Gerda (Gamon) Borden came to Canada in 1950. She lived for one year in Lytton, B.C. before moving to Hope in 1951. She attended Hope Elementary then Hope High School.
She married Ellis Borden in 1957. They have lived in Laidlaw, a few miles west of Hope, ever since, and raised their three children there. They are now blessed with six grandchildren.
Gerda has always loved other people's paintings but didn't have achance to do any of her own until her youngest daughter was fifteen. That year she enrolled in a night school course where she learned to paint in oils. She was "hooked". She took more workshops over the next few years, but is mainly self-taught.
Although she is interested in all mediums, she still loved to work in oils the best. As she says, "They are so forgiving, if you make a mistake". She also enjoys knitting and crocheting.
Gerda and her husband are "snowbirds" and head for California every fall. Is is there she creates her "one of a kind" Victorian necklace purses.
She was inspired years ago by pictures of Victorian ladies wearing little pouches which contained their smelling salts.
From there came the idea to update them to the 21st Century. They are pieces of beautiful functional jewelry. They can be used to hold coins, a small tube of lipstick, a credit card or ones keys.