During the years 1970 to 1973 I was employed by a newly initiated Council of the United Church of Canada called: The Metropolitan Council of the United Church in the Lower Mainland of B. C. (a long and descriptive title!).

The two staff officers were the Rev. Jack Shaver and myself, and while we had different areas of focus, we also worked as a team. The Council itself was responsible for the duties formerly carried on by the Home Missions Superintendent, for the four Lower Mainland Presbyteries: Vancouver-Burrard, Vancouver South, Fraser and Westminster Presbyteries.

One of the most enjoyable parts of this job was when we took the occasional outing to visit ministers in the field. One morning early we heard that St. Andrew's, Fort Langley had suffered some limited fire damage in the entrance to their Church. Jack and I drove to Fort Langley to meet with the Rev. Les Wallwork - a pastoral call which remains a wonderful memory for me. Years later Les perished in a fire in the Fort Langley manse.

Pemberton

We traveled one day to Pemberton. This was before there was the immense development at Whistler that there is today. We visited with the Minister and his wife in the trailer behind the pretty little St. David's United in Pemberton.

Reginald and Edith Matthews made us feel very welcome, and we were soon regaled with Reginald's exploits in the various charges he had occupied throughout the rural parts of the west: Cranberry Lake; Sprague, Manitoba; Whonnock United (Fraser Valley) in the years 1961-62, Mica Creek, B. C. and what was to be his final charge, St. David's, Pemberton.

Reginald was born in British Guyana and was ordained by the Anglican Church. He joined the United Church of Canada in Manitoba in 1941. Reginald had retired in 1960 and yet had served five charges after retirement. Although almost totally blind he still loved to do fine art painting and he had a way, despite his blindness, of being able successfully to bag mountain goats. His rifle hung on the wall of the trailer. (Jack Shaver reminded me recently that Reginald had glued one of his collar buttons onto the bead of his rife to enlarge the sight!)

The trailer was owned by the United Church, and from time to time the roof would need repairing. Reginald and Edith told us that they had the roof covered with plastic, held down by old tires to shed the rainwater.

A few years later we learned in Presbytery meetings that Reginald was retiring for his last time. I have learned since that he and Edith moved to Delta and were part of Fraser Presbytery.

Buying a Manse in Pemberton

There was a problem in filling a vacancy like St. David's, Pemberton. The prospect of living in a leaky trailer was not appealing to many people. Yet the charge itself was small and could not afford the requisite manse allowance.

At this time a few of us, I remember Dr. Elliot Birdsall and myself being in the forefront, argued with the Home Missions in Toronto for a policy of "Frontier Manses". This was our reasoning: Could not the national Home Missions invest in houses in some of the small, frontier towns, like Pemberton, and just provide them to the charge. The Home Missions would keep the title, the charge would have the use. The amounts were not great.

Surprisingly this concept, in spite of its essential good sense, WAS accepted, and we were allowed to purchase two manses: Elliot purchased one in Kamloops-Okanagan or Kootenay Presbytery and the Metropolitan Council was authorized, with Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery, to negotiate a purchase in Pemberton.

A Pemberton man had a house for sale for $28,000. Two of us met with him and made the deal, shaking hands on it. That was the beginning. You can imagine the paper work required to approve the purchase of a house by the National Church and all the Presbytery approvals along the way.

If you remember the years 1972 and 1973 you will remember that the price of houses began their first of many upward spirals. Homeowners saw the value of their houses going up at the rate of a few thousand dollars per month, sometimes faster.

During the time of getting the necessary approvals and documents signed, the value of the house in Pemberton which we had agreed to purchase for $28,000 was rising rapidly. It now was worth at least $38,000!

Anxiety began to develop in Presbytery that we had not finally consummated the deal, and the value of the house in question was rising rapidly, yet we had not one thing in writing. We had just shook hands on the deal!

Finally, two of us were assigned to drive to Pemberton to talk with the seller and to try to get 'something in writing'. The job was given to Mrs. Eunice Williams and myself. It was a snowy night and at that time I was driving a Volkswagen Beetle (we had sold our larger car in anticipation of moving to Germany). I did not look forward to driving all the way to Pemberton, through ice and snow in that small, unprepared car. We rented a Budget car with snow tires and set out into the dark night.

I have given my handshake on the deal, don't back out!

We arrived at the very house in question in Pemberton and there met the house owner. We explained our predicament: that we had made the deal at $28,000 on the shake of a hand, and now the Church wanted more documentation: they needed something in writing and legal.

I will summarize what the owner said: "I have given my handshake on the deal at $28,000 and I will go through with it. I am a man of my word! But if the Church wants it in writing, that's a different matter. It will be $38,000." (I could sense something underlying this conversation. This was a fairly wealthy man who had made his money in the interior of B. C. He did not need any city slickers trying to manipulate him out of his accustomed way of doing business.)

