Joyce Fisher’s and Louise Falbo’s parents were John Thorson and Celesta Atchison. In the late 1890s, at the age of 14, John left Norway as crew on a freighter and eventually came ashore in Montreal. He arrived in Golden in 1912 after working in Ontario and the Dakotas and, soon after, set off again to answer the call to enlist in WWI.

Celesta Atchison’s father Harry came up from the States on a cattle drive to Kamloops and eventually made his way over to Golden where he used a dugout canoe to trap along the Columbia as far south as Brisco. In the

 early 1900s, Harry developed a farm in Brisco and built a popular ‘Stopping House’ that serviced the steamboats plying the river. John Thorson met Celesta during his time on the river hauling loose timber out of the channels, providing safe passage to the paddle wheelers.

Joyce is holding a family photo of herself and Louise and brother Charles. The background image looking south west along 9th Ave. S. was taken in 1962 (photographer unknown.) In the foreground is Sam Tue’s Laundry (Tak’s), then Gordon’s Electric and, father down the street,

Casey’s Groceries. The roofline behind that is of the hospital.

Just a hundred metres or so to the east in the present Mohawk location, Ben’s Esso Service was located. Opened on July 13, 1957 and operated by Joyce and her husband Ben, the Fishers advertised that Ben’s Esso Service was your ‘Headquarters for Carefree Motoring’ with an expert licensed mechanic on duty from 7:30am to 10pm - providing a little friendly competition to Louise’s husband Frank’s service station just across the bridge.