In the heart of Snug Cove, situated upstairs at 439 Bowen Trunk Road, is the office of Alan Mills - owner and operator of the Technology Shop and Bowen Freight. Computer fixes and moving dilemmas are negotiated daily with Mills making timeto help anyone who phones are steps through his office door. The office balcony overlooking the cove provides a great window to the comings and goings here on Bowen and Mills doesn't miss a beat.
Originally from Quebec, Mills long envied how "mellow" his B.C. friends were. After studying marine biology at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Mills found himself working out in the Bay of Fundy digging up worms in 15 below weather, stinking of formaldehyde and fish, waiting for the tides to come in and realizing this wasn't for him. "The romance of Jacques Cousteau and the dolphins just died there," said Mills. He later graduated with a degree in advertising and broadcasting at the Seneca School for Communication Arts in Ontario.
What eventually brought Mills to B.C. and later to Bowen Island in 1991 was a vision of seascapes with islands, " I really wanted to find a place out here. I came to Bowen Island and looked at houses and found one with lots of glass. I looked out and saw islands and sea - that was my vision," says Mills. Looking back on those days, Mills reminisces fondly on a very different vibe of the island. " It used to be more like cottage country which is why I came over here," says Mills. "It reminded me of simpler places." Mills says that his friend, George Proudlock, "was the last of the island old guys - he would give you the shirt off his back. He was born on Doc Morgans floor before it was Doc Morgans. He was a chesschampion, hard worker and would help you anyway he could.Just a charm and, when he died, a piece of the old Bowen died along with him." A plaque dedicated to Proudlock hangs at the bench just below the Tech Shop. "The island has a way of wearing people down - eventually you become 'islandified' but we don't have the common places to meet like we used to," says Mills.
If running two businesses isn't enough, Mills also sits on the board of the Bowen island Chamber of Commerce, which is currently in the throes of organizing this year's first annual Steamship Days heritage festival. "Everyone I talk to would like to revisit the past glory of Bowen," says Mills. "I've discussed this idea for the last 10 years and everyone likes it." There is nothing more powerful than the right idea at the right time.
