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Dreamy Okanagan moon Florence Fazan Permission to use this music has been granted by the copyright owner for educational and archival use only. Canadian Copyright Law must be respected by users of this site. Use of this material is restricted to those activities permitted by law. Users may not make sound recordings, multiple copies, distribute or sell this material without permission from the copyright holder. |
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Florence Fazan (nee Lynch) came to Canada with her parents in her early teens from England. She married Alan Fazan in 1929 and homesteaded in the Joe Rich Valley east of Kelowna. During WWII, she lived in Kelowna while Alan served as a prisoner of war guard in Alberta from 1939-1945. In Oct. 1947, Alan was killed by a hit and run driver leaving Florence alone to raise their seven children. Although times were tough and money was scarce, there was always music in the house. Some of the children learned to play instruments. Her love of the Okanagan Valley and its legendary Ogopogo prompted her to write two songs in 1955; I wonder if the Ogopogo's Lonesome and Dreamy Okanagan Moon. She managaed to scrape up enough money to pay Aragon Records and the Rhythm Pals to make the recordings and had Empire Music publish the sheet music. There were promises of Canada-wide promotions, but little if any promoting was done. Consequently, in 1956 she borrowed enough money to buy 500 records and sold them herself from a booth during the annual regatta festivities. She was able to repay the loan but not much else. She received royalties of $40.78. Florence went on to write poems and five more songs, none of which were published as she became ill. She died March 4th, 1976.
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