Maurice William Summerhayes Memorial Bursaries and Scholarship
The above scholarship and bursaries were established by the Estate of Phyllis Henrietta Summerhayes. Phyllis was born on January 28, 1908 in San Jose, California. She lived with her mother in California until her mother died in 1940. Phyllis then moved to Toronto, Ontario to live with her father. She worked in the banking business for a short time, then came to Duncan, BC to look after her father when he retired. Phyllis moved to Victoria in the late 1950’s. She liked bridge, reading and travelled extensively. Phyllis had a close group of friends but was a very private person. She was a meticulous bookkeeper and a very successful investor and financial planner.
Phyllis was 96 when she passed away in 2004.
Maurice William Summerhayes was born in England and educated at Wellingborough Grammar School. He received his technical training privately from Mr. H. Vincent Wallace, A.R.S.M. of California. In 1889 he took charge of a placer mine on the Kern River, working there until 1900. From 1901 to 1903 he was employed by Veta Grande Mining Co., and was in charge of the Huntingdon Mill Plant, cyaniding and assaying departments of La Chuchilla mine in Sonora, Mexico. He joined Rotulo, Ltd., of London in 1904 as a cyanide man at Descoberto mine, Minas Geraes, Brazil, and in July of that year was made general manager. He was in Caucasus in 1907, and in 1908 returned to the U.S.A. to enter the firm of Wallace and Summerhayes, mining engineers and consultants, at Nogales, Arizona.
Mr. Summerhayes came to Canada in 1911, and from 1912 to 1918 was manager of the Porcupine Crown Mine, Timmins. He spent the following three years as manager of Bluestone Mining and Smelting Co., at Mason, Nevada, and then practiced for a number of years as a consultant with headquarters in Toronto. He was appointed general manager of Wright-Hargreaves Mines, Ltd., at Kirkland Lake in 1928, and was made a director in 1935 and managing director in 1937. He retired from active management in 1949, but continued in a consulting capacity until his death.
Maurice William Summerhayes died on April 10, 1953, in Duncan, BC at the age of 81.