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Doris Faye ROGERS

Age 91, of Canaan, Kings Co., passed away peacefully on Thursday, July 7, 2022 in Valley Hospice, Kentville. Born in Halls Harbour, she was the daughter of the late Chester and Clara (Power) Bezanson. She was also predeceased by her brothers, Harvey, Lewis, Timothy and Emmerson; daughter, Sherry Evans (Rogers); and son-in-law, Greg Griffin.

Doris is survived by her son, Michael (Dale), Bedford; daughter, Debbie (Mike), Canaan; grandchildren, Andrea (Scott) Gates, Melissa Rogers, Michelle (Matt) Evans Johnson, Cory (Kate) Griffin, Jillian (Alec) Sarty and Jeremy (Breanna) Griffin; great-grandchildren, Lindsay, Dirk, Nova, Haven, Emmett and Errol; and long-time companion, Harold Fox.

She was a loving and affectionate mother and grandmother, and a warm and devoted friend. Doris was employed at BFM Hospital for 30 years and retired in 1990. She was a previous member of the Good Neighbor Club in Centreville. She loved to read and had a passion for music and dancing. Her fondest memories were of spending time with her family at the cottage. Her laughter and quick wit will always be remembered.

A special thank you to all the staff at Valley Hospice for their kindness and compassion. They are truly angels here on earth.

Cremation has taken place and there will be no visitation by request. A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 13th in Elm Grove Cemetery, Steam Mill. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to White Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Kentville. Online condolences and inquiries may be directed to: www.whitefamilyfuneralhome.com.³

BEZANSON, Thomas Chester "Tim" - 67, Surrey, B.C., formerly of Centreville, Kings Co., passed away January 20, 2003, quietly, at home.

Born in Halls Harbour, Kings Co., he was the youngest son of the late Chester and Clara (Power) Bezanson. He was a chef by trade and had been employed at Camp Aldershot, Kings Co., and the former Cornwallis Inn, Kentville. He continued working in his chosen trade after moving to Surrey.

He is survived by sons, Darren, Surrey; Dale, Kamloops, B.C; daughter, Martina and two granddaughters, all of Kamloops; sister, Doris Rogers, Centreville; brother, Emerson, Black Rock, Kings Co; several nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by brothers, Harvey and Lewis. Cremation has taken place in Surrey. There will be no visitation by family request. A graveside service will be held at a later date in East Halls Harbour Cemetery.²

Bezanson

Evelyn Frances (nee Kingsley). Born 12/18/1919 in Providence, RI, died 7/7/2002. Survived by Stanley, husband of 60 years; sons, Chips, Steven and Don; brother, Percy of Dighton, MA; grandchildren, TammySue, Eric, Brandon and Kelin. Memorial service Fri., July 12 at 2pm, Three Links Care Center, 815 Forest Ave., Northfield, MN.²

Burton Chipman Bezanson

Burton Chipman Bezanson, also known as "Chips", passed away on November 30th, 2020 in Grass Valley, California at the age of 78 due to Covid19.

Chips was born to Stan and Evelyn Bezanson on May 16th, 1942 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Known for his funny and witty sense of humor, he was the most stubborn man you would have ever met. For most of this life, Chips drifted from job to job across the country, from the Circus to the Oil Field. In the last years of his life he lived in tent in Downieville California, panning for gold. If he had $60 in his pocket he would tip a waitress $50 for coffee and a donut.

Eight years ago, Chips got to meet his daughter for the first time in 35 years. You could always catch Chips reading the newspaper and People Magazine. He loved gold panning, conversations and making people laugh and smile, and enjoyed anyone with a story to tell. In his presence, you realized that to sit on a bench in the sun watching the world rush by is enough to be content. He was always excited, every single day, for the phone to ring knowing it would be his daughter calling to say her hellos and check in.

