Fonds MC3797 - Brenda Ford fonds

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Brenda Ford fonds

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PANB MC3797

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5 cm textual records

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Biographical history

Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1921, Brenda Ford graduated from the Royal Victoria General Hospital School of Nursing, in Montreal, in 1940. In 1955, Brenda Ford and her husband, James A. Ford, moved to Stoney Creek where they developed their own tree farm, Coppastiona Tree Farm. She was an active member of Forestry New Brunswick and a member of Rotary International. In addition, she was a member of St. George's Anglican Church, Moncton. She was living at Grass's Nursing Home, in Riverview, New Brunswick, when she died on November 16, 2012. Her husband, James, predeceased her in 1979.

Custodial history

These letters and documents were filed as "Complaints, Inquiries and Requests" by the Department of Transportation. They were offered to the Archives by Bernita Cogswell, of the Department of Transportation, (via Tom McCaffery, of PANB, Government Records Unit).

Scope and content

Original letters and attached news clippings received from Mrs. Brenda (James) Ford, Coppastiona Tree Farm, R.R. #3, Moncton, (Stoney Creek) NB to the Department of Transportation (often the Deputy Minister) and copies of the responses sent to these letters, 1967-2007. She and her husband ran a tree farm and were very interested in rural beautification. Some of the letters were prompted by the actions of their neighbours who had brought unsightly buildings to their properties or buildings which were obstructions to safe motoring.

Dominant themes in the letters include an issue regarding the paving of a highway interfering with the Ford's driveway, complaints regarding the Petitcodiac River Dam Causeway, and issues regarding the Gunningsville Bridge. Other topics include building removal from highway right-of-ways (particularly the Helen Steeves (McGrath) house in Moncton), signage regulations on highway right-of-ways, frog crossing signage, easements of right-of-ways, controversy regarding changes to the Weldon highway (includes deed and mortgage for Hartley property), forestry consultation, elections of MLAs particularly the Confederation of Regions (CoR) party (1991), criminal activity in the Ford’s neighbourhood and an RCMP inquiry, mail theft, billboards, tractor-trailer roof icing, harassment by tractor-trailer drivers of female drivers, beautification of Route 114 (includes poem), the Adopt-A-Highway program, railway transport (CNR and CPR), NB usage of gravel trucked from Quebec and its relation to the spread of ragweed, Protected Areas Strategy for forested areas, paving of Highway 114 (includes photos), and drinking and driving of a neighbour of Mrs. Ford. There is also correspondence regarding continuing confidentiality where Mrs. Ford explains how she protects the security of her letters (1991).

Some of the people involved in the correspondence include R. H. Sweet (Deputy Minister of Public Works), D. L. Sehuelt (Deputy Minister of Transportation), Lyle Smith (Deputy Minister of Transportation), Donald J. McCrea (Deputy Minister of Transportation), and David J. Johnstone (Minister of Transportation).

There is also a copy of “Terms of Reference: A Risk Assessment and Emergency Response Program for the Corridor Road Passing Through Baker Brook, Verret, and Saint-Jacques Watersheds” from the NB DOT, 1993, including maps, and obituaries of James Amos Ford (1882-1979) and Brenda Ford (1921-2012).

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