On a recent trip to New Mexico I visited the ancient Pueblo Indian ruins of Chaco Canyon. From the canyon floor I hiked up
This led to thoughts about a similar time when, as a boy, I followed my grandfather out to the back of his barn.
With the recent death of George A. Bremner II there is the passing of not only an individual but of a way of life that was an
They are gone now, and with them the direct line to that time and place.
And yet through the power of his personality and his commitments to what he thought was important, he had an incredible impact and such a
Preface to the First Edition written in Seattle, February 11, 1986
through a crack in the rock of the canyon wall on a path well worn by the original inhabitants. At the top was Pueblo Alto,
where time and the elements have had more -effect than on the pueblos of the canyon below. I sat with my back to the wall of
Pueblo Alto as the sun set on the dry grass and sagebrush.
At first I did not know why we were going out there, nor why he sat on the ground with his back against the barn.
Then I realized that we had come to watch the sun set over the fields. Sitting at Pueblo Alto, I thought about how much he had
given me, how much of what he gave to me is what I am: pride in the land, knowledge of my past, an appreciation for beauty in nature.
I thought that if I could pass these things on to my own children, it would be enough.
That is what spurred me to collect this information about our family into a single history. I hope that future generations will
follow the example of our grandfather and great-grandfather in writing their autobiographies to add to the growing story of the
Bremner family.
important part of our family’s history. For my cousins and I the trip to Lynden not only represented a trip to visit the grandparents
but a trip to another time and place, and an earlier set of values and priorities. It also represented a trip back to an earlier part
of our history. In 1986 I was eager to get down on paper as much of our history as I could of what was kept verbally by our grandparents.
George A. Bremner II’s favorite story as a child was of how a small seed one day grew into large Douglas Fir tree. His life was like that,
driven by the belief that small beginnings can have great outcomes. When he was 75 he started a one man campaign to have the town of Lynden
reintroduce salmon into the Fishtrap Creek (as it had had when he was a boy). As a college student listening to the cynical discussions about
politics in the late 70s, the courage and integrity of his approach impressed me. It was that model which originally inspired me to put our
history down on paper, and now that he is gone I am motivated to continue in memory of him, who felt that our past is so important. He always
took the time with even the littlest grandchild to show you how you could make a slingshot out of the branch of a tree, or to tell you
about how our ancestors floated down the Nooksack River in an Indian canoe when they came to settle on their homestead in Whatcom County.
He was never in too much of a hurry to stop the car by the side of the road and get out so that he could teach you the names of the plants
in the forest. This man lived so simply that for most of his life he owned only two pairs of overalls (“Osh Kosh B’Gosh” until they went
out of business) and a Sunday suit.
deep and lasting influence on so many people. A testimony of this was that all of his five children with their wives and husbands and
all of his surviving 20 grandchildren, as well as many of the 17 great-grandchildren, traveled from all over the country to attend his
funeral. His was a tiny seed that grown into a large tree.
George A. Bremner II passed these things on to future generations as his own father had done with him. Our history is not over,
but continues to evolve. I urge future generations to write their own “autobiographies” as our great-grandfather and grandfather did,
to add to the growing history of our family. Our own children need to know who they are and where they come from. The life of the small
farm and the simple life style that it entailed is gone forever, gone with the passing away of George A. Bremner II. Today we are stressed
commuters who don’t always understand what exactly we are there for when we go to our jobs. We rarely spend time walking in a quiet forest,
and are lucky if we can chop a hole in the backyard to grow some lettuce. Our children are driven by the television to desire more and
more toys that they don’t really need and that will soon be discarded. We need to pass on the spirit of George A. Bremner II, teaching our
children the names of plants and animals in the forest.