Chips is survived by his daughter Tammy Sue Cookston of Newcastle, Wyoming, and his grandchildren that he adored; Elijah and Harley Cookston of Gordon Nebraska, and Dayson and Nova Cookston of Newcastle, Wyoming. Nova was his pride and joy. He is also survived by his brother Don Bezanson of Northfield, Minnesota, and several nieces and nephews. Chips was preceded in death by his parents Stan and Evelyn and his brother Steven.²

Burton Chipman Bezanson, known as "Chips," dies at 78

by Victoria Penate

In his final years, Burton Chipman Bezanson, known to many locals as "Chips," most looked forward to daily phone calls with his daughter.

Eight years ago, Bezanson and his daughter, Tammy Cookston, were reunited after 35 years without contact. Wanting to connect with him as much as possible since then, Cookston said, "I called my dad every single day."

He worked numerous jobs — "from the circus to the oil field," according to Cookston — and traveled throughout the country before arriving in Grass Valley. He was homeless for years, sheltered at times by Hospitality House, whose staff found him housing in 2015, and ultimately resided in a local skilled nursing facility.

Bezanson died Nov. 30 due to COVID-19. He was 78.

According to Cookston, her father started to show symptoms the weekend before Thanksgiving, prompting a test which came back positive for the virus five days later, just a few days before his death.

"Even though I didn’t get to say an official goodbye, it makes it easier that I called every day, and he knew how much I loved him," she said.

Cookston said she had recently considered moving him to Wyoming, where she lives, but hesitated as she "knew his heart was in California."

Bezanson loved panning for gold. Cookston plans to send some of her father’s ashes to Hospitality House medical case manager Fred Skeen, who has agreed to spread them where Highway 49 meets Oregon Creek.

"I’m going to reintroduce the ashes among the gold dust, and he can work his way to the ocean," said Skeen.

Skeen described Bezanson as both a lovable humorist — often joking or doing magic tricks to entertain the youth who helped out at the shelter — and philosopher, full of wisdom.

"He was one of those characters who makes this work all worthwhile," he said.

Hospitality House co-founder Cindy Maple said Bezanson "always had a story."

Maple first met Bezanson around 15 years ago, in the very first days of the shelter being open. She recalled the lasting impact of his storytelling, especially when it came to the everyday experiences of homelessness.

"It really impacted my thinking from that day forward," said Maple. "I understood it on some level … but that was an eye opener for me, and I never forgot that from Chips."

Cookston recounted what her father told her one day when she asked him if he wanted her to organize a funeral after his death: "All I want you to say is, ’whoop-de-do.’"

The day he died, when she received the phone call informing her, she remembered what he had said and found herself laughing through her tears, saying, "Well, whoop-de-do, dad."

Cookston emphasized Bezanson’s love for her children — his grandchildren — Elijah, Harley, Dayson, and Nova.

Soon after their reunion, before Cookston’s two youngest children were born, Bezanson sent her some money for her two eldest — along with the conditions that it be spent exclusively on ice cream, and that the boys be allowed to eat as much of it as they wanted.

In his honor, she said, she will treat her two youngest to an ice cream day soon, and let them know that is exactly what their grandfather would have wanted for them.⁴

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Longtime homeless man housed through Hospitality House program

By Ivan Natividad

Burton Chipman Bezanson remembers sitting on a 35-foot crew boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, watching sperm whales leap in and out of the massive body of water, while casting a line to catch fresh salmon and tuna, as a commercial fisherman in the 1970s.

"You get a fish that's worth $100 in your hand, so for every fish you caught it was a hundred dollar bill... I liked fishing," Bezanson said. "But sometimes the ocean gets really wild and you got to get through it. One day it's really calm, the next day it's topsy-turvy."

Bezanson, known to Grass Valley locals as "Chips," says he has lived one adventure after another in his 73 years, traveling from town to town and job to job, hitchhiking across the country with no place to call home.

But after more than 40 years of wandering the country's back-streets and highways, including Grass Valley's downtown corridor, Bezanson has finally found consistent housing as he approaches the latter years of his life, through the help of local homeless shelter Hospitality House.

