Kemano- Jeff Watts

Godfrey “Jeff” Watts

Bruce Moss Photo The picture above is neat as it shows life inside Bunkhouse H, Room 1, Camp 5, in 1955
pictured is the contributor of the pictures, Jeff Watts, now an American citizen, living in California USA.
During the Kemano era, his name was Godfrey James Watts.
Jeff was born in London England

Jeff was a Scout Master in Kemano.
You can see his Scout hat on the shelf.
Boy Scout Troop web page here
Beside him he is tuning the largest shortwave radio I have ever seen.
Jeff tells me it was a British set made by Pye.
Remember in those days, no satellite TV, VCR's or for that matter a local radio station, so shortwave radio was the only access
to outside entertainment, other than a movie.

Jeff was a member of the Boilermakers Union

He ended up going to the University of Idaho, at Moscow Idaho. graduating with a Civil Engineering Degree, and working around the world.

He was interviewed by a reporter for the Vancouver Sun, August 1956
trying to get a better scan of the article.

Corrections Jeff gave me:
Vancouver Sun article from August 1956.
jeff_watts_newspaper_article.pdf
Click above for .pdf copy of the article,
Please see corrections below

There are major errors in it.
para 6. My dad was a dealer on the floor of the London Stock Exchange
para 7. I didn't hitchhike across Canada. I landed in New York and rode the New
York Central to Chicago and the Great Northern on to Seattle then up to Vancouver.
para 8. I wasn't a janitor for Alcan in Kitimat but I did work in their lab
for a few weeks before going to Kemano. The pay was only a $1/hour.
para 12. I wasn't a fully fledged Boilermaker, I was a Helper and made
$2.06/hour worked six ten-hour shifts a week with free room and board and
a 6 month contract with a week trip to Vancouver every six months.
will include the clipping when I get a better scan.
It does say he saved $6,000.00 to pursue his new dream
and work as an engineer.

Jeff also has the following typo errors to correct:

• para 5, line 2, after “19” add a space
• para 6, line 2, delete “lay” add“lies”
• para 7, line 1, delete “bothe” add “both a”
• para 7, line 1, delete “men” add “man”
• para 9, line 1, delete “I” add “in”
• para 10, line 1, delete “I” add“is”

I found an article from a local newspaper online, where Jeff and his wife live.
In the article I find he worked around the world building American Embassies.

He worked even in Afganistan after 9/11.
He volunteers on numerous committees in his area.
A member of the Rotary Club.
Engineer/handyman at the Library, where his wife was obviously also working.

During WWII his home was bombed in England.
His grandfather took him and his mother to the country to escape the Blitz.
After he graduated in England, he came to Canada, and ended up working in Kemano.

Jeff Watt's Kemano Photo Collection

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