Les Waldie was born in Nelson 74 years ago and not once in those 74 years did he ever have to go to school on his birthday and most of the time he had the day off from work as well; the reason being that he was born on Christmas Day. Les grew up in Robson in the West Kootenay area across the Columbia River from the city of Castlegar.
His father and two uncles owned and operated a sawmill during the depression years and through to 1952 when they sold the mill to Celanese of America, a company that went on to build the Celgar Pulp Mill. Celgar Pulp was the first pulp mill in B.C. that was not on salt water. The name Celgar was derived from the words Celanese and Castlegar.
With the arrival of Celgar Pulp Mill the town experienced a huge construction boom. During this historic time for Castlegar, Les was growing up and going to school. He attended Victoria College (now the University of Victoria) followed by more schooling at the University of British Columbia where he successfully earned his bachelor of commerce degree.
On graduation from UBC in 1966, he traveled to Prince Rupert and worked for the Skeena Kraft Pulp Mill on Watson Island in the personnel department. A main function of his job was to recruit trades people from all across Canada to staff a Kraft mill expansion at the Prince Rupert site. It was here that he met Carol Larsen who would one day become his wife and the mother of his children.
Carol (Larsen) Waldie was born and raised in Cranbrook in the East Kootenays while Les was raised on the other side in the West Kootenays: fate brought them face to face in 1966 at a meeting in the pulp mill in Prince Rupert. Carol was working in the office at the pulp mill and had gone to the company human resources department in regards to quitting her job and leaving the company. Work issues were resolved by Les, and Carol took an assignment in the finance department and stayed on with the company.
In 1968 Les went to work for Bulkley Valley Forest Industries in the Burns Lake and Houston area. In December 1968, they were married and initially settled in Burns Lake where Les was employed as the personnel officer for the company's several sawmills between Burns Lake and Smithers. They built their first home and moved to Houston in 1970 as the company consolidated their sawmill operations into a large sawmill in Houston - now owned by Canfor. Prior to moving to Houston, Carol worked in the Burns Lake village clerk's office.
In 1972, Les left the forest industry to work for Molson Western Breweries based in Calgary in the labor relations department for two-and-a-half years. They returned to Prince George in late 1974 when Les joined Northwood Pulp as human resources manager. It wasn't long until he became the vice president of human resources and corporate relations for the company, a position he maintained until Northwood was sold to Canfor in late 1999. He then assumed the position of vice president of human resources at Canfor until he retired in 2003.
Actually Les only thought that he had retired because it wasn't long before he went to work at Northern Health as a labor relations consultant and then assumed the role of vice president of human resources for Northern Health until he retired again in 2007.
He currently operates his own consulting business and both Carol and Les remain active volunteers in the community.
Carol was an active member of the Beta Sigma Phi from 1972 to 1985, the church secretary at St Andrews United Church from 1989-1999 and a director with the Prince George Concert Association. She was involved in the formation and operation of the Prince George Dance Festival for many years. She is one of the original members of the Prince George Community Foundation Board working along with then Mayor Colin Kinsley, George Paul and Noreen Rustad among others to get it established. She remembers the very first modest distribution of funds from the foundation to local not-for-profit associations. That distribution of course has increased substantially over the years. Carol and Les co-chaired the B.C. Festival of the Arts held in Prince George in 1998.
Both Les and Carol have played active roles for the B.C. and Yukon division of the Canadian Cancer Society. Les has always been active in the community serving on the Board of Directors for the Prince George Airport Authority, the Prince George Community Foundation, Prince George Regional Performing Arts Centre, 2008 Seniors Games, and the Prince George Symphony Orchestra to name a few. He also co-chaired with then Mayor Dan Rogers the Bid Committee that resulted in the 2015 Canada Winter Games being held in Prince George.
In late 2008 Charles Scott managed to persuade Les to get involved in the upcoming provincial election in May 2009 as campaign manager for Shirley Bond, a role which he filled again with Charles Scott as co-chair in 2013. He continues to be a strong supporter of Shirley Bond.
Professionally Les has been a member of the BC Human Resources Management Association and predecessor organizations for most of his career. In 2006-07 he was president of that association - the first person outside of the Lower Mainland to hold that office.
In 2010 Les was awarded the Fellow Certified Human Resources Professional designation by the B.C. Human Resources Management Association. The designation is a prestigious title aimed at recognizing exceptional certified human resources professionals in Canada who have made outstanding contributions to the profession of HR and their communities. Currently Les has over 50 years of experience in the field of human resources.
Together they raised two children - Troy (Marlo) Waldie and Karla (Gord) Gallop both who now live in Prince George. They have five grandchildren and one great grandchild.
They both conclude by saying, "We made a final move to Prince George in the mid 1970's and we set our roots here. We like the community and love the lifestyle that Prince George has to offer. We have everything that we need from a consumer perspective and without the hassle of a big city. We are so fortunate that our immediate family has also decided to settle in Prince George. Our kids were always involved in the community and that has been very important to us both. To tell you the truth we did consider other cities for our retirement but we chose Prince George because it has everything that we want plus we still have the option of getting away in the winter if we want to."
Spruce Capital Senior's 50/50 Draw winner: Rose Ranych was the lucky $2,000 winner of the Spruce Capital Senior's Recreation Centres' 50/50 draw on June 30. The lucky ticket was drawn at a special afternoon gathering with cake and coffee being served in anticipation of the announcement of the lucky winner. The members and the board of directors of the Spruce Capital Senior's Centre would like to thank all the volunteers who sold tickets and also everyone who bought tickets in support of this fundraiser; all proceeds go to centre operations.
