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Want to hear the story of how a cancelled tv show and a museum helped me learn about a part of my family tree I never knew about before?
Read on!
Read on!
Earlier this year, I was watching Episode 6 of Good Girls Revolt and, in a blink,-and-you’ll-miss-it moment at the 1:45 mark, noticed a neon sign with a familiar name on it.
Now, Bowell is not a common name. Or a popular one. Or a pretty one. Because of that, I figured the sign was probably real and not digitally created for the show, because who would make that up. So, I did some digging.
Bless Google. I learned that it was a real sign (!) - “S. Bowell & Sons, Funeral Directors” - that appeared to have been altered for the episode because apparently some people don’t want a funeral home next to their coffee shop.
Not only that, but instead of existing in New York, like the show, the sign was part of the @museumofvan collection and had been displayed in their very cool looking exhibit “Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver.” https://museumofvancouver.ca/neon-vancouver
A review in The Georgia Straight described the sign as a “jaunty pink and green neon banner,” which I think is a good as it can get for a funeral home, and the BBC called it one of the exhibit’s “two stand-outs…a buzzing red and green headstone.” http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180503-north-americas-unexpected-neon-jungle
According to the Artefacts Canada database, the sign was made between 1955-60, had been displayed in New Westminster, just outside Vancouver, and was rescued from the Neon Products scrapyard before being sold to the museum.
It's also huge - 12 feet across!
It's also huge - 12 feet across!
Because my dad's family is from Vancouver, all this evidence convinced me that I must be related to S. Bowell & Sons.
Side note #1: do you know how THRILLING it is for a museum person to learn that they have a connection to something in a museum? It’s THE DREAM.
It even has a catalog number! H996.22.13
It even has a catalog number! H996.22.13
But who was S. Bowell and who were his sons? Because of complicated family dynamics I don’t know any of the contemporary Vancouver Bowells and very little about their history. So, I asked my dad.
He didn’t know, either. My grandma also didn’t recognize the initials or business, and she thought she had known all the Bowells back in the 50s and 60s. The mystery continued.
Finally, some genealogical sleuthing revealed that S. Bowell was Sam Bowell, my great-grandfather Stephen’s uncle. That's our family's sign, alright, quasi-Ionic columns and all!
Side note #2.1: Even with all the new information, my grandma still had NO memory of ever hearing of any Bowell who was an undertaker. Her theory? My great-grandma Charlotte never mentioned him. Why? She was a snob and would’ve considered the profession a family disgrace.
Side note #2.2: That was standard for Charlotte – she was pretty terrible. For example, she kept a notebook next to the telephone to write down the names of every person she’d called. Why? Because she refused to call them again until they called her back first.
Side note #2.3: She and my great-grandad also didn’t tell my grandad that he was allowed to go to university until the night before he had to leave. See why we didn't keep in touch with that branch?
Side note #2.4: Great-grandma Charlotte was also a teetotaler and my grandma delighted in finding ways to secretly get her drunk.
Back to the funeral home. The business was purchased by Kearney Funeral Services in 1991 and operates now as the Columbia Bowell Funeral Chapel. Their new sign is nice, but it’s no neon…
Anyway, now I know more about my family than I did before. All thanks to 3 seconds of transition shot on an episode of Good Girls Revolt, @museumofvan, and Artefacts Canada.
Now, who do I speak to about getting a permanent loan on that sign…?
Now, who do I speak to about getting a permanent loan on that sign…?
