For decades, legendary reporter Mike McCardell has inspired viewers with his stories on the people and history of B.C. Now he’s sharing his most personal one yet. “This book is about life with Valerie, which was pretty darn phenomenal. It was exciting, scary and exhausting,” says McCardell. He says being married to Valerie was being married to an adventure. Valerie died two years ago. The book reveals that some of McCardell’s favourite stories were the ones Valerie loved. She admired people who smashed racial barriers and gave back to the community. While working at CTV News, McCardell often told stories about Joe Fortes, a black man who was Vancouver’s first official lifeguard and Nellie Yip Quong, a white woman married to a Chinese man. Quong became a midwife and fought for the Chinese community, building bridges in a racially divided society Mike and Valerie were married in 1966 in New York, at a time when interracial marriages were illegal in parts of the U.S. Valerie’s father was Black and her mother white, but in the states, she was considered Black. Mike was in the Air Force, and the newlyweds were living in Florida when they had a shocking encounter. One night, the Ku Klux Klan put up a cross near their home, terrifying Valerie. To escape crime and racism south of the border, they moved with their two young children to B.C. to start a new life. The book, which will be available in September, is called The Girl on the Roof. McCardell recounts how even in her 70s, Valerie insisted on climbing onto their roof to clean off the pine needles. She wouldn’t let Mike go up, because he had fallen twice. Instead, she asked him to pass the leaf blower so she could get the job done. It was a scene that shocked their North Vancouver neighbours and several times, they coaxed Valerie to come down. Mike says Valerie never wanted him to write about her, but he wanted to share this fearless, unstoppable woman with the world. “There was a lot of living she did, and I followed along and she told me what to do,” he says. McCardell says writing about their 58 years of marriage helped him mourn and heal. “It was heartbreaking and wonderful and heart-mending. I don’t cry, but I was crying inside and smiling,” he says.
