Player Profile
Player Profile
NANCY BAAL
by Linda Patton
LP: You are one of the rare Victoria-born residents.
NB: Yes. I was born at the old Resthaven Hospital in Sidney, which no longer exists. In 1950 my family moved into Victoria where I attended Bank Street, Oaklands, Lansdowne and the old Mt. Douglas School; this is the present site of the Cedar Hill Junior High School.
LP: I understand you worked for the provincial government for many years.
NB: I started with the Forest Service in 1965. I surveyed all over British Columbia doing instrument work with a compass and chain, mostly doing road locations to connect old logging roads to provide forest development and forest fire routes. I have worked everywhere in BC, with the exception of Vancouver Island. I had graduated from Mt. Douglas School and was studying at UVIC (the first year it became the University of Victoria) and UBC, so this was strictly summer employment.
LP: What subjects were you taking?
NB: I took Math, Physics and Astronomy and received a B.Sc. in all three, as well as a degree in geodetic surveying (studying and measuring the size and shape of the earth). My goal was to get into astronomy and do research on binary stars or super nova. This is known as Cosmology; the history of the universe. Halfway through my third year of studies the Federal Government pulled the funding for the Queen Elizabeth II telescope on Mt. Kobau in the Kootenays. All the jobs in Astronomy disappeared, with the exception of one; my lab partner got that. Everyone in third and fourth year Astronomy had to switch direction. The boys went into Meteorology at the University of Toronto and I switched to the provincial Department of Lands, which became the Ministry of Environment (MOE). This is where I worked for 32 years.
LP: Can you tell me more about the specific type of work you did with the MOE?
NB: I started with a survey crew in May of 1972 and we would survey an entire valley. We were responsible for putting in a network of very high-precision survey markers consisting of permanent concrete piers placed in rock in the tops of hills. All of these markers had a large brass cap with a unique identifier. Our job was to measure the angles and distances between markers.
LP: For what purpose?
NB: So that when someone wanted to subdivide, they only had to go to the nearest pair of markers and they could perform the entire survey based on these two markers. It was called ‘controlled surveys’.
LP: That must have been physically demanding?
NB: Yes, it was. Each day we would climb hills about the size of Mt. Doug in Victoria. For example, if we knew there was a brass cap somewhere on the top of Mt. Doug, we had to climb up the mountain and locate it. We would look for an open spot, not near trees, because everything depended on intervisibility in those days. Once the cap was located, we would resurvey it with modern instruments. This enabled us to upgrade the accuracy from plus or minus ten feet to plus or minus 1 foot.
LP: What did you enjoy best about your job?
NB: Just being out of doors and seeing all of BC. My favourite area is Smithers, which is in the beautiful Bulkley Valley and set against the backdrop of Hudson Bay Mountain. The down side is being outside in the cold and rain and knowing that the helicopter that dropped you off had to wait until the weather broke in order to return and find you. There were always bear problems, mostly black and some grizzly, at Maxhamish Lake in the northeast corner of BC. This area had a very high water table so you could not bury garbage. One time a black bear came into camp and poked its nails into our supply tent. We were weathered in and did not know when our plane would arrive. As a result, I stayed up the next night and shot it. It was a matter of either the bear ate or we ate. The gun I used was my grandfather’s model 1894 Winchester 30-30, which now resides in the provincial museum. These guns were issued to the Pacific Coast Rangers who guarded the coast against a Japanese attack during WWII. They were civilian militia that would train and shoot at the old rifle range at Horth Hill Park in North Saanich.
LP: What caused you to change from outdoor work to office work?
NB: In 1980 I was surveying at Smithers when I fell and injured my left knee. This resulted in having no cartilage, ligaments or tendons in my knee – thus, the desk job. With my background in math and physics, I spent the next 22 years in the computing office where I would compute the actual field notes submitted by the summer surveying crews. I loved this job and became the resident ‘expert’ on oil and natural gas well sites in BC. For four months of every year I performed all the computations of the oil and gas sites for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
For the remaining eight months I computed the information received for huge control surveys for Greater Vancouver and Greater Victoria. Once all the brass tablets in the sidewalks were linked together, measured and calculated, it allowed city surveyors and local surveyors to start off on a pair and subdivide lots. Of course, we now have GPS (global positioning systems) which allows one to put a receiver on one side of a mountain and a receiver on the other. They both receive radio waves from the navigation satellites that orbit the earth. One of the by-products of the data is the marker-to-marker distance from A to B, so measurements can now be obtained through a mountain or across a lake.
