Myrtle Rae Forberg Siebert's from Fjord to Floathouse, one family's journey from the farmlands of Norway to the Coast of British Columbia, was first published in 2002 with Trafford. Then in 2012 Myrtle withdrew it from that site and with the help of a professional designer, gave the manuscript an updated cover with fresh interior design, and an additional chapter. She self-published it as a Ten-Year Anniversary Edition.

The story recounts the experiences of Siebert's Norwegian grandparents. Her grandfather, Andy Forberg, lost the flip of a coin with his travelling partner when they had only money enough for one of them to go to the Klondike. Andy Forberg remained to carve his livelihood from hand-logging the trees growing close to the remote waterways along the BC Coast. Ten years later he returned to Norway for a wife, Gunhild Gunnulfsen, and the pair were married in 1909. The Forbergs, with their three children, established, a floathouse home, moving as more timber became available along the coast and in remote northern inlets near Port Neville.

In 2015, Siebert released a follow-up memoir, Beyond the Floathouse, Gunhild's Granddaughter. It outlines her own early floathouse life in remote Port Neville, sustained by the Union Steamships bringing mail, including correspondence lessons and all food and household supplies. Siebert had been brought home on one of the Union ships, as a month-old baby in the arms of her mother. Home was a water-surrounded floathouse situated on a remote inlet, two days journey from Vancouver. Hardy pioneers lived in drafty wood houses placed on log rafts tied to the shore. In a lifestyle that no longer exists, the men supported their families with hand logging and fishing. The memoir also describes her experiences attending a one-room school at Rock Bay and later the loneliness of boarding away from home to attend high school in Campbell River.

As a result of her family history research Myrtle also prepared a small volume with photos, They All Came from Away (2016), to trace the story of ancestors of the Siebert children, and of the circumstances that brought their grandparents to Canada. Copies have been used to show what can be produced by people who have searched their family story. Now that she has grandchildren Myrtle will need to do an update that includes the children’s father.

Beyond the FloathouseLifelong Learning with friends and family is the sequel to Gunhild's Granddaughter. This book is about a very shy, ordinary girl, growing up in an insular loving family in a home surrounded by water on the remote BC coast. Her high school principal's encouragement to apply for a university scholarship led Myrtle to discover a whole new world beyond the opening door of education. That unanticipated opportunity became a significant key to a multi-faceted career and travel adventures. It is the reason why she advocates for, and volunteers in raising funds for post secondary education.

A former Registered Professional Home Economist, for three years she was the owner-operator of a fast food outlet in Nanaimo. From teaching to entrepreneurship, to home building, to volunteering, her path continues, always with a focus on learning new things, including continuing determination to keep up with technology.

Myrtle Rae Forberg Siebert is a former high school teacher who participated in the Ministry of Education’s Textbook Selection Committee. When requested to do a revision of a 1932 textbook, Siebert created a new text for the BC Ministry, called Management and Foods. This work led to McGraw-Hill Ryerson for whom she prepared Food for Life in 1994 for students at grade none and ten level.

Siebert lives in North Saanich, near Sidney, on Vancouver Island.

BOOKS:

Management and Foods (Department of Education, British Columbia, 1975) 564 pages, ISBN: 0-9690498-5-4

Food for Life (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1992 401 pages

They All Came from Away, Ancestors of Norma, Eric and Linda Siebert, 2005, 120 pages

from Fjord to Floathouse - one family's journey from the farmlands of Norway to the Coast of British Columbia (2002; 2012) 978-0-9880709-0-5   223 pages, $20

Beyond the Floathouse, Gunhild's Granddaughter 2015 978-0-9880709-1-2  134 pages,  $16.00

Beyond the Floathouse, Lifelong Learning with friends and family 2016 97-0-9880709-2-9  151 pages, $18.00

All available for purchase from Myrtle's website http://www.myrtlesiebert.com , and Amazon.ca.

[BCBW 2018] "Family History"