Rev. Tom York

[chansen]

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole last night. I follow the Whistler Museum on Facebook, and they had a post about the Whistler Chapel, a long gone A-frame structure at the base of Creekside, but once ministered by Rev. Tom York of the United Church of Canada, who sounds like a fascinating individual:

Whistler Museum

In honour of Valentine's Day, we are posting an image of the Whistler Skiers' Chapel - which opened in 1966 - at the base of the Creekside Gondola: the first non-denominational chapel in Canada. It...

www.facebook.com

The bits about Tom are in the comments.

Continuing down the hole, I found that he was also a novelist and learned more about his life on the following page:

York, Tom - ABC BookWorld

TOM YORK, B.C. NOVELIST AND United Church minister, was killed in a traffic mishap in December of 1987. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1940 and raised in Little Rock., Arkansas, Thomas Lee York came to Canada in 1962. He retreated to the New Brunswick woods and immersed himself in the...Read...

abcbookworld.com

Anyone know of this man? He apparently died in a car accident in December of 1987.

 

[paradox3]

Never heard of him, no.

 

[Mendalla]

We never met but I remember hearing about him and reading things by him in the university press and such when I was at University of Waterloo. He was the UCCan chaplain based at St. Paul's at the time. His death was a big event on campus, IIRC. I remember hearing about his book on the Mad Trapper, too, did not actually read it.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

No I hadn’t heard of him. Sounds about right for Whistler/ Pemberton BC, especially at the time. My first thought when I saw the thread was that it was some kind of satirical reference to Thom Yorke from Radiohead lol I noticed mention in the article of Rev. John Cash, too lol - music on the mind.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

deleted duplicate

 

[Luce NDs]

There are a number of myths about corrupt trapping ministers here in the east! Often then populace is skinned alive ... implications? These we are told to be blind to ...

 

[Carolla]

Thanks chansen - that was an interesting read - and such an interesting sounding person. I'm curious to read a book or two of his as I have ties to both Yellowknife and Whistler/Pemberton.

It's not surprising that the original chapel was such a destination for weddings - most likely served by clergy or officiants from various denominations. Sad that it closed. I can imagine amazing Christmas eve services there.

Interesting (and a bit sad) that the only two churches now in Whis are Mennonite Brethren & RC. Both I think have a pretty big emphasis on regular weekly attendance, even while vacationing. Neither really supports LGBTQ marriage as far as I know - still the 'man/woman thing'. For a while I think there were regular Sunday services in the Arts Centre, presided over by a variety of clergy who rotated through. Not sure if that's still going on.

 

[chansen]

We never met but I remember hearing about him and reading things by him in the university press and such when I was at University of Waterloo. He was the UCCan chaplain based at St. Paul's at the time.

This didn't register with me when I first read it, but St. Paul's became United College, which is now my daughter's res.

Wild.

 

[Mendalla]

This didn't register with me when I first read it, but St. Paul's became United College, which is now my daughter's res.

Wild.

LOL. I took two RS courses there, one with the then-principal. He had been presbytery rep on the search committee I had been on a year or two before so I already knew him. Somewhat more nerve-wracking, he had worked for my grandfather.