In 1912, Ruiter Stinson Sherman purchased lot 19 from the Vancouver Trust Company, whose president was Harry Leroy Jenkins.
The house was built by William Mace in 1916 or 1917.
In 1918 the property was purchased by Vancouver Normal School principal William Burns. He registered it in the name of his daughter-in law Eveline Burns as a gift to the family with whom he lived. Eveline’s husband was Robert Burns and their children were Robert Jr., Ronald and Margaret (m.Holmes). William Burns named the house Thalasse (Greek for "by the sea").
Eveline Burns held the property until 1928 when it was sold to Walter Warren Hutton, who had possibly rented the house for a summer before buying. Walter Hutton and his wife Mary Jeanette (Janey) had four daughters — Eleanor (m.Thompson), Barbara (m. Mortimer), Mary (m. Miles) and Dorothy (Dodie) (m. Edmonds).
Walter Hutton died in 1942 and the property passed to his widow Janey.
In 1973 Dodie Edmonds inherited it from her mother, Janey Hutton.
In 1977 Dodie’s son Kemp Edmonds and Mary’s son Brad Miles purchased the property from Dodie.
Kemp Edmonds bought Brad Miles’ interest in 1991 and in 1998 transferred ownership to his wife Wendy. Kemp and Wendy have four children – Sarah, Jessica, Jordan and Travis, and now many grandchildren.
Over the years, the cottage was occasionally rented to families who eventually became owners of their own Savary homes — Fred Mather, Betty and Ralph Farris, Rachel and Giles Mackenzie, Judy and John Bowles, and Debbie and David Rollins.
Thalasse has been maintained essentially as it was originally built, and has now been enjoyed by six generations of Edmonds family members.
*Editor's note: See Robert Burns' story under Publications.
Published 2024
Related Posts
