VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - He's been called the "undisputed authority on the City of Vancouver", and now terminally ill author Chuck Davis has been honoured by the city he loves.
Mayor Gregor Robertson awarded Davis with the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday night, an award offered to some of BC's greatest authors.
Davis tearfully looked back at his career and the names of other great BC authors he will join on the walls of the Central Library. "In my frequent visits to the Vancouver Public Library, I often walked by the plaques set into the pavement in recognition of the previous recipients of this wonderful award. And often find myself thinking, 'gee, it would be nice to do something to get up there.' And now it appears I have done so. Chuck Davis with these people? Something's wrong with this picture. Of all the names down there, I'm the only one writing on Vancouver history, maybe there is some justice to it."
When it comes to his legacy, Davis points to a simple moment outside the library. "I encountered a young student walking out of the building with one of my books. And I pointed at it and said 'school assignment?". And she said yes, she had to write about her neighbourhood. And then she's was gone. That's a legacy."
Davis, who has incurable lung cancer, says details are being worked out, but it looks like fellow Vancouver author Charles Campbell will finish his
final work, The History of Metropolitan Vancouver.