Shyla Seller is an archivist and an editor. She was born in Vancouver, BC and grew up in Coquitlam, BC. She attended Parkland Elementary School, Como Lake Junior Secondary, and Centennial High School. Her first job was at the Hol 'n' One Donut shop in the Loughheed Mall, which was owned by her grandparents Bill and Nina Seller. She received her higher education at the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia.

Barb Wood was born in Halifax in 1953. She studied architecture and fine arts at the University of Waterloo from 1972 to 1976, graduating with an honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After graduation she moved to Vancouver with her husband: the architect Don Hazelden.

In 1980, she set up Barb Wood Graphics Ltd. Corporate clients included the Bank of Nova Scotia, BMO, RBC, BC Sugar, Dairyland, Neptune Terminals, BC Ferries, and several municipalities including the City of Coquitlam. She also became a partner in the successful printmaking co-op and gallery Six of One on Granville Island.

Ken Haywood was the General Sales Manager at Fogg Motors Limited of New Westminster and had a long history with Westwood Racetrack. He served as President of the Westwood Karting Association and organized twelve go-kart meets every summer in the 1960s. His three sons and his daughter all raced in the karting series at Westwood.
Haywood also served as a Director and Membership Chairman for the Kiwanis Club and was instrumental in developing the club’s defensive driving program.

Fiona McQuarrie was born in North Vancouver. She studied at Simon Fraser University and at the University of Alberta, graduating from the University of Alberta in 1995 with a Ph.D. in organizational analysis. She was a faculty member in the School of Business at the University of the Fraser Valley and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2022. She moved to Coquitlam in 1995 and has served on several City of Coquitlam committees, including the Gender Equity Committee.

Sharon Tokar is a founding member of Coquitlam Search and Rescue, and was one of the first women to be involved in search and rescue activities in the province. Growing up in Coquitlam, she attended Brookmere Elementary, Como Lake Middle School, Mongomery Junior Secondary, and Centennial Secondary School. As well, she worked as a nurse at Riverview Hospital and Woodwards in New Westminster. She was a trained archeologist and taught at Langara College. Sharon passed away in March 2024.

Reginald George Marshall was born April 7th, 1884 in Dorset, Dorchester, England. Marshall was married to Matilda Hopkins on October 9th, 1911. Prior to moving to Canada, he served in the Dorset Yeomanry and following his arrival served in the 104th militia in British Columbia. His marriage certificate lists his occupation as "farmer" but on July 16th, 1913 he was appointed as a special police constable at a Coquitlam Council meeting on a retaining fee of $10 per month. He was later appointed to be the special constable in charge of the East End at a rate of $10 per month. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on March 11th, 1915 in New Westminster at the rank of Private but was soon promoted to Lance Corporal, Corporal, and then Sergeant (Regiment No. 628467) in the 47th Battalion. He died of wounds received in action on August 22nd, 1917, at the age of 33. He received the Victory and British War medals and is buried in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery in France in plot V.D. 12. He was survived by his wife, who moved to England during the war, and his parents Francis and Annie Marshall of Port Coquitlam.

Craig Hodge was born May 1, 1957, at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, the same hospital where his father was born. His father Robert Hodge was the financial services manager for the Coquitlam School Board while his mother Margaret Hodge was a Burnaby school teacher. The family moved to Coquitlam in 1964.

After finishing grade school at Hillcrest elementary, he attended a brand new school called Dr. Charles Best junior secondary where he became interested in photography as he worked on the school’s first annual.

When he advanced to Centennial secondary in 1973, he volunteered to work on the school’s award-winning newspaper, The Catalyst, under the direction of teachers Ward Eby and Frank Shepard. While a number of Catalyst students went on to careers in journalism, Craig’s break came while he was still in Grade 11 when The Columbian newspaper sent its chief photographer Basil King to take pictures of the students for a story about a national award they had won. Craig didn’t realize that as the students waited for their classmates to gather, Basil was looking over Craig’s pictures scattered on the table. A month later, Basil offered Craig a job as a photographer for the summer.

The Columbian newspaper was British Columbia’s oldest daily newspaper. It started in New Westminster before relocating to a former car dealership at 329 North Rd. in Coquitlam. It served the Vancouver suburbs and tried to compete against the Vancouver Sun and Province.

When the summer ended, Craig returned to Centennial for his final year but Basil kept him on to work weekends until he graduated. During his 10 years of working at The Columbian, Craig covered all the major provincial and local stories before the newspaper closed doors in 1984.

By then, Craig had developed a close working relationship with local police and firefighters, and had become the top spot news photographer in the Lower Mainland. This led to him to being hired in 1985 by Gordy Robson, the owner of the Maple Ridge News. Gordy was interested in expanding his weekly publication into the Coquitlam and Burnaby markets to fill the void left by The Columbian. He also wanted to compete with the Now newspaper chain that had just been started by a group of former Columbian employees.

Originally launched as a regional Sunday magazine format — featuring a full front page colour photograph — plans were soon made to start individual Wednesday news editions in the Burnaby, New Westminster and Coquitlam markets.

It was in a management meeting to pick a name for the new Coquitlam paper that Craig argued against calling the publication The Pocomo News or the District 43 News. Rather, his idea was to call it The Tri-City News. The term had not been used in the area before and his suggestion was rejected by several mayors who were then fighting against calls for amalgamation. Despite the opposition, Craig convinced the newspaper owners and, today, the name is commonly used to reference the Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody region.

Shortly after the expansion, Gordy Robson sold the papers to Hacker Press — the owner of the Abbotsford News and Chilliwack Progress. The company built a regional production facility on Broadway Avenue in Port Coquitlam and it was there that Craig established a photography department to cover the territory from Whonnock to Vancouver.