LP: Are you now retired?
NB: Yes. I could have worked a few more years but I qualified for retirement, and now enjoy the time I can spend on pastimes such as bridge and stamp collecting.
LP: How and when did you become interested in philately?
NB: My uncle gave me a collection in 1958; my interest was sparked and my Canadian collection is now complete. I specialize in the collection of the 1897 Canadian Diamond Jubilee issue. There are sixteen denominations in this issue. I have plate proofs that go from a half cent to five dollars. In 1897, five dollars would have been the average man’s monthly salary. This large denomination was used to send books back to the ‘Old Country’ and for bulk mail. The $3, $4 and $5 denominations were used by the Winnipeg Free Press to pay for bulk mailing of their newspaper across Canada via train.
LP: How did you come to own ‘plate proofs’?
NB: These were sold by the American Bank Note Company (ABNC). They were the people that printed the stamps for Canada in 1897. There was a huge auction at Christie’s in 1990 and these plate proofs were released. Different stamp dealers bought pieces of them, and in turn sold them as sets. I bought this particular set at a stamp auction. Part of this collection is the $1 denomination, of which only 400 are known to exist. There are about 800 $5 stamps in existence. Millions of dollars were raised for the ABNC by the sale of this reference material at the auction.
LP: Is there anything further you want to tell me about your interest in philately.
NB: It has opened up a lot of avenues for me. I meet many people who have collections and often they don’t know what their collections are worth. I now perform appraisals and advise people whether they should give their collection away or store it in a vault.
In addition to stamps, I enjoy the piano (popular music) lawn bowling (during my first year I was the novice champion), and attending St. John’s Anglican Church. I am a chalice bearer and help with administration of the Holy Communion. I volunteer for the Church’s New-To-You program and Christmas Bazaar, as well as being in charge of all the greeters for the 9:15 Sunday service. I have traveled to Cuba, Hawaii and to Saskatchewan on several occasions to visit my mother’s cousin and her husband. They are experts on wildflowers and have coauthored a book titled Wildflowers Across The Prairies.
LP: I was lucky enough to be invited to your home one Christmas where you had a large model railroad on display. I marveled at the extent of it and the fact that it took you an entire day to erect. You also have a Christmas tradition where each first-time female visitor to your home receives an angel from your tree. I enjoyed hearing the story behind the purchase or gift of these angels that come from all corners of the globe.
LP: I know you are now a Regional Master with 100+ points and that you recently returned from a successful tournament at the Vancouver Regional. How did you get started in bridge?
NB: I took lessons at the Monterey Seniors’ Centre and then the Audrey Grant Diamond Series taught by Monica Pinch. In February of 2000 Monica suggested that I play on Friday evenings at St. Aidan’s in what I call the ‘kindergarten room’. I really enjoyed this experience, learned a lot and graduated to the ‘big room’. One Friday evening I played with Monica. Anna Boivin and her partner came in first, but Anna was gracious enough to come over and congratulate me for coming in second.
In 2001 I won the Ace of Clubs award as a Junior Master and this award was presented at my retirement party by you (Linda Patton) as a friend and occasional bridge partner. At the recent Vancouver Regional I earned four gold points in the Knockout game with partner Robert Aessie and teammates James Foster and you. I enjoyed the tournament very much. It was a tremendous experience.
I have an amusing bridge-related anecdote to share: While attending one of Rita Beny’s classes last fall, I listened as she spoke to the attendees about the person she had chosen to receive the Charles A. Miller Sportsmanship Trophy for 2003. This award is presented by the current recipient to the Unit 431 player (regardless of masterpoints) they feel demonstrates enthusiasm for bridge and kindness, consideration and sportsmanship at the bridge table. I remember thinking this person sounds wonderful and well-deserving. Little did I know that Rita was speaking about me! I was very honoured to have been chosen, and now I will have the difficult task of selecting the 2004 recipient.
LP: What bridge-related goals do you have, if any?
NB: I particularly enjoy playing with the true novices who have 0 to 5 points. But my goal is to always be a good partner, and play as well as I can wherever I am playing and at any level.
LP: Good advice for us all. Thank you for this interview, Nancy. I know Rita made the right choice.
Copyright:
ACBLUnit 431
James K. Foster,
January, 2005