A portion of 76B Avenue east of 216th Street now bears the name of a longtime Langley resident, Hugh Davis.
Davis passed away early in late 2017 at the age of 93 and Langley Township chose naming the road section Hugh Davis Way, with the sign unveiled at a private ceremony Saturday in Milner Chapel.
Davis was born on the family farm his grandfather, also named Hugh, bought from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1872.
The third of five generations to farm the same Milner land, Hugh’s grandfather was one of the locals who helped see the Milner Chapel built.
The Davis family bought just 121 acres, as $20 an acre was considered a lot of money back then.
The original settler, also named Hugh, needed that church, or the girl he planned to marry wouldn’t move out to what was then a wilderness.
Hugh was a frequent visitor to Langley Township council meetings, especially after the election of his son, David, as a councillor.
Hugh would sometimes speak at public meetings, providing historic context about local landmarks and the changes that had taken place over the years.
He remembered driving on Fraser Highway the day it opened back in 1930, for example.