"We just wanted to make sure we had something solid for him because of the amount of time he has been homeless," said Hospitality House Case Manager Seth Thompson. "He's been with us 10 years in a row, and before that he had been homeless for a long time. We consider it to be a huge change for him."

Bezanson's East Main Street one-bedroom house was found through the Hospitality House Rapid Rehousing Program. Bezanson moved into the home two weeks ago, and says it's a change he welcomes.

"It's new, it's different. But my adventures are about ready to close on me. I'm old, I've put in a lot of miles, and one of these days the door is going to shut," he said. "I can't see spending 40 years on one thing and still be able to say, 'I've lived a good life. You have? You haven't even scratched the surface. Life is about seeing as much as you possibly can."

If you wrote a book on Bezanson's life, you'd likely get an epic hybrid of a Jack Kerouac road trip and a wild night with Charles Bukowski. As a young military brat, originally from Chelsea, Massachusetts, Bezanson's family was constantly on the move during his formative years. But at the age of 22, he set off to hitchhike across the country.

"I never really lived any place," Bezanson said. "I traveled around, going place to place. I joined carnivals, worked different jobs and never didn't have a job. I only missed a couple of states, other than that I went to every state."

Claiming to have worked hundreds of jobs over the years, Bezanson mostly recalls monitoring carnival games, and treating elephants and ponies for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

"I got to meet Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr. in the circus," said Bezanson. "They were pretty good. Sammy Davis Jr., he was good about

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anywhere he sat down. They had their own special."

As an oil rig worker in Wyoming, Bezanson recalls the day he lost his left thumb and two toes to a botched drill accident, and to this day jokes about the incident, saying "So now I can only hitchhike in one direction."

While his favorite place to work was on the coast of Crescent City as a fisherman, Bezanson says his most interesting job experience was working for an exotic dancer in Minnesota.

"I was supposed to go to the circus and I spent all my money on a strip joint, and I was broke," Bezanson said. "I stopped off and I wanted to see her, and I kept buying champagne. I spent all of it, and so she hired me to babysit her kid."

After spending some time panning for gold near Downieville, Bezanson made his way to Grass Valley in the 1980s. He then spent 15 years living with a local couple who both unexpectedly died, leaving him out on the streets, a disabled senior spending most of his time downtown.

Bezanson met one of Hospitality House's founders, Utah Phillips, and the group has since taken him in off the streets when needed.

"They reach their hand out to somebody that's in the gutter and tell that person 'You don't have to sleep there anymore. You got a place to go," Bezanson said.

Thompson said finding Bezanson a home was a community effort with FREED, a local disability advocacy group, going into the house to make things more handicap-accessible, and the local Meals on Wheels program coming by to give Bezanson food.

"Chips" will also have a roommate who will share rent expenses with him and help take care of his daily needs and tasks.

Thompson added that the Hospitality House rehousing program staff will continue to work with Bezanson up to two years after he is housed. In the meantime, Thompson said, they will continue to look into getting Bezanson long-term subsidized housing in the area.

"We're very impressed at how he's recently become receptive to housing. Just looking at him, that huge change is taking place with his mentality of being housed, and he's identifying as not a homeless man anymore, but as a tenant, and we're really proud to be part of that process," said Thompson.

Bezanson said he will miss the social aspects of living in the shelter, but says "I will survive."

"These people turned around and did things for me," he said. "Anything in order to take a guy that doesn't follow the rules and give him a place to live... Thank you for getting me off the streets, and getting me out of the shelter. I'm not homeless anymore. I'm not bothering the cops anymore, they look at me and treat me like a citizen now. I'll get used to the feeling. It's a lot different."⁵

Bezanson, Steven of Brooklyn Center died March 21, 2017.

Survived by wife, Mary; children, Eric (Margaret), Brandon (Nancy) and Kelin (David) Jackman; and grandchildren, Miles and Nora.

Memorial Service 10:30 am Sat., April 1 at Valley Christian Church 17297 Glacier Way, Rosemount. Interment Fort Snelling.²