The house at 4660 Sunshine Coast Highway in Davis Bay has been recently demolished.
It was a side gable Craftsman style with a wide porch running along the full front of the house and was built and owned by Charlie Brookman, a well-loved resident of Davis Bay for many years. He started the very successful children’s fishing derby in 1968 and was named the 1975 Good Citizen by the District Chamber of Commerce.
Charlie Brookman was born in Liverpool, England, in 1884 and emigrated to Canada in 1902 where he farmed in Ontario, prospected for gold in the Yukon (in Whitehorse, Robert Service was his neighbour). He returned to Ontario and travelled from place to place performing a vaudeville act until he joined the merchant navy in 1912 and for the next two years, he sailed twice around the world on the barque Crown of India.
At the start of the First World War, he joined the Canadian 18th battalion, went overseas and was wounded in the right eye and suffered gas poisoning in Belgium. He then joined the Second Division Concert party and entertained the troops in London, Paris and New York. He found time to marry his English friend and neighbour Louisa, and he returned to Canada with her after the war. They lived in Vancouver and Charlie went back to sea, returned to the stage and worked on a hydro crew. The sea drew him back and he shipped aboard the Lorne, the largest deep-sea tug on the West Coast at the time. In the 1930s, he was a car inspector for the CNR until laid off during the depression. His family lived off what he called the “burnt out” pension given to disabled war veterans.
The Second World War broke out and their only son joined the Canadian Navy, losing his life when the Canadian destroyer St. Croix was sunk. In 1943, Charlie and Louisa decided to leave Vancouver and live in Davis Bay, which they had first visited in 1921 with their Vancouver neighbour, Mr. Davis. They had a peaceful life in this small, quiet community, helping and making many friends, who for several years, assisted Charlie in raising funds and organizing the Davis Bay children’s fishing derby. He taught many local and visiting children to fish and swim from the Davis Bay wharf and performed his vaudeville ventriloquist act for them until his death in 1976. The then Wilson Creek Community Association named the park east of Davis Bay and along Chapman Creek Brookman Park in his honour.
