When one is looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, they may be searching for hope or the end to a miserable task. But for Suzanne Robillard and her family, the light at the end of the tunnel is, literally, a lamp.
Suzanne Robillard and her family were shocked to learn on Sunday, Aug. 24, that a cherished family heirloom of a hand carved wooden lamp had been inadvertently donated to and purchased from Value Village in Victoria. It happened when her brothers were moving out of there shared home into respective condos, and through the confusion the lamp ended up with other items to be donated in what she called a "comedy of errors."
"My dad is devastated. My brothers didn't realize the full significance of the lamp, but it's something I was really hoping to keep in the family," said Robiillard.
The family is now on the hunt for the new owner, in hopes of getting it back.
The lamp is the earliest known heirloom in the family linking generations of tradition and craftsmanship, the standing lamp was made by Robillards great-great-grandfather Clovis Sénécal, who was born in 1863. Clovis was the Chief Draftsman for the Geological Survey of Canada, through the early 1900s. He spent much of his life hand drawing detailed geological maps that helped define Canada's emerging geography. Robillard explained that it was by the light of the lamp they now search for that he may have done much of this work.
"His work on Vancouver Island, including amazing maps of Victoria, Duncan, and Nanaimo, as well as in Northern B.C., helped the growing understanding of Canada's vast and diverse landscapes at a pivotal time in its history," she said.
"Today, many of his official works are preserved in major archives, including Yale University’s Beinecke Library."
Eventually the lamp came to be owned by Clovis' son Ernest Sénécal, a painter who gained recognition for creating striking imagery in a 1940s Gaspé tourism campaign. Ernest's daughter Marie (Robillard's grandmother) continued the family's creative legacy as a watercolour artist, who became known for her delicate landscapes and botanical studies.
"To me and my dad, the lamp represents a direct thread linking us to our ancestors, as we both work on art of our own. From hand-rendered maps to painted tableaux to pencil portraits, the Sénécal lineage has quietly worked under the light of this lamp for generations," said Robillard, who says at this time she feels an incredible sense of loss.
"It's almost like a death in the family in and of itself," she said with a slight laugh.
"Now we're like 'what if we don't get it back' we're doing all the coping. If we don't get it back, at least it didn't get thrown out. At least somebody's enjoying it. "
However, it still feels like losing part of her heritage, and the mistake cuts deeper following the death of Rollard's grandmother earlier this year.
"We're really just feeling the importance of the heirloom, the heritage, the history, and thinking about, you know her grandfather having made this with his own two hands, it's a really special, tangible old thing," said Robillard.
Robillard and her family are now attempting to track down the lamp's new owner with the hope of having it returned. Robillard says she is more than willing to repurchase the lamp from the new owner. To return the lamp or share some information on its whereabouts, contact lampsenecal@gmail.com.
