Village Of Cumberland Offers Condolences To Late Former Mayor

The Village of Cumberland is offering its condolences to a former Mayor.

The Village of Cumberland is offering its condolences to a former Mayor.

William "Bronco" Moncrief died earlier this month at the age of 95.

Bronco was born in England and moved as an infant with his family to Cumberland in 1928, where he grew up on Camp Road.

Like many in the Village, he became a coal miner, beginning work on the #8 mine picking table at the young age of 14 years old.

Bronco was elected as a Village Alderman in 1967 and served as Mayor from 1969 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2002 before serving as Village Councilor.

Bronco was conferred the award of Freeman of the Village in 1993 and in 2011, was awarded the BC Community Achievement Award from the Union of BC Municipalities as well as the Order of the Rising Sun from the Consulate-General of Japan in recognition of his efforts to elevate the status of Japanese Canadians.

Bronco’s leadership in the Cumberland community lead to the retention of the Cumberland hospital services, and the establishment of the Cumberland Museum in1981.

This included decades of work to restore Cumberland’s Japanese cemetery and the acquisition of the No.1 Japanese Town site in Coal Creek Historic Park.