Hi. Let me introduce myself, for those who don’t know me already. My name is Keely. I am 30 something years old, I live in McBride, I have a job and a house and a car. I have friends, and family, some dogs and some cats. I like gardening, science fiction, llamas, and I am crazy for DIY. Social situations usually cause me anxiety, so I prefer to spend most of my time alone. Sometimes that makes me seem snobby. I dislike Facebook, Brussels sprouts, mean people, and having a lot of attention drawn to me. Now you know me better, maybe I can straighten out some of the silly things that have been written in the Rocky Mountain Goat newspaper about me and my Dad lately.
I am in fact the only biological child of Robert Frear, this is true. But I did not, according to my mother pop out of thin air. I popped out of her! Yes, I agree that sounds terrible, but that makes me the only biological child of Marilyn and Robert Frear. They began cohabitating circa 1972 and married in 1979. They got married because they liked each other and they didn’t want me to be a bast*rd. Mom helped Dad homestead at the end of Eddy Road. Dad built a cool house with lots of help from friends and family, it was referred to as Frear’s Folly by some, but we liked to call it Deadwood. Mom had beautiful gardens and she grew all of our fruits and vegetables for us to eat. Dad worked at the sawmill just up the road and I liked that because he could come home right quick to cut me out of the woodbox handle when I got my arm stuck in there! We also had a Llama. Just saying, Llamas are cool.
This fairy tale didn’t last for long though. Dad had a major health incident that changed his personality. He was frightened, and worried that his life wasn’t interesting enough. He felt like he could do even more and better things in a different town with a different woman and different kids. So, he left. This is where my story ends for now and I must address the silly things I mentioned earlier.
#1. I did not wish the recent letter by Mrs. Schock to be printed in the paper. In fact I had asked her to please call the paper and ask them not to print it. I am not sure what happened here but for the record I did not ask for her to make a public display of myself. I am fairly embarrassed to be put on the spot like this, see above where I mentioned I don’t like a lot of attention.
#2. The article appearing in the Goat on July 20th has so many issues I don’t think I can sort them all out in one letter! But I’ll do the major ones. Robert had a family that loved him a lot. Some of us are concerned that the article leads people to believe he was an orphan and nobody loved him. In fact, he has a sister, two nephews and two nieces, and their families, which adds on some grand nieces and nephews, and some more even grander nephews and nieces! Imagine that! Then there are the cousins in Alberta and the USA; so many cousins and Dad even knows most of them! I’ve met a lot of them too, they are super awesome! Dad has two women in his life, each for more than 20 years! He has step children and step grandchildren. And, I’d like to say that Dad’s Mom wasn’t just a random woman who lived to her 90’s. Her name was Vivian Frear; she doted on her youngest son, Robert. She loved her family, she loved children, she liked to dance, and she loved to laugh. She was the strongest woman I have ever met, and my father’s strength and light came to him through her.
#3. Well number three is a big one. I have to say, this hit me hard. I am referring to the reference in the July 20th article to my Grandfather and Uncle’s death. Obviously not researched, sloppy reporting, and ridiculously insensitive to the Frear family and a few other families as well. I am going to do my due diligence and reference The Robson Valley Story, written by Marilyn Wheeler, to make sure I have my facts right. On pages 685 and 686 – there they are, all the facts. Three men died that day, at the West Twin, in September of 1960. They were part of the construction crew building the highway to Prince George. Yes, that is the highway that we all use when we want to go to Wal-Mart. It says in Mrs. Wheeler’s book that all 3 men were married with children. There are people living here today who remember that accident, they knew the people who were killed, and they saw the devastation it caused to our community. Think about it for a minute and you can imagine yourself in the shoes of those families.
I am now going to bring my long winded letter to a close, I am sure you are all glad to hear that! I would like to ask a favor from you all if you can find it in your hearts to grant me one wish. Please, please, please stop writing articles and letters expressing your personal feelings about myself, my father or my family, without any consideration of our feelings. Speaking for myself only – my heart is deeply wounded by the loss of my Dad. I hurt. A lot. I would appreciate some time alone with my memories without being bombarded constantly by public displays of foolishness. Lastly I want to personally thank my Aunt, my Cousins, Auntie and Uncle in Kamloops, my cousins in the Okanagan, and in Alberta and my family on the west coast. Thanks to my friends, my co-workers and especially to my Mom. You have all helped me find strength and it is because of you all that I resemble a human being today.
Keely Frear,
McBride, BC
