When a woman from Oban, Scotland, came to BC in 2010 to see the Winter Olympics, she visited a second-hand shop in Victoria and picked up a book about Fort St. James history, thinking there might be a Scottish connection to the town.
"I wanted to browse in the second-hand shop, I often do that at home and felt it would hold a more personal souvenir of the area," Lauren Fair, the latest owner of the book, explained.
During the years since 2010, Fair moved several times and after getting married and having two children, she finally unpacked the box that contained the book.
That's when she found a letter from Joyce to Wayne placed between the pages of the history book and now she wants to see what she can find out about the letter and the people in it.
"I found the letter and felt bad I had it - maybe that wasn't meant to be given away - but equally loved it more for that," Fair said.
The book is called A Walk Through Time, published by the Friends of the Fort St. James Historic Site Society to celebrate the community's 200th anniversary.
Fair said she looked up the society on Facebook to see what she could find out. Then she took another step.
The clue to the identity of Joyce and Wayne was that Barbara Robin was mentioned in the letter as Joyce's co-author of a section of the book that Joyce had sent to Wayne as a gesture of gratitude for support and encouragement he had shown her in the past.
Barbara Robin is a local author who wrote I Should Have Married A Cowboy in 2017 and was interviewed by The Citizen when it was released.
When Fair did some research on Robin, she found the article online and reached out to the Citizen.
"Being a photographer and often in touch with journalists I thought that you may be likely to be interested," Fair said in an email conversation.
To unravel the mystery of how the book found its way to Vancouver Island to be scooped up by Fair in a second-hand shop, The Citizen reached out to Robin. Not only is she still in contact with Joyce Helweg, the author of the letter, but the two have been best friends for years and check in with each other every night by telephone.
Helweg and Robin both said it was important to make sure the history of Fort St. James was not lost and, as they were both writers, the decision to co-author a piece in the book was easy.
When Helweg and Robin decided to join forces, they spent the winter of 2005-2006 together talking to the elders of Fort St. James to hear about the history of some of the older buildings that stood the test of time.
Helweg offered some insight into why she sent the book along to Wayne.
Helweg, who has lived in Fort St. James since 1952, understood how much rural communities were underserved at times and when she decided to become a notary public to serve her community, Wayne Braid, who was executive officer of the Notary Foundation of BC, mentored her through the process. Helweg's appreciation for his guidance is what inspired gifting the book.
When the Citizen contacted Braid, he said he donated the book to his local second-hand store.
"As I do with most of my books, to tell you the truth," Braid said, who was amazed that the book had made its way to Scotland.
Braid said he knew Helweg would feel the same way about how the book went on its own adventure.
"I wouldn't want her to think that I gave away her book that she so kindly wrote a note to me about. I just appreciated Joyce so much - she was a great notary and she was so down-to-earth and so willing to help people."
Braid said Helweg was a notary for all the right reasons - to help her community.
When Helweg heard the book and letter had made it all the way to Scotland, she said nothing surprises her any more.
Helweg said she enjoyed co-authoring the section of the book about historic homes in Fort St. James with Robin.
"We were each other's comma police - one was putting too many in and one was taking too many out," Helweg laughed at the recollection.
Helweg said she's happy to connect with the new owner of the book and with Helweg's permission The Citizen passed along her email address to Fair.
Helweg has written two other books A Change in Direction and Bucked Off.
Bucked Off is the book she wrote most recently about her life with her husband, John, before and during their 44-year marriage and then about her grief and healing journey after he unfortunately died unexpectedly in 2014.
Helweg said she feels there's no greater compliment than when a person tells an author their book has helped them and then does something just as important.
"They tell me they've passed it on to another person who they think could be helped by it," Joyce said. "And that's the same way I feel about A Walk Through Time. I'm happy it made it all the way to Scotland because that means more people have read it and isn't that the point of a book? To be read?"
