Coy Road, Coy’s Golf Course (Dutch Creek)

Dr Coy … earned “a consistent record as an ardent community worker throughout the years.”⁵³

There’s a good chance that you’re familiar with Coy’s Golf Course, and there’s less of a chance that you’ve heard of Coy Road, but both names came about from the Coy family, who were mainstay residents of the Windermere Valley following the First World War.

Filmer Coy

The local Coy patriarch was Filmer Engers Coy, born 17 November 1890 in Chicago, Illinois where his father, William Filmer Coy, was employed as a doctor.¹ Both his father and his mother, Mary Elizabeth McMahon, were from Canada, having married in Kingston, Ontario in April 1889.² William went south to the United States that same year to work, and Mary followed in 1890.³

Both Filmer and his younger sister Nora (born August 1895),⁴ were raised in Chicago at least through the 1900 United States census.⁵

In about 1903 the Coys moved north to Vancouver where Dr William Coy became a “well-known and respected member of Vancouver’s medical profession.”⁶ Filmer attended Vancouver High School before following in his father’s footsteps in studying medicine. He graduated from Medical School at McGill in 1914. In his time at McGill he was also vice-president of the swimming club and a member of the water polo team.⁷

Filmer Engers Coy at graduation from Medical school.
“Medicine 1914,” Old McGill, Volume 17 [1914 Yearbook], p 117, https://yearbooks.mcgill.ca/viewbook.php?&campus=downtown&book_id=1914#page/119/mode/1up

In September 1916 Filmer enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, giving his home address with his mother in Vancouver.⁸ By this time, he was a physician, and with the Medical Corps he served first in Canada then, after being sent overseas in May 1917, in hospitals in England and France. He was struck off strength on 28 July 1919 due to general demobilization.⁹

Ellen Lucy

On 30 December 1919, shortly after his return to Canada, Filmer Engers married Ellen Lucy Wilson in Nanaimo.¹⁰ Ellen was born 26 May 1895 in Algoma, West Virginia as the eldest child of Arthur Rupert and Lucy Mary Sapsford.¹¹ Her family moved to Canada in 1899, settling first in Michael (just east of Sparwood B.C.), where they are listed on the 1901 Census with father Arthur as a mining engineer.¹² In 1911 they moved to live on a ranch near Nelson (Ellen then had six siblings, all but one being brothers).¹³

Ellen went on to graduate as a Registered Nurse in Nelson, and was working as matron at the Golden hospital when she was engaged to Dr Coy, then of Field B.C., in January 1917.¹⁴ A newspaper note suggests both that Dr Coy had previously been assisting Dr Taylor at the Golden hospital in May 1915, and that the elder Dr Coy (Filmer’s father) had “spent a short time in Golden relieving Dr Taylor some years ago”.¹⁵

By the time of their wedding, in December 1919, Ellen was working as a nurse in Nanaimo, but Filmer had a job as a physician in Invermere. He had taken over Dr Turner’s medical practice after the war.¹⁶

And so Ellen and “Dr F.E. Coy” settled in Invermere, purchasing a large home from Alex Ritchie and living there for years.¹⁷ This building is still standing: it was Strands restaurant for years, and is now the Dragonfly Discovery Children’s Centre (818, 12th St Invermere). Dr Coy was then the only medical doctor in the Valley, so he was kept busy! He was also appointed as coroner in Invermere in November 1919, a position that he held until his resignation in August 1930.¹⁸

The Coy Kids

The Coy’s daughter, Nora Elizabeth (Betty), was born 28 February 1921 (Dr Coy’s sister, also Nora Elizabeth, passed away later that year, on 13 December 1921 at age 26),¹⁹). Betty’s younger brother, Filmer Rupert, arrived within a couple of years.²⁰

Betty was an accomplished young musician, winning a prize in 1930 put out by Panpipes, a musical paper in London, for her answer in an open competition from around the world.²¹ She was also one of six young cast members for a playlet “The Boisterous Buccaneers” put on by Winnifred Beale for the benefit of the district hospital.²²

Tragically, Betty passed away suddenly 16 December 1931 at age ten from an infection in the bone of her foot. Described as “quiet, studious and attentive in all her ways, “Betty” was a favourite with all who knew [her].”²³ She is buried at the Windermere cemetery.

