THE HEAT OF A VILLAGE OUTWARMS A HEARTLESS BLAZE

February 7, 1976

Victoria Daily Times

A Column by Max Low

It was quite a simple notice, really.

And yet there was one word that roused a whole community and moved a family close to tears.

That word was “friends.”

“A Community Burnt-Out Shower, Wednesday night at 8 in Shawnigan Lake Community Centre Hall, For Our Friends the Wachtins," read the hand-written sign that appeared on the doors of the village stores.

Steve and Joan Wachtin, who run their little local Popular Press printing business and have lived in the village less than two years, just couldn’t believe that word.

Tragedy struck the Wachtins one week ago today when fat from a pan in which Joan was cooking tacos caught fire and the blaze quickly destroyed the old wooden house they rented in the village.

They lost everything and unfortunately none of their possessions were insured. Luckily, no one was injured.

Three of their four children—Randy, who will be 13 next month, Mark, 12, and eight-year-old Heidi—were ice skating in the nearby Mill Bay Arena at the time. Their 19-year-old son Ted lives in Victoria.

Now, a charred cake with melted candles sits sadly surrounded by blackened plates in the burned-out shell of the Wachtins’ old house. For last Saturday was Mark’s birthday and the tacos were to be for the party.

The family was left with only the clothes each of them was wearing. But the warmth of the response from the country community outdid the heat from the flames. And that response was instant.

“A few minutes after the fire started there was Mrs. Weiten telling us we could stay with them,” said Joan Wachtin. Neighbor Phil Weiten and his wife have put up the whole Wachtin family, dormitory-style, in their basement this week. They are moving into another rented house in the village this weekend.

Someone at the fire mentioned that little Heidi had only her skates to wear, and within five minutes he had a pair of slippers. And just like that, people from near and far, some who knew the Wachtins and some who didn’t, flocked with gifts of bedding, clothes, and money.

“Shawnigan Lake Volunteer Fire Brigade members risked their lives to put out the blaze and then gave us a cheque for $100,” said Steve.

“My own son (Ted) sent us money ... and I thought, boy, where have I gone right,” he added.

“And right here people we know are hard up for food have given us cheques for $20 or more,” said Joan. “We’re not going to go without anything. It’s sure nice to feel so loved.”

It was business as usual on Wednesday morning when I popped in to see Steve and Joan in the quaint round cedar building (designed and built by Doug Treit of Shawnigan) that houses the Popular Press.

Until a year ago, the Wachtins’ business was in a basement in Store Street in Victoria, but when their lease ran out, they decided to move it near where they lived.

It’s a two-person operation, with hand-setting done in the old style, specializing in beautifully-made business cards and name and address labels.

“We’re going to teach the kids to carry on because this trade is being lost,” said Joan, “and it’s a nice way to print.”

And what about the shower?

“Oh yes, we’re all going tonight,” Steve said enthusiastically. “We don’t go to many parties and this one’s for us. We wouldn’t miss it.”

It was nothing grand that night. There were no speeches, just a lot of warmth and good wishes as 200 or more squeezed into the little supper room adjacent to the main hall and took their turn talking to the Wachtins.

The First Shawnigan Lake Company of Girl Guides gave up their night to use the room and were there in uniform to serve coffee and cakes.

One man arriving late poked his head in the door and saw the huge crowd and said: “Gee, where’s the band?”

There was no band, but there was music as school friends and Girl Guides sat around Heidi in a circle on the floor and sang songs.

Along one wall stretched a table covered with gifts people had brought. Some were unwrapped, some were in brown paper, some were in gay Christmas or birthday wrapping. Some were new, some used. There were toys, clothes, blankets, tins of cookies, jars of homemade preserves, rice, small pieces of furniture… even a Bible.

So great was the response that the Wachtins now have far more than they need, and Joan said she is thinking of setting up a free store where local people who need things can go and pick them up.

All the Wachtins—Steve, Joan, Randy, Mark (who has a Times paper run in Shawnigan), and Heidi—couldn’t believe they were the center of such friendship.

But to the people of Shawnigan Lake, it was nothing too unusual.

Well-known Alice “Brownie” Gibson, who has lived there since 1928, said: “In the old days, we used to have community showers for brides, but there are too many weddings to do this now. We haven’t really had anyone burned-out like this before.”

There were firemen and United Church people at the shower, but, said Brownie, no one organization or person was responsible for it.

“It’s just a community effort. It’s always been like this at Shawnigan. All we did was put up a sign in the store, that’s all. We didn’t contact anyone. They just came.”

To those who live in big cities, this kind of spirit may seem foreign. And it may seem even more unusual considering the Wachtins are Americans who came from the little town of Fallbrook near San Diego in California and immigrated to Canada five years ago. But it’s kind of nice.

“I feel, in essence, this sort of thing is Canada welcoming them because we like them so much,” is the way Brownie Gibson puts it. “The Wachtins are such nice, kind people themselves—everything they have, they share.”

And now, as Steve Wachtin says, he has found that “all the people in our village are our neighbors, our friends.”

“Do you know,” Steve says emotionally, “the day after the fire a man came up to me in the street and said, ‘You don’t have to worry ... we’ll take care of you.’”

“I didn’t believe it!”