Thelma Brown is the daughter of Muriel and Alexander Lotosky. The framed photo Thelma is holding is of her father shortly after he returned from serving overseas in WWII. Alexander enlisted at the age of 18 with his older brother William. Five years of war and just two days shy of armistice, William was killed by a sniper’s bullet. Mountain peaks in the Mummery Glacier area are named after William and other fallen soldiers from the region.

Alexander was one of 10 children born

to Metro Lotosky and Nellie Sankou. Fleeing the Ukraine during revolutionary times, they met in Calgary and arrived in Golden in 1918. Metro went to work at the mill and then on to the construction of the Big Bend Highway in1929. Nellie was known for her bountiful garden in back of the house on 13th St. and sewing intricate handicrafts in spite of one glass eye and 10% vision in the other. Nellie and her next door neighbour Mrs. Degrazio helped birth each other’s children at home.

The photo image behind Thelma is of a work crew on the Big Bend Highway circa early 1930’s. Her grandfather Metro is seated second from the right on the sawhorse. George Love – described as everyone’s favourite uncle – stands hatless behind Metro. Alexander passed away at the age of 69 in 1992. Most week days, Thelma drops in to have lunch with Muriel at the family home on 13th St.