Her brother Filmer, meanwhile, could be found in January 1937 on a trip to the Victoria legislature along with Jim Ashworth, the “Minister of Youth Affairs.”²⁴ He went on in autumn 1940 to attend the University of British Columbia, where he got into medical college with the intention of following in his father’s (and grandfather’s) profession.²⁵

Active in the Community

As soon as they arrived in the Valley, Dr and Mrs Coy became active members of the community. As the only medical doctor between Golden and Cranbrook, Dr Coy was naturally associated with the Windermere District Hospital Association, and Mrs Coy was involved with the Hospital Ladies Aid, including as president.²⁶ It was under their watch that the Lady Elizabeth Bruce Memorial Hospital at Pynelogs was opened in spring 1937.²⁷

The Coys didn’t restrict their community work to the hospital, however. They became members of the Invermere Golf and Country Club, for which Dr Coy was elected secretary treasurer, and later president.”²⁸ He also served as vice president on the Windermere District Board of Trade,²⁹ on the committee for the Windermere District Race Association,³⁰ as a newly elected board member on the school board,³¹ and as first vice president of the revived Great War Veterans Association.³² And all of this in 1923 alone.

The Coys association with various community organizations continued through the decades following. Dr Coy was involved in forming a library association in 1924,³³ and served as a committee member with the Rod and Gun Club that same year.³⁴ In other sports, he was part of the first curling contest following the First World War in 1920, and served on the executive committee of the Lake Windermere District Curling Club into at least 1936.³⁵ The Coys also donated a cup for a badminton tournament in Invermere, in 1935, and the Coy Cup became a prize to be won.³⁶

In slightly more serious matters, Dr Coy became president of the Board of Trade in 1927, and stayed on as a director through at least 1935.³⁷ His involvement with the school board also continued, with his serving as a trustee and as “the board’s efficient secretary for many years.”³⁸ During his tenure on the school board Dr Coy oversaw the creation of the Athalmer-Invermere Consolidated school, as well as its raise of status to “a fully equipped high school.”³⁹ In total, he would serve as unpaid secretary on the school board for twenty years.⁴⁰

The Legion also felt the advantages of Dr Coy’s attention. He was elected president in 1930, retiring two years later.⁴¹ In association with the Legion and his service in the First World War, Coy was also presented with the King’s Jubilee Medal in 1935.⁴²

The Second World War

The Coys left the Valley in January 1941 during the Second World War as Dr Coy once again joined the Canadian Army Medical Corp. He had a higher rank this time, and while they initially went to Victoria,⁴³ the Doctor and his wife later moving to Ottawa where he was in charge of the Rideau Military Hospital.⁴⁴

Dr Coy received his army discharge in Vancouver in spring 1946, returning for a time to Invermere, where he was involved in organizing the Invermere Community Committee, which eventually led to the construction the the new community hall.⁴⁵ That summer, however, Dr Coy accepted a position with the Discharged Veterans Association (DVA) in Saskatoon.⁴⁶ Mrs Coy stayed in Invermere, at least for a time, before going to Vancouver to join Dr Coy, where he had moved within a few months to continue work for the DVA.⁴⁷

Filmer Engers Coy as part of the Canadian Army Medical Corps in the Second World War, 1941.
Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, C1249.

Return to Invermere

It took a few years, but in 1949 Dr and Mrs Coy returned to Invermere for good.⁴⁸ The community was no doubt grateful for their return! In 1952 Dr Coy was elected as chairman for the first Board for the Village Commission of Invermere, and served in that capacity for some years (the position of chairman would later be renamed to mayor). Among the standing committees he was appointed to were administration and finance, and the works committee.⁴⁹ He was also apparently, “the first to press for incorporation of the village and has at all times shown a keen and active interest in village affairs.”⁵⁰

Dr Coy also returned to the Board of Trade following his return, and acted as chairman of the Highway 95 Committee, which lobbied for highway improvements in the area.⁵¹ He served as a representative for the East Kootenay on the BC Chamber of Commerce, and in 1959 went on a bit of a speaking tour regarding hydroelectric development in the valley and its effect.⁵² Dr Coy spent a total of some forty years with the Chamber of Commerce, receiving a life membership in 1970, and earning “a consistent record as an ardent community worker throughout the years.”⁵³