Craig hired a team of photographers to staff the region seven days a week. Between the years 1985 and 2011, his team won more than 80 local, national and international photo journalism awards — half of them for Craig’s images.

During his 35 years working for local newspapers, Craig covered many events that shaped the community and documented the changing city. He photographed high school sports, Rick Hansen climbing the Thermal Drive Hill, opening day of Coquitlam Centre Mall, races at Westwood Track, building openings and every big news event.

While at The Tri-City News, he also began working part-time as a staff photographer for the Vancouver Sun. There, he covered major sports, concerts, and historic events such as Expo 86 and the royal tour of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Craig served as president of the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce in 1999, and later as president of the Coquitlam Heritage Society.

He and his wife Darla Furlani, also a photographer, had three sons and Craig volunteered as a soccer coach, ball hockey coach, and a Scout leader.
Craig was the photo co-ordinator for Coquitlam’s centennial history book, Coquitlam 100 Years, in which — over a two-year period — he sourced all the images for the publication, now preserved at the City of Coquitlam Archives.

In 2011, Craig left the newspaper industry and was elected to Coquitlam city council.

James Leonard (Jim) Tonn served as Councillor in 1971 and was elected Mayor in 1972, a position he held until he resigned in July, 1983. He was a former professional football player who played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the B.C. Lions between 1957 and 1959. He served as Alderman for one year before being elected Mayor. He served as President of the Union of B.C. Municipalities and was Deputy Chairman of the GVRD Board of Directors. He served on nearly all GVRD committees and was Chairman of several including Planning and Parks. After resigning he became the Municipal Manager.

James Mars was first elected Reeve for the Corporation of the District of Coquitlam in 1911. He served in this capacity until the City of Port Coquitlam seceded from the district and he became the first Reeve of the new City of Port Coquitlam. He later served as Alderman in Port Coquitlam from 1920-1921.

Margaret (Marg) and Geoffrey (Geoff) Hortin became members of the Sports Car Club of British Columbia (SCCBC) in 1958. They assisted with the building of the Westwood Racetrack, and Geoff was an active racer. Marg raced an MGA coupe in what were known as "powder puff" races. She also helped out with lap scoring and was part of the Ladies Division, which ran a concession stand that raised enough money to pay for the taxes on the racetrack each year. Margaret Hortin passed away on July 5, 2019.

Ronald James Fielding was born in Vancouver in 1910 to Thomas and Sarah Fielding. Fielding married Barbara May MacDonald in 1936. Fielding was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Excelsior Lodge #7 in Chilliwack for 70 years and associate member of Royal City/Burnaby Lodge #3.

Byron Charles Jennings was a commercial photographer working in Vancouver, B.C. He worked at the Columbian and Province newspapers before opening his own commercial photography business, which operated under the name B.C. Jennings Ltd.

Long serving employee of the City of Coquitlam. Director of Planning (ca. 1969 to ca.1987). He served as the Acting Municipal Manager starting in 1988 and then Acting City Manager (when Coquitlam became a City in 1992) until ca. 1997. Buchanan Square at City Hall is named in his honour.

Simon Barthelemie Charpentier was born in St. Brieux, Saskatchewan in 1913 and moved to Maillardville around 1932. Charpentier worked at Fraser Mills. He married Marie Celia Hinque on July 16, 1935 (B13769). They had seven children and lived in a house at 200 Hart Street. Charpentier died in 2006.

Fabian Jack Stiglish, more commonly known as “Jack” was born in Leask, Saskatchewan and grew up on a farm in Leask. He left the farm in 1938 and moved to British Columbia and met his wife Helen Mary Pietrasko in Invermere. In 1940, Helen and her family relocated to Surrey and Jack followed suit. He became a fisherman with his own boat and also worked in a mill. The couple married on December 5, 1942.

In 1943, the couple bought a mushroom farm at 1050 Keswick Ave near the Lougheed Highway. The farm had been established by W.T. Money around 1928 and is thought to be one of the first mushroom farms in B.C. The farm consisted of 4 acres of land, with one and a half acres devoted to growing mushrooms. Mushrooms were sold by the pound under the name “Money’s Mushrooms,” and mushroom manure was sold by the sack.

Jack and Helen were entrepreneurs throughout their lives. They briefly raised chinchillas for their fur, owned a brick business, and owned the 4 Acre Trailer Court at 675 Lougheed Highway from the 1950s until 1979 when the trailer court was sold to Walter and Dennis Hohn.

The couple built their dream home at 703 Edgar Avenue in 1969. Jack and Helen were avid square dancers and were enthusiastic members of the Vancouver Heights Square Dance Club in Burnaby. Jack was very community-minded and was an active member of the British Columbia Motels, Resorts, and Trailer Parks Association for many years. He was also one of the founding members of the Coquitlam Rotary in 1967. Jack and Helen spent their summers at a summer home in Whatcom Meadows in Washington State. Jack passed away on October 15, 1994 in New Westminster.

Ronald Moyes was born in Vancouver on February 11th, 1926. His family moved to North Road, Coquitlam in 1929. Moyes attended Mountain View School and Coquitlam Junior High. He left Coquitlam in 1943, when training for the Royal Canadian Airforce took him first to Edmonton and then Quebec. Moyes served in the Second World War, and subsequent to the war continued his career in the RCAF in various roles around Canada and abroad. In 1974, Moyes left the RCAF to join the RCMP Forensic Laboratory as a firearms Technician. He retired in 1989.