HENRY'S CORNER

I arrived in Tofino in the fall of 1980 after a summer of commercial fishing. On a visit to a local shop, I picked up a familiar carved alderwood bowl and recognized it as a carving by a man I had met a year earlier, Henry Nolla. No more than a minute passed and in walked Henry. After a few days of visiting, Henry asked me to stay for the winter to teach him how to carve totems.

For fifteen years from 1980 to 1995, we carved at least twenty-eight totems and completed many other projects such as the Tofino welcome sign and the Ucluelet Whale sign. Henry and I carved all the totems in Eagle Aerie Gallery and he adzed every plank single-handily. He also carved the Eagle Aerie house front and helped to make the gallery the beautiful landmark that it is today. So that day in September 1980 when I met Henry changed my life and life in Tofino forever.

Henry is gone now having succumbed to a long battle with cancer. There are many people who miss Henry and carry fond memories of him. I am so grateful to be his teacher and for him to be mine.

The new addition to Wickanninish Inn now stands where Henry's house used to be in what all the locals and thousands know as Henry's Corner. I stayed at the Wickaninnish Inn last fall and woke up in the morning to a scene I was used to looking at from Henry's front window. The rain was falling on a rising tide where we spent so many hours working and laughing, and I miss him so.

Henry, thank you for all the beautiful memories from HENRY'S CORNER.