On the other
hand, Thelma Mosier, who was nowhere in sight when the initial takedown
occurred, was arraigned in Burnaby. We have mentioned this before. We are also
wondering how she came to be involved in this crime and have recently come
across some possible leads. In any case, in March 1966, Thelma Mosier pleaded guilty
and was sentenced to seven years.
We have done
some research into Mrs Mosier and have come up with the following information: we
are certain she was married to Richard Mosier, born in 1914, who died in 1984.
The Mosiers first appear together in the public record in 1953, in the federal
voting list for that year, when they are living on Fell Avenue in Burnaby and,
again in 1957, in the federal voting list, when they are living in Half Moon
Bay, near Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. In the 1953 list Richard Mosier is
listed as a truck driver and, in the 1957 one, as a logger. In the 1953
electoral roll, the Mosiers are listed as living at the same address on Fell
Avenue as a Mr and Mrs L Bullerwell. It appears that the couple separated at
some point after that because, by the time of the 1965 voters list, only Thelma
Mosier appears. She appears at a Sperling Avenue address, the same one as
William and Hazel Boone, a married couple in which the husband is a sales
analyst. Mrs Boone has no occupation listed.
Remembering that
Mrs Mosier was arrested in 1965 and sentenced to seven years on March 3, 1966,
it is not surprising that, when her husband Richard next appears in a voters
list, it is by himself – in Sechelt in the 1968 and 1972 lists. On both occasions
he is listed as a logger. Richard Mosier died aged 70 on June 21, 1984 in
Vancouver.
However, Thelma
Mosier pops up next in a rather interesting situation. It seems reasonable to
assume that the woman who, from 1982 until 1992, was listed as the Manager at the
Seventh Step Society at 219 Carnarvon Street in New Westminster was the same
person as the associate of Dr MacLauchlan, Margaret Anne Cunningham and Joseph
Sperling. After all, the everyday management of the Seventh Step was run by
ex-convicts. Probably for that reason, the organization was, during the 1970s
in New Westminster, a very controversial establishment. Based on the teachings
of Bill Sands and Rev. James Post, Seventh
Step was basically composed of ex-convicts, who had gone “straight” and become
successful citizens, helping newly paroled prisoners follow the same path of
reform and re-entry into society. Incidentally, one of the directors of the organization
at that time was Provincial Court Judge Nick Mussallem.
The current Seventh Step Society website states the following credo:
7th Step is a program
designed to help the incorrigible and recidivist offender change their behavior and
attitudes using a basic self help philosophy. Its fundamental principles
are realistic thinking and positive
peer pressure.
In
the history of penology there has never been a program, which could
conclusively reach and motivate to change the hard-core convict
population. The Seventh Step, self-help program was initially designed to
reach those men and women who are many time losers. They are strong men
and women who often are leaders within the structured institutional
environment.
So, basically it was about ex-convicts
helping newly-released convicts rebuild their lives along the straight and
narrow. At the time of its introduction to New Westminster, many citizens
wanted nothing to do with it. The Seventh Step Society first came to public
attention in New Westminster with its plans to establish a half-way house for prisoners
at 131 Third Street in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood. Hundreds of angry Queen’s
Park residents put their names to a petition opposed to the idea and presented it
to City Council. Similarly the prospect of a convict (ex or not) settlement at 219
Carnarvon also ran into a storm of opposition – especially from business owners
along that street. However, that particular hostel seems to have weathered the
outrage because it operated in that location at least until 1990. By the time
Thelma Mosier was manager at Seventh Step at 219 Carnarvon in 1982, it appears the
organization had become an accepted part of the neighbourhood landscape.
Ken and I would be most interested in
hearing from anyone who knew Mrs Mosier when she was the manager at Seventh
Step and can share their impressions or anecdotes about her.
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