Mary-(Tom) George

 Mary Tom was one of several children born to Alec Tom (Yasaw) and Amelia Louie from Sechelt.  Alec was the eldest son of Chief Tom Timothy and Mary Ann Charlie.  (Sliammon naming traditions during this period were flexible and a father’s first name was often used as the surname of his children, hence the children of Chief Tom Timothy all had ‘Tom’ rather than ‘Timothy’ as their surname.) Mary’s mother, Amelia, died in 1966.  We know little about her but suspect that she was a basket maker as all three of her daughters adopted the craft.

Mary married Johnny George, a young man who was raised by his grandparents in Sliammon but whose family was originally from Squamish.  Mary and George had 4 sons and a daughter, Margaret.  Margaret’s son, Steve Vivier remembers his grandmother and her sisters sitting together making baskets and conversing about patterns.  They used to ask Steve to make cardboard stencils for the basket bottoms which they would save and reuse.  When family members married, Mary, together with her sister Catherine and friend Agnes McGee would gather to make a set of baskets to give the new couple as a wedding gift.  The baskets pictured below are part of a set made for Steve when he married.

Steve remembers his grandmother telling some children how she learned  to make baskets. “ When I was young” she told them,  “no one taught the kids how to do it, they just watched.  No one explained”.

As well as making baskets for family members, Mary also took orders from people who wished to purchase her baskets.  Unlike her sister Katherine who preferred to use spruce root in her baskets, Mary used only cedar roots.