“Colonel” John Brixton, an English man, lived across the lake before moving to [Okanagan] Centre where Dick Ash now lives. He took care of the lighthouse on the island in Carr’s Landing.
Although a veteran of both the Boer and World War I he was not a real Colonel. That was a nickname given to him when he worked on the railroad, by a group of Galacians (Ukranians) in his crew, and the title stuck.
When Brixton lived across [Okanagan Lake] he would come over to the Centre to pick up his mail; if there was a mail order catalogue he would toss it overboard on his way home in order to prevent his wife from shopping by mail.
During the winter he fished for the market with [Noel] Rheam and [John] Macnair. They would clean and sell the frozen fish to Jim Gleed who either sold it in his store or to a butcher in Kelowna.”1
1 Fiwchuk, Michelle. The Faces of 1938-1939. Available online and at the Lake Country Museum and Archives.
Sketch of the Colonel by Cyril L. Smith. Available at the Lake Country Museum and Archives.
Photograph of Nahun wharf, 1915 courtesy of Eleanor Geen, granddaughter of John Brixton.
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