David Jenkins was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., in 1943 and arrived in Prince George in 1968. His entire family still call Fort Saskatchewan home. David was the only one that ventured out of Alberta to Prince George.
Johanna (Rees) Jenkins, a first generation Canadian of Dutch and Welsh descent, was born in Vancouver in 1946 - the youngest twin of three children. She was raised and educated in Vancouver and spent her summers at her uncle's grain farm in Fort Saskatchewan.
Johanna said, "I grew up having the best of both worlds. We spent our summers at my uncle's farm and returned to Vancouver in September to attend school. Actually it was the time spent at the farm that I first met the man that would one day become my husband. David lived in town and he and a couple of his buddies came out to my uncle's farm to meet the girls from Vancouver. That was uneventful until I met him again at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver when he was playing hockey for the U of A Golden Bears who later went on in 1964 to win the Canadian University Hockey Championship. We were married in 1969 - one year after he moved to Prince George."
David finished law school in 1967 and worked for a law firm in Vancouver. He didn't find Vancouver his "cup of tea" and intended to return to Alberta. The law firm he was with in Vancouver had a branch office in Prince George and they convinced him to go there if he missed (as he said) the weather and type of people he grew up with. He loved Prince George right from the start but he missed Johanna. He sent her letters and phoned her regularly and told her all the great things about the city.
David was called to the bar in 1968 in a ceremony at the old Vancouver Courthouse.
David, Robin Heather and Murray Sadler finally started their own law firm (Heather Sadler Jenkins) in 1972 in Prince George and he has practiced law here ever since.
His law practice would require him to drive 100,000 km per year defending people in almost all of the communities in British Columbia that support a courthouse. He is slowing down to about 60,000 km per year now.
Johanna studied physiotherapy and occupational therapy (UBC School of Rehabilitation) and set off on a new adventure. In 1969, she was the first UBC graduate to head north to Prince George where she was a staff physio at UHNBC (formerly Prince George Regional Hospital). In those years, helicopters landed on a helicopter pad in the hospital parking lot often involving victims of logging accidents from the bush or motor vehicle accidents. Of course the helicopters also landed at Christmas time with the most wonderful elf, Santa Claus!
Johanna said, "I left Vancouver and moved to Prince George to join David. I was a new bride, a new graduate and a new northerner and I personally found it a lot to handle. We agreed that we would only stay in the north for a few years! Well, it all worked out and now it would take more than a team of horses to take me away from Prince George and David feels the same way."
She loves to visit Vancouver, however when rush hour in Prince George lasts two minutes she is ready to reconfirm her decision that she is made for the North.
Johanna said, "We had four children Angus, John (Mel), Claire (Andy) and David Jr. (Kelly); we raised them all in Prince George and over the years they presented us with six grandchildren. Our family is the world to us and Prince George was a great place to raise a family."
She was always passionate about perinatal care (before birth and after birth care). She taught classes to couples expecting their first baby starting in 1973 and has seen many positive changes over the years. She has felt embraced by the many great coworkers she has worked with over the years however her plans are to retire from her prenatal teaching position in 2017.
One of the highlights of their early years in Prince George was when, in 1972, David and Johanna joined a tour of 17 other local people and flew to Moscow to attend the Canada-USSR Series also known as The Summit Series, an eight-game National Hockey League series between Canada and the Soviet Union. The first four games were played in Canada with Canada winning two of them and the remaining four games were played in Moscow with Canada, winning three of the four games to take the series.
David reflected back and said, "It was a wonderful and amazing ten-day experience; we could see Red Square and the Kremlin from our hotel room. It was during the time of the Cold War but it seemed OK to us because we were there for the hockey. We watched the Canadian team practice and Bill Goldsworthy (remember him?) gave Johanna his hockey stick.
"The Russians did not know what to do with 3,000 hockey crazy Canadian fans. The Canadians were only given seats in one end zone. When the Canadian trumpetier would play 'The Charge', the Russian soldiers would rush to the suspected seat where the trumpet appeared but the trumpet was long gone having been passed from hand to hand beneath the seats!
"After Paul Henderson scored the winning goal with 17 seconds left, my most vivid memory was walking from the arena through a long corridor to our waiting buses. Along this corridor was huge horse vans loaded with horses in full tack (bridles and saddles) in case there was going to be a riot. We watched four exciting hockey games but in the end we were happy to arrive home to our own great country."
David has volunteered as a hockey coach and a lacrosse coach and has served on the executive board of the BC Lacrosse Association for many years and was inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame.
He played lacrosse and his team the Prince George Molson Old Stylers won the President's Cup for Senior B Lacrosse in Canada in 1974.
He also played hockey for several years for the Vanderhoof Bears of the Old Cariboo Hockey League, curled, golfed and has spent an inordinate amount of time hunting and fishing. He remains active in 4-wall handball.
Upon her arrival to Prince George, Johanna got involved with the equestrian community. She always loved horses. She fell in love with the Cranbrook Hill area (just west of the city), the way of life, the people and how they look out for each other and the great scenery along the many trails in the area.
The Cranbrook Hill ladies still meet on the first Tuesday in December for their annual pot luck lunch which includes many ever popular recipes. The hot apple cider recipe came from a luncheon at St. Andrews United Church (shared by Holly Lee in 1993). Over the past 30 years there is an average of 20 to 30 ladies who have been meeting for lunch (while the children were in school and the men were at work) to just celebrate being friends and neighbours. They collect coats to recycle and non perishable food hamper items just in time for Christmas.
Johanna has volunteered for the men's Alpine World Cup ski races in Lake Louise and in 2010 she volunteered at the men's downhill ski event at the Olympics in Whistler along with their youngest son David Jr.
Her volunteer work at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George in 2014 was a highlight of her volunteering. Johanna explained, "The alpine downhill ski event included able bodied and adapted skiers on the same days. It was fascinating to watch the young able bodied skiers observe the sit skiers, the visually impaired skiers and those with a missing limb or limbs who came out of the start gate and skied down the course."
Johanna has been part of a tireless group of physios trying to get the province to establish a school of physiotherapy here in Prince George to compliment the already existing medical and nursing schools. She volunteers at Kid-Sport and generously makes herself available for all kinds of community projects and events.
Her passion has always been horses and she said, "We still have horses and this has forced David into raising and taking off more hay over the years than he had ever expected to. He loves driving his tractor and he puts up between three to four thousand square bales per year giving him no time to get in trouble in the summer."
They have always been fervent supporters of the Cougars and did the billet program for many years. Dan Hamhuis was a regular visitor to their home and eventually married his Prince George wife Sarah in their back hay field. Dustin Byfuglien and Eric Brewer were regulars in their home.
They said, "It was one thing to feed a hungry cougar hockey player but another thing to feed Byfuglien."
David and Johanna agree and said, "the absolute best thing about Prince George is the people who live here and their outlook towards life; there could not have been a better place to call home over these past fifty years."
