David Ross

David has been the Artistic Producer of Western Canada Theatre for twenty-one years, and has served WCT and other companies as actor, director, musician, dramaturge and sound designer while performing in theatres from St. John's, Newfoundland to Victoria. He has produced over 150 plays in that time, doubling the size of the company, building a second theatre, the Pavilion, and has co-produced with many companies in BC, Alberta, and the National Arts Centre. Some of his favourite roles in recent years include Douglas in Ethan Claymore, Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors, Robert in Proof, and Angus in The Drawer Boy. David also appears in the feature film Deepwater shot in and around Clearwater and scheduled for release later this year. In addition to his work at WCT, he has adjudicated drama festivals in both BC and Newfoundland, including serving as Adjudicator at Theatre BC's Mainstage 2000 provincial festival in Delta. (From website)

James Chamberlain

James was an aerospace designer and engineer (b 23 May 1915, Kamloops; d 8 Mar 1981, Houston, TX). He was educated at the University of Toronto and the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London England. James help engineer the ill-fated R.C.A.F. Avro Arrow. He and about 2,000 other engineers worked eight years to get the CF-105 supersonic Arrow interceptor into production as the world's fastest jet fighter. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker scrapped the entire operation in 1959. Scrapping of the Arrow threw thousands out of work and Canada lost 100 key engineers to the U.S. and Britain. James and 23 other engineers promptly went to the U.S. and went to work with N.A.S.A. where he worked on the Mercury capsule in which astronaut John Glenn orbited the earth three times in 1962. Despite being the most advanced plane in the world, James had no regrets about the Arrow.

Mark Madryga

Mark was born and raised in Kamloops and attended NorKam Secondary. He was a student at Cariboo College and later the University of B.C. where he graduated with a Degree in Meteorology in 1986. In 1987, Mark was hired by Environment Canada and was posted to the Pacific Weather Center in Vancouver. Mark has a passion for weather. He admits to being obsessed with weather since the age of 9 or 10, when he started tape-recording his own forecasts. Mark takes pride in his ability to inform the public of approaching severe weather conditions. Mark resides in White Rock with his wife Laureen, their two kids, Matthew and Tessa, and their two cats, Ralphie and Rachel. Mark began working at BCTV in May 1994 as the noon news weather forecaster. He moved to the Weekend Weather post in the fall of 1997, and is now Senior Meteorologist.

 

Cliff Branchfower

Scott Niedermayer

Scott is a hockey player (b 31 Aug 1973, Edmonton). He honed his skills in Cranbrook and attracted the attention of the Kamloops Blazers, for whom he played 3 seasons. He was a West Division all-star, top student-athlete in Canadian junior hockey and a member of the team that won the 1991 world junior championships. He made a memorable pass to set up the game-winning goal that brought the 1992 Blazers their first national junior championship Memorial Cup and brought him honours as the tournament's MVP. Drafted by the New Jersey Devils, he helped the team to win Stanley Cups in 1995 and 2000. He played for Team Canada in the 1996 World Cup and by the late 1990s he had established himself as one of the NHL's premier defencemen. (from B.C. Encyclopedia)

Catherine O'Hare Schubert

Catherine was a pioneer settler (b 23 Apr 1835, Rathfryland, Ireland; d 18 July 1918, Armstrong). She moved to America in 1850 with her family and lived in New York until her marriage in 1856 to Augustus Schubert, a German immigrant. The couple moved west to St Paul, MN, then in 1860 north to Fort Garry, where they ran an inn. Two years later they joined a party of Overlanders trekking west to the goldfields. Catherine, with her 3 young children, was the only woman with the party and she gave birth to a fourth child shortly after her arrival at Kamloops. The couple settled at Lillooet and began farming. When Augustus was absent prospecting for gold, she ran the farm and a local school. They moved to land near Armstrong in 1883. (from B.C. Encyclopedia)