Betty (Morris) Townsend was born in Rich Valley, Alberta in 1928.
Betty and her friend Hazel Blackburn (deceased) decided, as two young women, to leave their home town and head to Edmonton to look for work. To make a long story short they found work in the general hospital on the tuberculosis (TB) ward. They both knew that TB was a very infectious disease and they worked accordingly. When one of the other nurses contacted the disease they wanted to get out of there so they moved to Langley.
They chose Langley because Betty had relatives living there and there was an opportunity for work in B.C. for the well-advertised berry excursion. With the berry excursion all they had to do was sign an agreement to pick berries for the entire season at Hatzic Island in the Fraser Valley.
The agreement stated that room and board would be provided and pickers would be paid by the bucket of picked berries. Once they signed the agreement a $10 bus ticket was sent to them by mail.
Betty said, "We arrived, we picked berries and we had a great time. We took boat trips at night to get off the island and to have some fun. It was a great experience."
Betty eventually went to work at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster as a nurse's aide. Her roommates made it known that they wanted to travel and work their way across Canada and of course Betty and Hazel joined them in yet another great adventure.
Prince George was one of the stops in this new adventure and as it turned out it was their last stop because it was here that both Betty and Hazel met their future husbands.
Betty met Bill Townsend on a blind date; they were married on Boxing Day in December of 1950 and the rest is history. Together they raised four children Dallas (Linda), Dennis (Carol - deceased and Maxine also deceased), David (Donna) and Debra who in turn gave them 12 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren with one more on the way.
Bill Townsend was born in 1929 in the state of Texas. His family moved to Prince George in 1935; due to health reasons Bill's young brother Joe Townsend needed a cooler climate. The family arrived here at the end of January and they were met with minus 30 and 40 degree temperatures followed by three more weeks of the same weather. They stayed and made their life here.
Bill grew up in Prince George and worked in the logging industry and then did electronics work for SB Electronics. He learned his trade as an electronics technician earning his certificate through correspondence studies. His job included working on electronic locks, equipment for the school board and a variety of other work. Bill passed away in 1989.
Betty worked for the hospital as a nurse's aide until the children started to arrive and then she worked in the family home. The children grew up and Betty took a bookkeeping course at the College of New Caledonia. She landed a job with Gardner McDonald accountants who later amalgamated with Deloitte accounting. She retired at age 62.
Betty explained, "I came to Prince George 67 years ago when it was a small town of 10,000 people. There was bush everywhere and life was not easy but we had fun, we raised a great family and people were always friendly. We knew everyone in town but the pulp mills changed all of that. Construction went wild and the changes were rapid. I watched the city grow from the few buildings and a small caf on Third Avenue and George Street to the start of what it is now.
"Along with the pulp mills came the horrible pulp mill smell and the flow of people looking for jobs. The city grew by leaps and bounds. When I look back to that era I can say that I knew every street in town. Things have changed and they continue to change to make Prince George a great city."
"I am now 87 years old, I have outlived many of my lifelong friends and I miss them all," said Betty. "I am thankful for the senior centres, the friendships that I find there and for a place to go for companionship, to play cards and to hopefully win at bingo."
July birthdays
Bonnie Pauley, Scott Pauley, Jack Tremblay, Joan Buchi (86), Fred Buchi (92), Evie Padalec, Armand Denicola (94), Pat McKenna, Gloria Thorpe, Della Walker, Mildred Green, Doris Aiken, Lavinia Ouellet, Gary Kwast, Roy Green, Bernice Carrier, Carole Pitchko, Helen Sarrazin, Henri LeFebvre, Richard LeFebvre, Eugene Fichtner, Pat Sexsmith, Alice Westra, Red McKenzie, Karen McKenzie, Leonard Duperron, Doris Bolduc, Eileen Slusarenko, Isobel Blair, Carmen Foucher, Mary Taschner, Mary Radke, Delores Baza, Linda Letawski, Elmer Braun, Gail Gromball, Gervin Halladay, Ben Wilson, Elaine Lamb, Virginia Flanagan, Lee Davison, Armond Lefebvre, Sandy Banzer, Lorne Carbert, Sheila Carr, Iva Lovett, Jenny Bachmann, Brenda Doucette
July anniversaries
61 years for Wil and Elsie Wiens, 55 years for Rudy and Velma Wortman, 50 years for Dawn and Clarence Wigmore and 13 years for Eugene and Hilda Fichtner.
