I hope you had a chance to take part in the once in a lifetime, wonderful, fun and very successful 2015 Canada Winter Games. There were thousands of volunteers and spectators, good weather, great sports venues', good media coverage and super athletes all combined that helped make the games such a proud success.
The hub of it all, in my opinion, was the crew of efficient and organized volunteers at the Accreditation and Volunteer Centre on Seventh Avenue. Thank you for all your long hours and in some cases several years of hard and dedicated work getting us volunteers organized and the last minute issues all ironed out.
I would like to introduce you to the busiest and the most active - soon to be 91 year old senior that I have ever met. Connie (Lomas) Buchanan of English decent was born in New Westminster in 1924 and hopes to live to be 100. She belongs to two very active senior centers and between them both she carpet bowls ten times a week and floor curls four times a week. She is an active member of her Take off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) group and attends her weekly meetings faithfully. She was also a part of the group that started the lawn bowling activity for seniors on Carney Street and First Avenue.
Connie does sit down once in awhile because she plays six games of scrabble every week and she is a member of a book club.
Connie graduated from high school in New Westminster, went on to Vancouver Normal School in 1943 and before completing her teacher's training she was offered a teaching job in Kitwanga. Kitwanga is about 200 miles inland from Prince Rupert.
Connie said, "There was such a shortage of teachers at the time due to the war that student teachers were sent where they were needed the most and that was usually to a rural area. They needed a teacher in Kitwanga so I agreed to go. I was only 18 and it was my very first trip away from home; however I was willing to give it a good try. Here I was - a Vancouver city girl - headed by boat and train to Kitwanga!
"The job included my paid transportation to Kitwanga with a two day stop over in Prince Rupert. My instructions were to go to the Hudson's Bay Post in Kitwanga and ask for the manager, Mr. Bob Campbell who would help me find Mrs. Fred Doll; Mrs. Doll would be providing me with my room and board. Mrs. Doll was standing right there at the train station and introduced herself to me. I was just a scared kid standing there with my suitcase in my hand so when she had introduced herself I didn't even hear her; in fact I never even noticed her standing there. By the time introductions were all sorted out I was so totally embarrassed that I didn't know which way to turn.
"They loaded me up and threw my suit case and my trunk full of school books onto the back of a big logging truck and we started our trip to Kitwanga on a rough mountain road. To my surprise we made it safely and I was introduced to my one room school.
"I had two days before school was scheduled to start so I walked over to the school and studied the names and ages of my students. I could pronounce all the names except one and that was 'Kryklywyj'. I didn't know it then but that was Mrs. Doll's maiden name."
Connie moved back to New Westminster and eventually taught school in Armstrong, got married and started her family. She came to Prince George in 1949 and taught in the Summit Lake area until 1963. Then she went to university to complete her teacher's degree and went on to teach a high school special education class in Powell River and a counselor in Ladysmith and Summerland.
Connie raised three children: David, Keith and Carol Marie (aka Rhea); who are all living here in Prince George. She has three grand children.
In 1980 Connie returned to Prince George and retired after 30 years as a teacher. She said, "I joined the Artist Co-op and tried to become a painter; portraits became my specialty."
She started traveling in 1980 with a trip around the world, trips to Jasper, India, Europe, Australia and four Canadian winters in New Zealand and still has plans for a few more trips.
Connie's words of wisdom are: "Keep active - just keep moving and stay involved."
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Spruce Capital Senior's Recreation Centre, 3701 Rainbow Drive is having a crib tournament on Saturday, March 7th; registration is at 10 am - for more information phone 250-563-6450.
