Depression and the war. British RAF aircrews in training made their way to Calgary for leave, heading to the ice rink and to  dances at Penley’s Dancing Academy.

Dancing was Evelyn’s second love after skating. She and her friends were recruited by the dance academy’s owner to dance with servicemen. Three or four nights a week, off went Evelyn to do her duty.  It was there she met Bob Ralston.

“He was a lovely dancer,” remembers Evelyn. The floor would clear as she and her dance partner whirled across the ballroom.

Between dancing and motorcycle rides into the foothills, it became clear Bob was the one. In 1947, he sold that bike to buy bus tickets for the journey out west, where the couple married and began their life together, 68 years in North Vancouver.

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Evelyn Ralston with her husband Bob on their way from Calgary to Vancouver in 1947.

Bob went into construction and Evelyn cared for their three children, as well as their home and garden, and her mother, Nellie, who travelled out to join the family. Still, there was a call to “get out and do something.”

Evelyn was known for the batches and batches of cookies she baked for many worthy causes throughout the years. She was den mother for her sons’ Scout troops, and started Hot Dog Day at Westview School when she noticed some of the kids didn’t have lunches. She later became known as Grandma Ev when she volunteered for many years in the school, reading with children.

Evelyn’s greatest contribution to her community still operates in North Vancouver as the Red Cross Equipment Lending program. Its origins date back to 1941, when Evelyn started giving blood (which she did for 60 years). She gave blood so often that she was invited to work at the clinic, an invitation that led to volunteering with the Lions Gate Hospital Auxiliary, and to an inspiration.

Evelyn and Betty Charlton, her sidekick in all these adventures, noticed the need for medical equipment for people discharged from hospital. Taking over a shed beside the old hospital, the two started collecting and refurbishing everything from wheelchairs to bedpans and sending it out on loan. They called it the Lending Cupboard and it grew so much that it was adopted by the Red Cross and now operates in its current location at Delbrook.

Evelyn Ralston will celebrate her 95th birthday this weekend with her family – children, grandchildren and great grandchildren – and with the friends of all ages she has made during her life. It’s a wonderful thing to celebrate one’s legacy this way. Happy birthday, Evelyn, and thank you for your lifetime of giving.   

Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. Contact her at 778-279-2275 or e-mail her at lander1@shaw.ca.