Helen Edwards, VHS 1964 Heritage Detective, Author, Volunteer, Baseball Team Owner

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Helen Edwards, VHS 1964   Heritage Detective, Author, Volunteer, Baseball Team Owner

Helen has always believed that you need to give back to organizations you belong to and share your time and expertise. With great memories of her time at Vic High, particularly with the orchestra program where she played the violin, she has been inspired to contribute in many areas with the Vic High Alumni, and enjoys staying in touch with former classmates by helping organize reunions for the Class of 1964.

Since leaving Vic High, Helen and her husband John raised four children, three of whom attended Vic High, and she has worked for the federal government. She also attended UVic as a mature student and received her Bachelor of Arts with Distinction.

Helen is passionate about family, heritage architecture, genealogy, sports, music, crafts, and history – in no particular order. Reflecting those passions, she has

  • volunteered her time in the heritage field for 45 years,
  • worked as a heritage professional and genealogist
  • volunteered with the Canadian Freelance Guild (formerly Professional Writers’ Assoc. of Canada)
  • been the Vice-President for the Society of International Hockey Research.
  • held leadership positions in various local heritage organizations

Helen sits on various boards, but gets the most satisfaction out of volunteering with the Vic High Alumni. She has

  • helped for several years in the Vic High Archives & Museum
  • been an Alumni Director since 2020
  • helped create the new Alumni website, vichgh.com, launched November 2020
  • managed edits to the website
  • begun researching to write the second Vic High history book, covering 1976 – 2026, taking up where VHS alumni Peter Smith’s book, Come Give A Cheer left off. The book will be published in 2026 to help celebrate the school’s 150th anniversary
  • is now the 2022-2023 chair of the Vic High Alumni board

Now a full-time author, Helen enjoys bringing history to life and knows how relevant it is to our current lives. She has

  • researched and written the history of Victoria’s Cool-Aid Society (Microsoft Word – History-final formatted for publication no myths.doc (coolaid.org),
  • researched, written, and published The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria 1911 – 2011
  • written, edited and published two books of diaries of her father-in-law Canadian Naval Officer Dutchy Edwards, Dutchy’s Diaries, and Dutchy’s Decades
  • finalized for publication her fourth book, The Heritage Detective, chronicling stories behind many of Victoria’s heritage homes.

And now – Helen Edwards recently became one of the owners of the Victoria HarbourCats baseball team!

PS here’s her website.