Jim, Irish Setter Ginger, Devin and daughter Katie, and wife Lucy At MacKay Creek near their house
This is a mini bio of fairly new member of our choir - Jim Turnham. Jim joined our choir about a year and a quarter ago. He found us as a result of being involved with the Harmony Mountain Singers choir, led by Kathryn Nicholson. Chris Millar, who is a member of both choirs, asked Jim if he might be interested in exploring the North Shore Unitarians and their choir led by Alison Nixon, and invited him to try us out. Jim thought this sounded like fun and “checked us out”. He has been with us ever since, now singing in both choirs.
Jim’s roots are in Minnesota where his forebears settled in the 1850’s in a rural community called Long Lake. The Turnham family are prominent members of that area. His father was an engineer — and Jim, himself, graduated in Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Jim still visits family back in Minnesota. Though he left there in 1972, he is fiercely proud of how the people of his state have stood up to political thugs in recent years, and is disgusted with what they are doing to the black and brown people (immigrant or citizen no matter) living in his birth place.
During college years, a friend of Jim's, Richard, was planning a trip up the Alaska highway with the ultimate goal of becoming a landed immigrant in Canada. Two years previously, Richard’s car had broken down on Mile 143 of the Alaska Highway and while he had a two-month wait for repair, he made friends and got some “under the table jobs.” This was the catalyst in Richard's decision to immigrate to Canada. Just after Jim's university graduation, Richard persuaded Jim to join him in his 1972 trip to Canada.
In Canada, Jim started out his engineering career as a chain man and party chief on a survey crew. Subsequently, he worked as an engineer for various contractors designing and building bridges. In that capacity he has worked on the construction of the Confederation Bridge, as well as many other Vancouver and BC bridges including the Pitt River Bridge, and the Kicking Horse Canyon Bridge. He’s also been involved with the planning and construction of the Millennium line and the Skytrain line to the airport.
In the last twenty years and before retiring three years ago, he specialized in Quality Management in construction — and has taught Quality Management courses at BCIT.
Jim and his wife Lucy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last fall. They have a 35-year-old daughter, Katie, who lives in Kamloops. Jim (and mostly Lucy) have owned a number of Irish Setters. . . 7 in all! Their current setter is 5-year-old Ginger (Ginny for short). Obviously, they are keen animal lovers as they even chose to live in an area near Grouse Mountain because it’s great for walking dogs.
In addition to singing, Jim plays both the fiddle and guitar. Needless to say, he is a great addition to our community’s music resources. We are glad to have him with us!
Interview by Ruth Sherwood.