Frith, Walter Morland

Walter Frith was born in New Brunswick around 1873. He married Lottie Fletcher/Flesher on January 6, 1904 in Greenwood, BC. He died in Powell River on July 24, 1936.

In 1907, Walter Frith (of Greenwood) was appointed the customs officer at Chopaca. The Frith’s were living in Keremeos in 1913 to 1917. He was working as customs officer.

He moved his office and family from Keremeos to Princeton in mid-February 1917. The new customs office was located in the front part of Max Wilson’s store, near the post office. The Frith’s planned to live in the house known as the Spooner residence. (In December 1917, they moved to the Wilson residence, “one of the finest homes in Princeton.”)

The Frith’s quickly became involved in their new community.

Mrs. Frith was a pianist and played at the fundraising dance for the Red Cross ($103 raised) on Monday, April 9, 1917. She became the president of the Princeton Red Cross Society in October of 1917. She remained president until June 1918, when she resigned because she was planning to be away most of the summer.

Walter Frith helped reorganize the Princeton Baseball Club, becoming the club’s manager in May 1917. In September of that same year (1917), he was a member of the Good Roads League, attending a convention in Penticton to discuss “the question of changing the rule of the road in British Columbia, united action for the completion of the Hope-Princeton link of the Canadian highway, and the adequate sign posting of the roads throughout the Province.” In November, he became the secretary for the Victory Loans (Princeton & District committee).

In May 1918, he was a member of the committee organizing a Princeton Chautauqua (adult education) festival. He served in the Princeton Branch of the Canadian Patriotic Society – agreeing to be treasurer starting January 1918. In February 1918, he was Secretary of the Princeton General Hospital Board. He helped register men and women over the age of sixteen in accordance with the Military Act in June 1918. They donated to the Y.M.C.A. Fund (2.00) in late 1917.

On July 1, 1918, Walter M. Frith resigned his position as a Customs Agent and took a job with the BC Copper Company (Copper Mountain).

After spending a few months near Vancouver during the summer of 1918, Mrs. Frith and the children returned to Princeton in September 1918 and moved into one of the cottages at the Mill Camp. From there, they moved to Allenby. In February 1919, they planned to return to Keremeos to open a store.

His obituary in 1936, suggests that after they moved to Keremeos, the family returned to Princeton at some point and he became a clerk at the Princeton Hotel. They left for Powell River in 1929.