In slightly more professional duties, Dr Coy took over as magistrate in Invermere in 1958, a position that he held until November 1965.⁵⁴ He and Mrs Coy continued their interest in matters of health care as well. Having previously overseen the opening of the Lady Elizabeth Bruce Memorial Hospital in 1937, Dr Coy was the one in 1958 to present a resolution by the Windermere Hospital Association to convert that building into a home for elderly residents.⁵⁵ In association with this conversion, Dr Coy accepted the first chairmanship of the Windermere District Social Services Society (WDSSS), which oversaw the transition, and was “actively concerned with details of rehabilitation.”⁵⁶ He later became a “charter member” of the WDSSS.⁵⁷

After her return to Invermere, Mrs Coy was also appointed, in 1968, as president of the Windermere District Women’s Institute.⁵⁸ She would also serve at one time as a “curator” of the Windermere District Museum, with her name on the roster of local volunteers greeting visitors to the museum during the summer months.⁵⁹ Mrs Coy also had a jewelry/gift shop, which was housed in the Coy Block (which they built in 1954).⁶⁰

Dr Filmer Engers Coy passed away in Invermere on 14 July 1980. By this time he was living at his son’s Dutch Creek Ranch.⁶¹ The following year, Mrs Ellen Lucy Coy reluctantly left the Valley for the Pines, the longerm care home in Kimberley. While Pynelogs had initially been converted to be a home for retired residents, it was later shifted again to provide care for mentally handicapped adults.⁶² Ellen passed away at the Cranbrook Hospital on 29 January 1983.⁶³ Neither had a service, by request.⁶⁴

Mrs and Dr Coy, 1976.
Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, A1108.

Filmer

Going back to the Coy’s son, Filmer Rupert (Fil or Bud), who was attending medical school when last we saw him. In 1942, during his second year of med school, Bud left to sign up for the Canadian Air Force instead. After training for two years, in 1944 he was sent to serve in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).⁶⁵

Bud Coy, 1942, entering into the Canadian Air Force.
Windermere Valley Museum and Archives, C1250.

During the war, a friend and fellow pilot had received correspondence from his fiancée that contained a few words from her friend, Nona Quane, speaking about her life in Canada. After the war, Bud attended his friend’s wedding in Saskatchewan and met Nona, and soon after the two were married.⁶⁶

At first Bud continued flying with the army, but in October 1946, along with his wife and son, he returned to Invermere to stay.⁶⁷ They soon purchased an acreage of “wild land” in Fairmont, which later became Coy’s Dutch Creek Ranch.⁶⁸ In the meantime, Bud took up carpentry and would help to build the Lake Windermere Memorial Community Hall (the old hall), the National Hotel in Radium, the former Dave’s Book Bar, and the Radium Aquacourt.⁶⁹

Eventually in 1952 he and Nona, then with their three sons (a fourth came along later), moved to the Dutch Creek ranch. At first they grew potatoes, then raised cattle, and eventually Nona suggested they build a golf course on their land, which opened in 1987.⁷⁰

Bud also followed somewhat in his father’s footsteps with involvement in community organizations, serving briefly as secretary for the East Kootenay Fall Fair and Industrial Exhibition Committee,⁷¹ as well as secretary for the Windermere District Branch No 71 Legion, appointed that same year.⁷² He also served on the committee for the Windermere Memorial Community Centre. ⁷³

The Coy Legacy

Today, the Coys are perhaps best known for Coy’s Golf Course, but there is another Coy connection. Coy road, located off of Westside south of Invermere, is also named after Dr Coy. I presume that this name came about through Dr Coy’s tenure as chairman of the Village Commission of Invermere, but I was also unable to find any evidence for this. I’m not even entirely certain when the road was put in!

There are also a few architectural legacies associated with the Coys. In addition to the former Strands building, Dr Coy used to share his medical office with the notary office, which was then located in Athalmer. That building was later donated to the Windermere Valley Museum and Archives and moved up the hill, where it still stands today.⁷⁴ Alongside that building down in Athalmer was Harry Richardson’s store. That building was also moved (more than once), eventually making its way to Coys Golf Course in 1979, where it was used for a calving barn and machine storage/maintenance.⁷⁵

It is also still standing.
So that’s the Coys!

See Also

Pynelogs

Footnotes