Page 15 - Edmonton Antique Car Club

years it took to restore the Skylark, but to no avail. I’d pret- We met Thelma, who was not in her mid seventies,
ty much given up on ever finding out anything more about in May of 1989, in her downtown Calgary high rise apart-
the person who walked into a Buick show room in 1953, fell ment. She was very gracious and we talked a lot. After
in love with the Skylark and bought it, other than her name some friendly chatter our conversation came around to
was Thelma Cameron. what we both had in common, the Skylark. Turns out
Thelma was a land purveyor for a number of major oil
That is, until one fateful day in 1988. companies. Referred to in the industry as a “lease hound”,
she secured oil and gas leases for oil companies throughout
As a family, during the winter months, we would Saskatchewan and Alberta. Impressive for an industry
often spend Sunday afternoons skating at Hawrelak Park, dominated by men. So much so that Thelma’s story has a
followed by a visit to the Provincial Museum for hot choco- place in the Archives of Alberta.
late and fries in the museum’s cafeteria. On one occasion in
1988, close to Christmas, we stopped in at the Museum store
which was having a
sale on books. We
came across a series
of four soft cover
books featuring
Western themed
cartoons by a Cal-
gary cartoonist.
Flipping through the
books, I recognized
many of the cartoons depicted. The price was reasonable
and we thought the books would make a great thank you gift
for the milkman and such—the milkman, remember him? Thelma about to take the Skylark for a drive

The cartoonist, who was a regular contributor to the Thelma had bought the car off the showroom floor
Calgary Herald, had passed away and these books were a in Regina. The Skylark had done its job as General Motors
compilation of his work. The name of the artist was Stew had intended and that was to draw potential customers into
Cameron. the showroom to hopefully leave with a Buick. Except
Thelma didn’t want any Buick; she wanted the Skylark.
At first glance the cartoonist’s name didn’t set off
any fireworks. Flipping through the pages of one of the When asked of her experiences with the Skylark, I
books I came to the last page where Stew’s widow had pre- wanted Thelma to tell me that it was a fabulous car, that
pared a brief biography of the cartoonist—and there it she was envied by all, and that the car had served her well.
was—the signature that I couldn’t help but look at every Instead, Thelma told me that the car was a big disappoint-
time I crawled behind the wheel of the Skylark: that of Thel- ment. The Skylark was always in the shop to fix minor
ma Cameron. I could barely contain myself and ended up annoyances such as a leaking convertible top. Most fixes
buying all remaining copies of the books in the store. had to do with the custom bodywork done by the factory.
After a year of frustration, Thelma traded the Skylark in
for a tractor—a tractor!

At some point during our talk, after I had pretty
Thelma’s signature on Stew’s biography
much learned of her time with the car, I asked Thelma if
she would like to see the car and possibly drive it. She did.
The week following my discovery I spent tracking
down the publishing company that printed the books, West- Thelma, walking around the car and getting behind
ern Printing & Lithographing Co. Ltd. of Calgary. the wheel, looked down to see her signature in the horn
Although Western couldn’t provide the contact information button, and smiled. What an experience for Thelma and
for Thelma Cameron, they did agree to pass on my request me. We circled the neighbourhood, top down, Thelma
for her to contact me, and she did. driving the car like she did back in 1953.

Thelma and I exchanged several letters, and ar- We exchanged letters after our meeting in Calgary
rangements were made for me and the family to visit her in and talked of plans to meet again, this time in Edmonton.
Calgary. Of course we drove the Skylark, It wasn’t meant to be. Thelma passed away in 1991 at the
age of 78, just two years after our meeting.

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