This is a story about a 96-year-old Richmond man, his giant, 25-year-old clematis and a 104-year-old water pump.
First, the man, John Ross, and his garden, in a quiet cul-de-sac in St. Vincent’s Place, just southwest of Williams Road and Railway Avenue.
Ross — some might recognize his name, being the founder of Vancouver-based John Ross Insurance Services — has lived in his single-family home in Richmond with his wife, Helene, for 31 years.
He was born and brought up in a small town called Malakwa, near Revelstoke in the B.C. Interior, spent many years travelling Canada (his father was a CPR foreman) and Europe with his family and eventually found his way to Vancouver more than 40 years ago.
Despite his advancing years, Ross is still driving, having passed his test again in August, 2014, 72 years after passing it the first time around.
“I think it’s good family genes and plenty of Scotch,” Ross said of his longevity, citing that his grandmother lived to 104. “My memory goes back to two-years-old.”
Now, the clematis. It’s more than 10-feet tall, 16-feet wide and has been Ross’ pride and joy for more than 25 years.
“I don’t do anything special with it; I just read the instructions,” smiled Ross, who has 15 other, smaller clematis on his property, and grows giant tomatoes, as well.
“It doesn’t need too much water, just gentle watering and I throw a little manure on there maybe once a year.”
The water pump. It “grew up” in Ross’ home town of Malakwa and, said Ross, was “Mary Barnes’ pump.”
“I was up there visiting in 1955 and I saw this pump sitting there. I asked her, ‘what are you doing with that pump?’
“So I hacked it off and it lay in storage until we moved to Richmond. It would have been used to pump water from a well into the house.”
So, that’s how a 96-year-old man brought a 25-year-old clematis and a 104-year-old water pump, from a tiny town in rural B.C., to meet each other in the same garden in Richmond.
