From the pages of the summer edition of Dominion Lending Centres’ Our House Magazine. How the humble house Terry Fox grew up in is becoming a Canadian landmark.
The home at 3337 Morrill St. in Port Coquitlam B.C., is in a typical suburban setting, surrounded by green trees, well worn pavement and the sounds of busy yard work. The home is certainly pleasant and well maintained, but doesn’t really stick out for any particular reason. You likely wouldn’t know the historical significance of this very insignificant-looking home.
“I have very strong memories of that house and being inside,” Darrell Fox tells Our House Magazine.
Fox is the younger brother of Canadian hero Terry Fox. The family lived in the Port Coquitlam home on Morrill Street for 16 years.
Darrell, who was only a teenager when his older brother embarked on running the Marathon of Hope across Canada in 1980, keeps a huge selection of memories for the house.
Terry would begin his training route for the Marathon of Hope every day from the home and spend hours mapping his course on the kitchen table. Terry also spent his final days in the home before cancer took his life.
“It is an important part of our history,” Darrell said.
The Fox family purchased the home in 1968 for $18,000—unbelievable considering the cost of real estate in the neighbourhood today. It was a brand new build and the first home the family owned.
Darrell grew up in the home along with his three other siblings including Terry. He spent his formative years in the house. There were countless days of ball hockey, soccer and digging out rocks from the front yard to plant grass. The doors, thanks to family matriarch Betty Fox, were always open to the neighbourhood. But there was certainly pain.
Terry was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in his leg in 1977 and had the leg amputated at the age of 18. But it didn’t slow him down. He would go on to plan his Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research and begin running in the spring of 1980. Only a few months later, the cancer returned and spread to his lungs. He was forced to quit while traversing northern Ontario. He died in June of 1981.
Darrell admits he’s blocked most of that difficult time out of his mind. The family sold the home and moved in 1984. He said it was hard for his parents to live in the home after his brother’s death and it played a role in the family’s move.
But all these years later, Darrell sees the home in a much different, more positive light.
“I love to go back there and stand in front of that house and stare at it,” he said. “It’s hard not to stand in front of it and be brought back in time because it looks so similar. You don’t want to live in the past but you want to go back there and cherish those memories.”
When he goes back to visit his childhood home, he’s greeted by the friendly faces of Terri and Doug Robertson. The couple currently owns the home. Terri bought the home with an ex-husband in 2000, but at the time had no idea of its significance. It wasn’t until a few years later, watching the news on TV, that she saw her house and realized it belonged to a Canadian hero.
“First, I love the house and later when I found out three or four years later I started telling people, ‘I live in Terry Fox’s house.’ I feel important,” Terri says.
Leading a tour of the home, the owners point out there have been some updates and changes since Fox lived there. The kitchen and floors have been renovated, a secondary suite has been added, and Terry’s room is now a home office. But the bathtub is the same and the cement patio out back, where the Fox kids carved their names and Terry practiced his basketball skills, remains intact. And whenever the couple comes across a piece of the old home, like the original bathtub, they’re sure to call the Fox family to see if they want it. And over the years as Terry’s legend grows, the home has become a place for people to stop by for a look. In one case, a teacher came all the way from Ontario to knock on the door and take a peek.
The way Doug sees it, the Robertsons are stewards of the home. Other properties in the area are being gobbled up by developers and the land would be very attractive for redevelopment.
“If we were to ever sell, and we don’t have any intention, I can see someone wanting to knock it down,” Doug says.
While he doesn’t see the home on Morrill as a heritage home in the classic sense for its age or character, he believes its significance does make it qualify for the status.
To mark the 35th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope in 2015, the cities of Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody, along with the Terry Fox Foundation, recognized Terry’s training route with a special 10-kilometre run. Each city also put up permanent signs to mark the route, including one in front of 3337 Morrill. The next run is scheduled for 2020 on the 40th anniversary.
Darrell Fox never expected all those years ago that his childhood home would have such significance and be important to so many people. It was after all, just a house.
“It’s what’s inside the house that makes up the home,” he says. “We were a typical Canadian family living the Canadian dream in that house. We were pretty excited to live in Port Coquitlam and to be starting to focus and realize our dream. And there’s nothing special about the house, but it was special to us because we were inside it and enjoying it.”
Courtesy Jeremy Deutsch, Lead Writer, Dominion Lending Centres