Eric Selby a true West Bench original
TSpecial to The Herald he land that eventually became the West Bench community had been eyed as the possible site of a Soldier Settlement project during the First World War and was actually cut off from the Penticton Indian Reserve No. 1 in 1918.
No further action was taken at that time and it was not until the latter years the Second World War that the idea surfaced again... In June of 1944 Gordon Murchison, director of Soldier Settlement and Veterans' Land Act in Ottawa, announced that a survey of the Okanagan would be undertaken to determine suitable agriculture land for soldiers' settlements.
"The West Bench has been rated as one of the most successful land developments in Canada though the provisions of the Veterans' Land Act. A model project, the West Bench became a reality as a result of much persistence and hard work on the part of local veterans and officials of the Department if Veterans' Affairs." the Penticton Herald reported in the May 1950.
Local Veterans did not sit idly by. After the war Branch 40 R. C. Legion (Penticton) was the birthplace of the West Bench Development Committee with members Charlie Ewart, Maurice Finnerty and Frank Colclough as chairman. TIn 1953 the Veterans Land Act was opening lots on the West Side of Penticton.
Land was purchased by VLA from the Penticton Indian Band on the bench nearest to town. The newly formed West Bench Water District needed a SecretaryManager and water bailiff. Eric Selby a local veteran, was hired. (Eric Selby joined the B.C. Dragoons in 1940 and served in Britain, Italy and North West Europe. )
West Bench children loved Selby as when he was making his rounds from pump house to water tank he would give them rides to school. (He had wanted the school for some time and said he would enroll himself to get the numbers needed.)
He loved his land, planting apricots and peaches, later cheerios. He had a keen English sense of humour and teased his daughter’s friends when they came to visit. Loving, humble, good humoured, the best father, a quiet little Englishman, loved and adored.
Opened in 2013, Selby Park on West Bench Drive is a tribute to Eric Selby who worked for the community’s well-being.