I grew up on a southern Okanagan orchard in the rural neighbourhood of Testalinda, south of Oliver. From the 1950s and 60s, I vividly recall the Department of Highways sign on Highway 97 where it crossed Testalinda Creek giving that name. My boyhood ramblings took me all around the hills rising from that part of the Okanagan Valley, including the beautiful Testalinda Canyon. The second orchard my father owned for a few years encircled the site of the former Testalinda Creek School, dear to the memories of some older residents still living in Oliver and the Testalinda rural neighbourhood. Other southern Okanagan old-timers recall the school consolidation that built the Oliver-Testalinda-Osoyoos School in Oliver (OTO School, that had evolved by by childhood into the primary building of Oliver Elementary School). To this day, southern Okanagan residents know Testalinda by its well established name and no other, feeling dismay when news media give the incorrect name.
Yet, our news media insist on reporting with the name "Testalinden." Apparently this results from an error in the Canadian federal government registry of geographical place names. A petition seeks to correct that error and restore Testalinda.
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