Funeral of Charles Woodward at St Johns Church, June 1937. Pipe Sergeant Ed Esson is piping. Pallbearers are carrying the casket, draped in an Union Jack down the steps, Charles Woodward, merchant, politician (born in Wentworth County, Canada West on 19 July 1842 and died at Vancouver on 2 June 1937). After failing as a farmer and having mixed success as a merchant on Manitoulin Island and at Thessalon, Ont, Woodward decided that Vancouver offered better opportunities. On 1 March 1892 he began selling boots, shoes and groceries. He added other lines and in 1902 incorporated Woodward Department Stores Ltd at the corner of Main and Georgia Streets. On September 12, 1902 Woodward Department Stores Ltd. was incorporated, and a new store was built at Hastings and Abbott. In 1926 he opened a branch in Edmonton, Alberta. Charles Woodward always took an interest in public life. In 1924, after he was a millionaire and two of his sons had taken on many management responsibilities, Woodward ran as a Liberal candidate in the provincial election. He became senior member for the city but often clashed with the Liberal government of John Oliver and J.D. MacLean over timber policy, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and Vancouver's lack of representation in the Cabinet. Active in promoting the interests of business in Vancouver and known as the workingman’s friend, in 1924 he was elected as Liberal MLA for Vancouver, serving until the crashing defeat of John Oliver’s government in 1928. One of his sons, William Culham, who later served as provincial Lieutenant-Governor, was also a freemason. Charles Woodward is interred in the only mausoleum in the Masonic Cemetery in Burnaby, BC.