I assured him that we would also hold to the deal at $28,000 on the basis of the handshake, and thank you very much! We drove back to Vancouver and explained the situation to the Church.

Ultimately the deal was consummated, at $28,000, on the basis of the deal "made on a handshake" and St. David's had their manse, which would serve them well in attracting prospective ministers.

Seven People and 35 pieces of luggage fly to Germany

It seems like only a few months after this incident that Marilyn and I were packing to move to Germany for our study leave of indeterminate length. We stored some of our possessions, sent some on a long sea voyage and took only: Seven people and 35 pieces of luggage on the Wardair flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt. Anne was 15, David 14, Brian 13, Bev was 10 and Anita was 8. The luggage consisted of (for each person): a backpack, a flight bag, a musical instrument and a sleeping bag.

We could arrange nothing in advance from Canada (although we tried hard to do so): no overnight accommodation - no car - not even someone to meet us at the airport.

However someone did meet us at the airport. Chris Sinhuber, a German student who had visited our home in Vancouver was there to meet us, and arranged through a travel agent in the Frankfurt Airport for a pension in Kelsterbach, near Frankfurt. The proprietor would send two cars to pick up us and our hand luggage.

Buying a Bus in Germany

The proprietor of the pension also spoke some English, and once we had moved into two rooms at his small hotel, I enlisted his help in purchasing a Volkswagen van.

Through the information in the newspaper we phoned some leads, finally settling on a 9 passenger Volkswagen Bus, and obtained the address of the owner who lived in Butzbach. I remember setting out on a Saturday afternoon, by train, from Kelsterbach, first to the huge train station in Frankfurt, and ran to the platform for northern line to Butzbach. I was not picked up at the station, there was some mistake, but I found my way to the home of Mr. A Jakubowicz and his wife Magdalena.

Mr. Jakubowicz was the first and only Jewish person I had ever met in Germany.

The bus had been used to transport dancing girls between the two cabarets which he and his wife owned : the Delicado-Cabaret-Bar, Butzbach and the Lido-Tanz-Cabaret, Butzbach.

We agreed on the price of 1,950 DM for the Bus (even before I had a ride in it to the train station). However the problem was that I had only 50 DM in my pocket. I would have to obtain the rest on Monday morning from the bank. My money was actually in the Commerzbank, Stuttgart, so we would have to find a local branch and have it transferred.

Mr. Jakubowicz was unhappy with the deal. He explained that 50DM was not enough to secure the sale, and in the event I did not show up with the rest of the money he would lose any other prospects over the weekend. He wanted the whole price in cash.

In Canada we do business on a handshake!

I said, "In Canada we do business on a handshake!" and that 'my word was my bond'.

Mr. Jakubowicz listened intently when I said that. He responded, "My Mother told me you could always trust the German people! That was in 1931. She found out otherwise!"

With obvious misgivings he agreed to wait for my return on Monday, cash in hand. Then he drove me back to the train, just in time for me to run through the tunnel under the tracks and climb aboard at the last second.

We went to Church on Sunday, and spent some time walking through the streets of Kelsterbach. We had moved the family from the luxurious two rooms, into a crowded one room, to save our quickly-dwindling money.

Early Monday morning Marilyn and I took the bus to a nearby branch of the Commerzbank, where we were able to withdraw 2,000 DM. Marilyn then went back to the hotel, while I took the train back to Butzbach. Walking up the hill to the home of Mr. Jacubowicz I stopped in at an insurance office and somehow managed to arrange for insurance on the car.

Herr Laird, how can you buy a car when you don't live anywhere?

But there was a further problem for Mr. Jacubowicz. "Herr Laird, how are you going to insure and license this car? In Germany you must insure and license where you live! The licence plate indicates the town you live in. You don't live anywhere!"

I was dumbfounded and totally silent. There was nothing more I could say or do. The game was over and I had lost!

Then Mr. Jakubowicz spoke: "Herr Laird, you like to do business on a handshake, do you? Here, take these keys, take the bus, drive it carefully to Tübingen. Don't hit anything or you will escalate the insurance rates on all my cars."

And that is exactly what we did. We drove that bus to Tübingen, found an apartment and settled in. For the next two and one-half years we drove to Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Austria, Greece, England, Scotland and Ireland in that bus.

But before I left Mr. Jakubowicz with the keys to his 9-passenger VW bus he asked me a question.

He and his wife wondered what the word "Rev." before my name meant. I told him that I was a minister.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a minister? We would have had no trouble trusting a minister!"

I replied: "I wanted to be trusted only as a person."

by Gordon Laird, January 28, 1996

First written: January 28, 1996 Update: September 8, 2003 - Gordon Laird