Dear editor,
I would add my voice to those calling for Comox council to honour the terms of Mack Laing鈥檚 will and preserve his Shakesides home. Its presence is a heritage link to a once rural and forested Comox, just as the preserved Sybil Andrews and Roderick Haig-Brown homes are both heritage links to a Campbell River past now largely lost. The historical appreciation of an individual鈥檚 life and their era is often best experienced in their actual home or workplace, and much of the value of the Andrews and Haig-Brown homes are for their association with these internationally important early citizens: Mr. Laing鈥檚 international prominence as a naturalist has likewise imbued his home with these heritage values, and like these other two important landmarks, will be ideal for community functions. I have enjoyed watching artists working in Sybil鈥檚 home, just as she did - as they gazed out onto the ocean, and have attended Museum of Campbell River heritage teas at the Haig-Brown home just a few feet from this famous river.
As fortunate recipients of this marvellous gift of both land and house, and as de facto executors of the will granting that gift, it is the duty of Comox and its citizens to honour the terms of the gift so happily accepted.
Although saving heritage homes, community buildings and landscapes can be a thorny, tedious and difficult procedure that is hampered in some towns by community indifference, Comox council is fortunate to have a well-informed and committed advocate in the Mack Laing Heritage Society.
It is critical that we persevere to conserve historical treasures, whether humble homes or magnificent landscapes. Surely the spirit of generosity and vision embodied in Mr. Laing鈥檚 wonderful donation to the town he loved and its residents can be revived by council in a fresh approach to saving Shakesides.
Gillian Anderson
Merville
