Celebrating 100 years

 By Cara Brady - Vernon Morning Star
Published: January 04, 2011 7:00 PM
Updated: January 04, 2011 9:32 PM

A century sits lightly on Joan Heriot as she laughs and visits with friends.

“People ask why the English accent? I was born in Vernon but when I was a little child, the whole Okanagan Valley was British. Technically, I’m actually Scottish. I thought that sounded rather exotic. I remember when I won a prize for being tidy at school, it was the Poems of Robert Burns,” she said in an interview late last year.

Her father, Allan Heriot, came to Coldstream from England in 1904 and her mother, Jessie Paulden, came as a governess to the Denison family in 1906. They were married in 1909 and Joan Ethelwyn Heriot was born in the Vernon Hospital Jan. 7, 1911.

The seeds of Heriot’s future careers took root as she grew up in Coldstream. Her mother continued to teach, her father worked as an entomological researcher, doing drawings for his published papers, and the little girl was a keen observer of the natural world. After seeing a collection on beetles when she was six, she declared that she would become an entomologist, an important job because of the many orchards in the area.

Heriot attended St. Michael’s Girls School in Vernon where she met artist Sveva Caetani, who later became a good friend. While she was at UBC studying entomology, she discussed her future career with a professor.

“He said, ‘My poor girl. You’ll never get a job with that. You’re a woman. Women do not get jobs in science. You’ll have to go to England if you will persist,’” she recalled.

She did persist and earned the money for her passage to England by picking apples, weeding gardens, and mowing lawns for two years. She went to the University of Liverpool where she lived with one of her aunts. By 1936 she had earned her M.Sc. degree and a teaching diploma and had a job teaching for the University of London External Program at Brighton Technical College, where she stayed for 30 years and was made department head. Former students remember her fondly and keep in touch: she received a Christmas card from one who is now in Brazil.

“Learning is such a joy for her and she made it a joy for others. Her sense of humour makes it such fun to be around her,” said Sharon Lawrence, who with another friend, Rhondda Biggs, visits Heriot to read to her, including science books since she has kept her interest in science.

Heriot came back to Vernon in 1966.

“I always intended to come back. It was home. I found that the Canadian child had never discovered that there was anything in a pond besides a tadpole,” she said. She remedied that by joining the North Okanagan Naturalists Club and sharing her knowledge with members of all ages.

“I had said that when I retired, I would do some painting. I had some lessons with Miss Jessie Topham Brown but I wasn’t any good with oils or watercolours. Then I made the transition to pastels and I knew this was the medium for me. I found I could do things in pastels that I couldn’t do in any other way. I think I painted something like 250 pictures.”

Her pictures, mostly of local scenery, were much sought after. People vied to be on ‘Heriot’s List,’ which meant the chance to buy her next painting when their turn came up. Her generosity benefited the Vernon Public Art Gallery as she donated pictures to Midsummer’s Eve of the Arts. The gallery had a retrospective of her work in 2007. Some of her journal drawings are in Issue three, 2009 issue of Lake A Journal of Arts and Environment, published by the University of B.C. Okanagan. Heriot wrote Growing up on the Coldstream, A Memoir, (2005) where she recalls her friends from the families of early settlers to the area. The family story is featured in the 74th Record of the Okanagan Historical Society.

In retirement, she renewed friendships with some of them,including Sveva Caetani and Paddy Mackie.

“It’s been an interesting life but I don’t think I’d want to do it again. You’re deprived of so many things — sight and hearing and taste, and mobility. I’m lucky in retaining some of the marbles but they’re on the loose side,” she said.

Lawrence said she loves visiting Heriot. “She’s interested in everything and that’s what keeps her young. She can quote poetry for any and every occasion.”

Lawrence asked if Heriot had any advice, to which she replied with a mischievous smile and the quotes, “Be good sweet maids and let who will be clever,” and “Do good deeds, not dream them all day long.”

Anyone who would like to wish Heriot a happy birthday is invited to her party at All Saints Anglican Church Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.