James Robertson Gilmour

James Gilmour -
GILMOUR, James Robertson On August 12, 2008, James passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and friends, in Victoria, B.C. He was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on December 15th, 1926, and he resided in various communities throughout BC while working as a professional forester. He is survived by a daughter, Pauline of Edmonton and two sons, Glen of Needles, B.C. and James of Ottawa; his twin brother John; and his longtime friend and partner, Wanda. He is loved and will be missed. "Have we told you that we love you today? From the Victoria Times Colonist

Mary (MaryAnne) , John, Helen (Nellie), 1907

Photo from Tom Henry: 

From left, Mary (MaryAnne), John, and Helen (Nellie) Gilmour, circa 1907 - the photo was taken in Scotland before the family emigrated to Canada.  

Identical Twins

John and James - identical twins (sons of James & Janet Gilmour) born December 15, 1926 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  

The first photo was taken on the porch at 428 Avenue E in Saskatoon (Gilmour family home) - the photo says that Jim (James) is on the left while Jack (John) is on the right - from the age of the babies, this looks like spring or summer 1926. 

What beautiful boys - James was 44 when they were born, and I believe Janet was in her early 40s - two for the price of one! They must have been such proud parents!

(It's possible that James Sr. was also a twin - he had a sister, Margaret,  who was born in the same year, 1882, but died as an infant. See Tom Henry's research on the Gilmour family). 

Second photo:  Mrs. Henderson (left side of photo - a friend of Janet's - I think she may have emigrated with her to Canada) with Janet and the two boys - hard to tell which is John and which is James. 

From the age of the boys, and the background, I assume this is summer, 1926. 

Don't you love the ladies' hats? 

 

 

First Flight, circa 1938

Jim/James Gilmour dictated these comments about this photo to his partner, Wanda: 

"My Dad took this photo. My brother (Jack) is jumping off the float, and I'm just getting out of the cockpit. The pilot is talking to me, probably telling me how to close the door. We used to go to Waskesiu (Saskatchewan) quite often, I think. We used to tent. I would estimate that the picture was taken in 1938.

 The plane is a Fairchild KR-34C, a bi-plane on floats. The pilot and his mechanic were barnstorming--flying around, soliciting people for rides for 20 minutes for $5 each. They could carry two passengers in the front seat. They flew into Waskesiu Lake. The mechanic walked along the beach, asking the bathers if they wanted to go up. My Dad asked us if we wanted a ride and we were quite enthusiastic--a little apprehensive, but enthusiastic. We were 13, and it was our first ride. So we climbed into the open cockpit, took off, circled over the town of Waskesiu, and came back for a landing. We had to abort the landing because a motorboat came out into the landing path. We went around again, which was fortunate, because we got a ride that lasted longer than 20 minutes. We couldn't speak to the pilot during the flight. Both cockpits were open and you couldn't hear a thing with the roar of the engine and the wind. We had to use hand signals to point to a boat that was crossing the lake. Another memorable thing was that we had no helmets, so our hair just became tangled in knots. We were probably flying at about 80 mph. I remember that the mechanic was particularly friendly. The pilot didn't say much, but the mechanic was a nice fellow. He's at the edge of the photo. Not too many kids went up in airplanes in those days."

[As dictated to Wanda in November, 1986. Years later, James researched the plane's history. It had been built in Montreal in 1930. Its owners in 1937 were W.J. McDonough, Toronto; Brockton Ltd., Winnipeg; McDonald Bros., Winnipeg. In 1938 it was owned by L.J. Waite, Big River, Saskatchewan. It crashed and was withdrawn from use after it was severely damaged in a forced landing on Dore Lake, Saskatchewan. In December 1939, it could not pass the test for a Certificate of Airworthiness.]

 Chris' note: After Dad (John Gilmour) graduated from forestry school and was working from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he often had occasion to go timber cruising near Dore Lake, site of the forced landing for this Fairchild. 

Was it this early flight that sparked their interest in planes? Both John and James had the "airplane bug" - both took flying lessons, held pilots' licences (Jim was a co-owner of a plane, too, but that's a different post), and maintained a lifelong knowledge of and interest in aviation. Tom Henry (their cousin Annabelle's son) also has the "flying bug". Genetics? You decide.   

Family trees...coming soon to a theatre near you....

Cousins

James/Jim (son of James and Janet Gilmour ) and his cousin Connie (daughter of William and Annie Gilmour). 

James Sr. was the oldest son in the Gilmour family, while William was the third son. 

 

This photo came from Uncle Jim and was taken in Saskatoon during a visit to Connie (and her husband, Cal). 

Three Cousins - 1999

Three cousins from right: Esson Bruce (the oldest cousin - son of Samuel and Bella); James/Jim Gilmour (son of James and Janet); and John Callaghan (the youngest of the cousins - son of Helen and William). This photo was taken in Calgary in 1999.