Langley Centennial Museum
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Object Description
Object ID
MSS 282
Title
Noel Booth Bus Restoration Project Fonds.
Extent
Photographs, documents, and ephemera.
Date
1997.
Description
Documentation collected by the Langley Centennial Museum to support the restoration of the Noel Booth Bus. Includes historical information about the Booth family and their store.
People/Subject
Green, Len
Len Green was the son of Richard and Mary Elizabeth Green. He married his wife Margaret Tully in 1941. They didn't have children. Len drove for the N. Booth General Store for several years.
Hutchings, Margaret (nee Pye)
Margaret Pye arrived in Langley from Merritt in 1940 and asked the Booths' for a job. She worked for the Booth Store from 1940-1946. Margaret later owned a children's and ladies wear boutique, where she designed many of the items for sale. She attributed her retail business success to the experience she gained while working at the N. Booth Store.
Term Source: Donna J. MacDonald's "The Booth Travelling Store", p. 35.
Nichols, Valara (nee Booth)
Valara Booth was born in Langley on May 15, 1928, to parents Noel and Gertrude Booth. She assisted in the operations of the family business (the Noel Booth Store and travelling stores) as a clerk in the store and travelling stores, and pumping gas. After finishing school, Valara travelled to Smithers and Terrace to begin a teaching career. She stayed in the Northern part of the province during the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1954 she married Frank Nichols, and in 1960 the couple and their four children moved to Edmonton. Valara returned to Fern Ridge with her six children in 1970 after a divorce with Frank. A building at the back of her parents property was turned into a residence for Valara and her kids. Back in Langley, she renewed her teaching certificate and taught as a substitute teacher for a number of years in the Langley School District. Valara had already retired by the time she passed away on September 25, 1994 in Langley.
Term Source: Donna J. MacDonald's "The Booth Travelling Store"
Noel Booth Bus
The Diamond T Bus was once part of a fleet of vehicles operated by the Noel Booth General Store in Langley. Mr. and Mrs. Booth took over the operation of the Fernridge Post Office in 1921, then later expanded to include a General Store. During the Second World War, the Booths began delivering and selling goods through a fleet of mobile stores. They equipped their vehicles with shelving and an icebox, and staffed them with a driver and clerk. The Diamond T Bus was purchased in 1941. The vehicles took orders, delivered groceries, and sold groceries they carried with them. The vehicle was in operation from the 1940s to 1963. The bus was donated by the family of Noel Booth to the British Columbia Provincial Museum in 1985, and in 1987 became part of the collection of the Transportation Museum of British Columbia in Cloverdale. The Noel Booth Bus was part of the Transportation Museum of British Columbia's collection until the museum closed. Efforts were made to return objects from the collection to their communities of origin, and the Noel Booth Bus returned to Langley in 1993, becoming part of the collection of the Langley Centennial Museum & National Exhibition Centre. A restoration project was undertaken by a skilled and dedicated group of volunteers who work for the Township of Langley. Bill Hughes, Jim McRobbie, Norm Morgan, Dave Clift, Wayne Randell and Dave Garrett (employees with Public Works, Equipment and Buildings, Operations, and Utilities departments) met Wednesday evenings to work on the project, and raised most of the original funding themselves. They stripped the bus to its frame, took apart and inspected the transmission and differential, and rebuilt the engine. Jim McRobbie's active membership in a truck restoration club helped them find parts, and he also traveled to Washington State to purchase a second bus for parts. The group was also helped through donations from B&B Tire of Langley and Alder Auto Parts in Aldergrove. The project was completed with the support of the BC Heritage Trust and Township of Langley.
Term Source: based on museum research on the bus.
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Argus v4.3.6.40 - Langley Centennial Museum