Ladner's ML Burke recalls the time she took her father to see the famous scifi film Star Wars.
"He came along because he wanted to see why I was so excited. He just shook his head. He couldn't get it. It was like blasphemy to him," she said.
It wasn't real science for inventor Donald Hings (1907-2004), who was described during his 2006 induction into Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame as a self-taught genius of science and engineering as well as a pioneer of wireless radio communications. His most well-known invention is the walkie-talkie, a two-way radio device that helped the Allies during the Second World War.
Units were delivered for use on battlefields by 1943, noted Burke, who writes a column in the Optimist and is also part of the Delta Seniors Planning Team, a volunteer group that advocates for seniors and others living or working in Delta.
"That really helped the war effort. They said having that was like having a quarterback for the military," she said.
Hings, who was born in England and moved to Canada at a young age, developed the portable twoway voice radio apparatus while working with a mining company in the late 1930s. What he called a packset would later become known as the walkie-talkie.
After returning to B.C. from Ottawa, where he was seconded by the National Research Council to help redevelop his invention for use in battle, Hings set up shop, which was both lab and house, on Capitol Hill in Burnaby with his family.
Hings registered over 50 patents over the years.
Others began infringing on his various patents, said Burke.
His lawyer said if Hings wanted to start challenging the infringements it would take time and lots of money and asked if he would rather fight or keep inventing, said Burke.
"It was a no-brainer. He couldn't not invent. He was just driven," she said.
Hings received a Member of the British Empire, awarded for outstanding contributions in radio communications during the Second World War, in 1946. He was presented with the Order of Canada in 2001.
