Gerald Wellburn was probably the most accomplished philatelist and postal historian British Columbia has ever produced. His interests also included railways and logging, automobiles and paper ephemera of all types. Another of his gifts was a great understanding and dynamic sense of history. His British Columbia and Vancouver Island exhibit won the Grand Award at CAPEX in 1951 and in 1987 in Toronto, as well as the Prix d’Honneur at Basel, Switzerland in 1974. He has been recognized for distinction by numerous philatelic societies. Gerry passed away in May of 1992 in Victoria BC.
Here is a short biography of Gerald Wellburn written by one of his good friends Peter Newroth in 2004. This bio originally appeared in the January-February edition of The Canadian Philatelist.
Any exhibit page laid out and annotated by Gerry Wellburn is instantly recognizable. Pages of his various collections are more often than not kept intact by their new owners as acknowledgement of his skill as a draughtsman and his soul as as artist. We have recently acquired one of Gerry’s “fun” books, mostly commemorating the first 100 years of Canadian stamps. Each page is arranged thematically to depict some aspect of Canadian-ness. Gerry produced this collection for the 1951 centenary of Canadian postage stamps. We felt we should share these pages with you in honour of Canada’s 150th anniversary and of Gerald Wellburn’s philatelic legacy.
From “THE WEEDA Newsletter – FOX TALES ON STAMPS” Weeda Stamps
Edition #632 Friday, June 23, 2017
