One of Richmond’s pioneering farmers has passed away at the age of 101.
“He was kind, caring, a great teacher and worked endlessly as far as the farm was concerned,” said Doug May, of his late father Godfrey “Buck” May, who was born on his family’s farm in northeast Lulu Island in 1914.
Buck likely started farming the moment he was able to carry a pail, said Doug, noting back in the 1920s the farm was a family affair — Buck’s father and mother, Randall and Frena, having bought land at the turn of the 20th century after arriving from England.
Buck knew a Richmond very different than the one we see today, noted Rick May, 71, one of five children in the immediate family.
“He told stories of being with his dad on a horse and carriage along a wooden road that is now Westminster Highway. There was skating on the Fraser (River) all the way to New Westminster. There are things there you can’t imagine today. Even taking a horse to the Steveston Hotel; there was no designated driver, the horse drove,” noted Rick.
After a brief, four-month stint taking agriculture courses in university, Buck returned to the farm to work full-time with his brothers and they never looked back, carving out a long, and sometimes tumultuous career as they kept their heads above water through the Great Depression and Dirty Thirties.
In the early 1940s, when the Second World War threatened the economic livelihood of the farm, Buck met his wife of 53 years, Gertrude (Warnken). Married in 1943, the couple had five children, as they grew mostly potatoes and crops for cattle feed.
“I was the spoiled one,” quipped Susan
Semancik, the youngest of Buck’s children, explaining that by the time she was born in 1958, the family’s fortunes had taken a turn for the better.
“He had so many unique qualities. He always saw the good in everyone. He never said anything bad. He always took the high road. And that’s the lesson I take from my dad,” said Semancik.
In the late 1960s, the farm made a few transitions, such as dispensing with the dairy cows and raising beef cattle, as well as adding strawberries to the mix.
Around 1975, Buck was able to stow his boots in the closet permanently, leaving much of the farmwork to his first son, Bill May and nephews Alan and Steve.
“Up until the time he retired, it was a decent living. It wasn’t a fortune,” said Rick.
Of course, one of the lasting legacies the farm left Godfrey was his nickname, Buck. It’s believed he was bucked off a horse one day, when he was a kid, and the adults around him gave him the name that stuck, said Doug.
Buck and Gertrude lived in Pender Harbour for about a dozen years and the family decided to sell some of its land, creating Mayfair Lakes golf course, where Bill then worked. The family also transitioned parts of its land into cranberry fields, which proved more lucrative.
The couple was able to travel, noted Doug, visiting many parts of Asia and Central America, and eventually finding a retirement home in the U.S.
How did Buck live so long?
“We’re trying to find the answer to that one,” chuckled Doug, who with his three siblings spoke to the Richmond News on a conference call.
“He liked his Crown (whiskey) and growing vegetables in his garden,” said Doug.
Buck also loved to fish, sometimes heading out onto the water three times a week in his golden years, while singing his favourite songs, including from My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, to name a few.
In such a long life, not everything was entirely fair, however. Buck lost his third son, Fred May, in a plane crash in 1994. Fred had been working in the aviation industry at the time.
A celebration of life for Buck is planned for Saturday, April 9 from 1-4 p.m. at Mayfair Lakes golf course, 5460 No. 7 Road.
