Our Friend Joe: The Joe Fortes Story (Ronsdale Press 2012) is the first biography of Seraphim "Joe"; Fortes who became a Vancouver legend by teaching three generations of Vancouver children how to swim. Arriving in Vancouver in 1885, Joe was hired by the City as lifeguard, swimming instructor and special constable of English Bay beach in 1900. He would later be voted "Citizen of the Century."; On February 7, 1922, thousands of mourners lined Vancouver's streets to bid farewell to "our friend Joe."; One of Vancouver's libraries is named after him; some of the proceeds from this biography are being donated to the Lifesaving Society/Société du Sauvetage, Canada's national organization for lifeguarding and water safety expertise. Contains 30 b&w photographs.

Barbara Rogers has spent many years doing family history research as a volunteer archivist for the B.C. Genealogical Society and has compiled four books for them. Presently at work on a biography of Simon Fraser, she has contributed articles on his life to numerous reference works.

BOOKS:

Our Friend Joe: The Joe Fortes Story (Ronsdale Press 2012) co-authored with Lisa Anne Smith . $21.95 978-1-55380-146-7

[BCBW 2012]