The Place:
This actually seems to be either a park within a park or a doubly named park. A large wooden
Blue River Community Park appears near the centre of the park, while a
Eleanor Lake Park sign is further north, at the beach. The town of Blue River offers no explanation, simply listing
Eleanor Lake Park under
Blue River Community Park in their Parks guide. We'll just call it
Blue River Community Park.
The name "
Eleanor Lake Park" is a giveaway that this park is on a lake, which conveniently happens to be within the confines of the town. With lakes, the usual accompaniment is a beach, and Eleanor Lake Park has a nice large sand beach with a beach house on the beach. At the south end of the lake is a ball diamond, then a children's playground to its north, then a long expanse of grassed area with plenty of benches and picnic tables under shade trees. Finally, to the north is the beach and beach house.
Faced with natural stone and Tudor style half-timbering, the beach house provides changing rooms, showers and restrooms, as well as a small unmanned visitor information area, with brochures and guides on local attractions and activities. There is also a concession stand serving food and drink to park denizens. A plaque on the east side of the beach house names it as the
Don Forsyth Beach House; another plaque notes that it was built in 2000 to mark the millennium with funding from the Government of British Columbia & the Community Spirit Grant Committee.
The Person:
FORSYTH
Eleanor Lake
About 150 people filled the Blue River Evangelical Free Church on Saturday, April 3, (1999) to pay tribute to the memory of Don Forsyth.
Don had been a resident of Blue River for over 20 years. Born on October 31, 1944, he lost a gallant battle with cancer on March 27, (1999). Candies, bouquets of daffodils and pussy willows, and a collection of photos of Don and his family and friends during the various stages of his life provided the setting for a celebration of his life.
Pastor Marvin Penner conducted the service. The eulogy was given by John Beaton and Kathy Chambers and Mary Ann Hardwick played the organ and piano respectively.
A highways employee for many years, Don was also a very active member of our local Parks and Recreation Board. He loved Blue River's scenery and enjoyed the outdoor life, skiing, snowmobiling, hiking or swimming as the season allowed.
His farm brought him much pleasure, and his daughter Jennifer was his pride and joy. Don is and will continue to be very much missed in our community. (The Times, Apr 12, 1999, pg. 16)
From Find a Grave