Robert Service’s poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee, is one of the most well known poems in English literature.
Service chose the name McGee from a real character.
This photograph is the wedding photograph of Sam McGee and Ruth (nee Warnes).
The McGees moved to Summerland in 1909 partly because Ruth had two sisters living here.
McGee, a road engineer, worked for the District of Summerland. They lived on Lister Avenue and had a orchard beside the Trout Creek canyon.
The McGees moved to Alberta in 1912.
Sam died in 1940 at the age of 72. He was buried — not cremated — in Beiseker, Alta.