It’s safe to say that no other writer in Squamish history has had the same impact on the community, or the way it was covered in print, as Maureen Gilmour.
For the past 44 years – and through three different newspapers – Squamish has faithfully looked to Gilmour to find out what was going on in the community from week to week in her events columns. In a very big sense, and for a great many people, she’s been the eyes and ears of this growing town.
“I fell into doing it purely by accident,” revealed the 82-year-old Gilmour, who penned the final instalment of her column for the Dec. 18 issue of The Squamish Chief.
Although she didn’t start writing until 1970, Gilmour actually began her journalism career in 1952 as assistant editor for a newspaper serving military radar stations positioned along the West Coast.
“I think one of the highlights of my life was when I joined the RCAF,” she said, her eyes still clear and sharp. “My dad didn’t want me to do it, though. But I always wanted to wear a uniform. My dad was a police officer – chief of police in Merritt – and my brothers were in the army during the war.”
In 1959, she moved with her husband, George, to Furry Creek – which was a logging camp at the time – before finally settling in Squamish.
In 1970, after reliably providing “tidbits” about upcoming events to the editor of The Squamish Citizen, Gilmour was offered a job writing an entertainment and events column, which turned into a part-time job at the paper and appointment as “women’s editor.” In 1973, she moved from the Citizen to The Squamish Times, where she stayed for 20 years until the paper closed and she began writing for The Squamish Chief.
Throughout that long career, Gilmour not only faithfully wrote her events column, but she also covered council meetings and loggers sports, and even was on hand for the inaugural run of the Royal Hudson steam engine, now restored and on display at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park.
But along with being the eyes and ears of the community, she was also the heart of every newspaper at which she worked and helped her colleagues.
“My first job out of journalism school in 1988 was as a reporter, and not long after, editor of The Squamish Times,” said Shari Bishop Bowes. “Like many young people in their first ‘real’ job, I felt like an imposter most days and sought encouragement where I could find it.”
Gilmour provided just what Bishop Bowes needed.
“At the Times, Maureen was the mom of the office, offering encouragement along with sage advice and guidance in the new world I was navigating,” she said. “While I sorted out local politics and the various characters you have to deal with at a small paper – including the publisher, the eccentric Cloudesley Hoodspith – Maureen helped me keep my eye on the ball.”
Bishop Bowes added, “In keeping my eye on the small things that make a community tick, she made me a better writer, and, I hope, a better person.”
Al Price, a former editor of The Squamish Chief, shared those sentiments. “I think she was a little wary of me at first, but I really appreciated the quiet and efficient way she gathered her material and brought it into the office every week, just like clockwork. Before long, I began to tap her knowledge of the community for other issues and ideas, and she truly was the oracle. What Maureen didn’t know about Squamish really wasn’t worth knowing.”
She could also be firm in her resolve, according to Tim Shoults, former Chief editor and publisher.
“I first met Maureen by phone after putting out my first edition of The Squamish Chief as editor back in November 1998,” he recalled. “I hadn’t budgeted enough space for her column in the paper and arbitrarily cut a few items off the end. She politely but firmly told me that if I had to cut anything from her column in future I should let her know so she could advise what was OK to remove and what wasn’t. It was a formative experience.
“What I came to understand was that to a large number of people in Squamish, giving an item to Maureen was considered putting it in the paper – she was the clearing house and point of contact for a huge number of people who didn’t feel the need to call the newspaper.”
Gilmour could also be counted on to steer both reporters and editors in the right direction.
“I recall most fondly Maureen’s arrival every week, when she would bring in her column, then stop to chat to Patricia Heintzman, Ron Enns and myself about the ‘mistakes’ in our stories, the information we had missed, and about how the same issue had cropped up 10, 16 and 23 years ago,” said Price. “She also revealed some interesting news that didn’t make it into her column, so we could go chasing the story with a much better idea of who to talk to and who to trust.”
For Gilmour, those days are now behind her.
“Will I miss it? No. Yes. I worry about what’s going to happen with all those clubs and groups, and want to make sure they always have a voice. I’ll miss the contact with the people.”
That’s the secret of Gilmour’s longevity and success, according to Shoults.
“Longtime Squamish Times editor Rose Tatlow (the Rose in Rose Park) passed away before I came to town, but I think it was Maureen that told me Rose’s goal was to get the name or photo of every single person in town into the paper at least once in a calendar year,” said Shoults. “That may have been possible back when there were fewer than 5,000 people in town – I can’t even imagine it now. I don’t know if Rose ever met her goal, but if she ever came close, it was thanks to Maureen.”
The people of Squamish and all their little stories were always important to Gilmour, according to Bishop Bowes.
“I think Maureen never for a moment lost her passion for staying connected to people through her newspaper column, and through the conversations and phone calls, and later emails that came as part of her role as a columnist for the paper,” she said.
“In this Facebook and Twitter world we live in, I think we can miss the stories that live on the periphery of the little worlds we create for ourselves. I met many wonderful people and knitted myself into the fabric of my hometown much more deeply than I thought possible because of people like Maureen, who reminded me that the roots of a place should be celebrated one little story at a time.”
In the end, Gilmour’s career has been about being more than just the eyes and ears of a community, but a big part of its soul as well.
