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1. P46715 - Pictured are Fred and Elma Clark: marking their 50th anniversary today, December 24. The Clarks moved to Matsqui Village in 1930, where Elma's family already resided. They planned to marry in spring of 1936, but due to family illness, moved it to December 1935. From the time they married until the early 1940s, Fred worked in road construction around the province, moving them a few times. He became a mechanic in the early 1940s in Abbotsford-Chilliwack and eventually got promoted to work on Vancouver Island. After a some time living on the Island, the Clarks moved back to Abbbotsford when the Matsqui municipal police force came to be. Fred became the force's first constable and was one of the only two members of the force, being on-call 24 hours a day. He gave safety talks at schools (since traffic lights were relatively new). Some time later, Elma became the official matron for Matsqui, working with police and RCMP. They retired form the force in 1970 and lived, retired, on Pineview Street in Clearbrook.

   Record Type: Photo

   
2. P46732 - Pictured are Fred and Elma Clark, : marking their 50th anniversary today, December 24. The Clarks moved to Matsqui Village in 1930, where Elma's family already resided. They planned to marry in spring of 1936, but due to family illness, moved it to December 1935. From the time they married until the early 1940s, Fred worked in road construction around the province, moving them a few times. He became a mechanic in the early 1940s in Abbotsford-Chilliwack and eventually got promoted to work on Vancouver Island. After a some time living on the Island, the Clarks moved back to Abbbotsford when the Matsqui municipal police force came to be. Fred became the force's first constable and was one of the only two members of the force, being on-call 24 hours a day. He gave safety talks at schools (since traffic lights were relatively new). Some time later, Elma became the official matron for Matsqui, working with police and RCMP. They retired form the force in 1970 and lived, retired, on Pineview Street in Clearbrook.

   Record Type: Photo

   
3. P48230 - Fred Clark, Matsqui Police Department's first constable, and his wife Elma, reminisce on their 50th anniversary. Fred's family moved to the District of Sumas in 1930. Elma's family lived in Matsqui Village where her father, George Rosie, was the blacksmith. In 1934 the couple planned to marry in spring 1936 but in late 1935 both fathers became ill so they bumped the wedding date to Christmas Eve 1935. Their mothers accompanied them to Bellingham because Washington state had no waiting period for a marriage licence. While the fathers were not well enough to attend the wedding both recovered any lived many years afterward. Fred worked a number of jobs: construction on the First Narrow's (Lions Gate) Bridge, the Abbotsford-Mission and King George Highways, a mine tailings dam in Princeton, worked as a mechanic for a Chilliwack trucking firm and a the Kilgard brick plant. On January 1,1955 the Matsqui municipal police force took over from the BC Provincial Police. Fred was hired as the first constable, serving with Chief Constable Bill Lumsdon. Later in the year other officers were hired but Clark was still on call 24/7. Even so, he found time to visit schools to instruct students in traffic safety, and established the first school patrols in Matsqui, training older children to help younger children safely cross roads. Elma was also brought into the police force family when a female guard was needed when a female prisoner was being held. She later became the offical matron for Matsqui and assisted the RCMP in Abbotsford and Sumas as well. Elma worked with Ethel Gosling to start the area's first Christmas Bureau. As a life member of the Poplar Women's Institute Elma did a weekly program on CFVR for women's institutes.

   Record Type: Photo