Notes on Nature by Fanny Waplington
"Notes on Nature" by Fanny Waplington, [ca.1925] Burnaby Village Museum BV991.23.1
Hand illustrated informational journal created by Fanny Waplington during her elementary school years at Douglas School in Burnaby.
Frances L. Waplington was born in 1913, the eldest daughter of Jack and Sarah Waplington. The Waplington family moved to Burnaby in 1916 renting a house at Hill Station on the Burnaby Lake Interurban Line. In 1920 the family built a cedar shack on 5 acres of land at Douglas Road and Laurel. According to Frances’ memoir, In and Out of a Cedar Shake Shack, life was rough living with no electricity or running water. Frances also recalls her childhood between 1913-1925 in her handwritten and drawn personal account, The Way it Was. By 1925 the family were lucky to purchase “Brookfield”, the former home of Louis Claude Hill located at 3813 Deer Lake Avenue. Frances (Fanny) and her siblings, John and Grace grew up in the house and attended Douglas Road School. Frances married Ray Fleming in 1935 and in 1947 they purchased the Waplington family home from Frances’ parents, raising their own family of three children there. Frances was a trailblazer, teaching in BC schools for over 30 years and became the first female school administrator and superintendent. In 1997, Frances received the Order of B.C. After retiring from teaching, she was a regular columnist for the Vancouver Sun newspaper.
Photographs and records of the Waplington-Fleming families can be viewed here: Waplington family fonds