11/07/2015
Markings In The Mail By A Sidney Boy Volume one
I Heard The Eagle's Piercing Cries by Wallace G. du Temple
In the stirring lead story, the Matriarch of Talhtan shows courage in the face of racism and assimilation; first, her baby dies in a blizzard, then her other three are seized. Wally blows the whistle on the provincial welfare department because of discrimination, and gross neglect in addressing the problems of the province’s needy. ‘Wally’s Welfare War’ erupts. Six social workers are suspended in a civil servant rebellion. Wally du Temple and Bridget Moran are fired, and four workers are suspended.
A variety of other tales follow:
Banned from government service, Wally paddles into the jaws of hell recreating a route abandoned by fur traders a century earlier; a wilderness story of outward-bound danger and courage.
Next, Wally goes sailing, and manages Ardmore Golf Course for his mom.
Short writings about the environment are followed by “Cialis and S*x At The First Tee." The Donkey 4H Club takes over Ardmore Golf Course, and initiates the initial Santa Claus Parade in Sidney. Shameless s*x disrupts golf at the first tee.
“I Didn’t Know It Then” relates to blood brothers, male s*xuality, homophobia and alcoholism.
The last story is about the exceptional love between a mule and a horse.
All stories are introduced by letters which Wally sent to the old family mail box of home. They were ‘markings in the mail’ for his mom.
Wallace George du Temple graduated from North Saanich High School in 1959. He studied and graduated with a degree from UBC and a teacher’s certificate from the U of T. His Dad was the commanding officer who oversaw the building of the Victoria International Airport ( The RCAF Patricia Bay Air Station ) in 1939. Since then the family has planted firm and caring roots in peninsula soil. They call it home. Wally has had several careers; as a social worker, as a teacher, as a safari outfitter, and as a golf course manager. He is a writer, a photographer, a canoeist, a riverboat man, a horseman, a carriage driver, a dog team musher and a sailor. Throughout his careers and hobbies, he has kept diaries and journals and letters to his Mom that he now uses as a source for his writing. Other books by Wallace George du Temple include: ‘ARDMORE: Home, Community and Golf’
