Centenarian Victoria Gutfriend, also known as Vicki, recently celebrated her 101st birthday with enthusiasm and a positive attitude.
She said, "I am now working on my next 100 years."
Here is her story in a nutshell:
Victoria Patershutk was born in 1917 in a prairie town south of the Hudson Bay junction near Yorkton, Sask. She was the fourth of 14 children - she had ten brothers and three sisters.
Her father came to Canada as a teenager on a boat sharing his passage with cattle, dogs, cats and chickens. Time went by and he was able to send for his mother, a brother and his two sisters. He landed in Halifax and ended up in Winnipeg where he simply started his life in Canada with a pick and an ax.
Victoria reminisced and said, "Young people have no idea what life was like back then. My father managed to save $10 and bought a section of land. He had to clear the land in order to build the log house where I was born. We had no electricity and no running water. In fact, we didn't even dream about such luxuries back then.
"I was supposed to be a New Years baby back in 1917 but it was so cold that I decided to arrive three days late.
"I grew up in Saskatchewan and life was tough right from the beginning. The entire family got up early, worked all day and went to bed early. I like to say that we went to bed with the chickens. We could only do our work in the daylight and since we didn't have clocks we just did what the chickens did and went to bed just as the sun went down. There wasn't much to do after dusk anyways, so it made sense for everyone to just go to bed and get up at daybreak. That was our life.
"The most fun we had was the barn dances; we would load up the coupe with four of us in the cab, some hanging onto the running board and the rest of the family would be in the open trunk of the car and off we would go to the dance.
"It was a five-mile trip to the dance and in the winter, we went to the dance by horse pulling a box loaded with all the family. We played music and sang all the way plus we picked up our friends and took them along.
"We would dance until 4 a.m. and be back home in time to change our clothes and milk the cows by hand and then feed the pigs and chickens."
It was at one of these dances that Victoria met her future husband Greg Gutfriend.
When Greg met Victoria, he explained his last name to her saying he always tried his best to be a good friend and never a bad friend.
Greg worked as the first aid man for La Pas Lumber and Victoria proudly said that Greg knew as much as the doctors did back then.
Greg and Victoria came to Prince George in 1961. Greg's job at La Pas Lumber took him all over B.C. before ending up in Upper Fraser and then Bear Lake. They moved to Prince George and Greg worked at Rustad Sawmills as their first aid man until he retired from the company.
Greg was born in the spring of 1913 and sadly he passed away in December 2013; just three months before he would have turned 101.
Greg and Victoria were married for 72 years and together they had two children: daughter Christine and son Terry.
Greg was a long time and devoted fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus Council #5246, St Mary's parish and a 45-year member of the Moose Lodge.
Victoria proudly said, "We had a great and long life together; we both agreed to no fast food, no drinking alcohol and no smoking.
"We both wanted to live to be 100 and we did it and now I am working on my next 100 years."
Victoria has an amazing story of her life and I hope she writes a book about all of it.
She told me many stories but since this is just a column I could not capture it all.
She has one fond memory that stands out in her mind and explained it like this, "I will never forget the day I heard my first train whistle. The train was traveling from Yorkton to La Pas, Manitoba when they blew that whistle. It was loud and crisp and so very far away; I can still hear that whistle every time that I think about it."
When she was 18, she got her first job and worked in a construction camp and cooked for the crew of 90 men that were building the airport at Yorkton, Sask.
She slept in a cold bunk house and worked many long hours. It was nothing to cook up to 20 dozen eggs for their breakfast and use 50 pounds of flour for one big batch of bread. She worked hard and managed to get all of her work done day after day.
In her younger years in Prince George, she managed part of the McLeod's store for 13 years and then cooked at the Columbus Hall for nearly 20 years.
Victoria said, "I was still capable of driving my car at the age of 95 but the government took it away from me because I was too old."
Victoria came of age with the radio being her main luxury. She has come a long way and remembers her first TV and has since traveled half way around the world on four cruises.
She had some serious health issues along the way but she never gave up.
She has an extensive list of volunteer work with her church and the Catholic Women's League since 1954, the Order of the Eastern Star, her membership in the Red Hat Society and her 15 years as an ambassador for the tourist bureau at the airport just to name a few.
Victoria concluded and said, "You know, I read the obituaries all the time and I know nearly all the people.
"I have been active all my life and grass did not grow under my feet. I like people and I feel that if people were not good to me like they are then maybe I would not want to go on.
"I meet new people all the time and people are so wonderful. They stop and talk to me and it seems like everyone knows me. They remember me from the days when I used to cook and from my volunteer work over the years. I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the people for always being so good to me. I also thank the Good Lord for always looking after me; if not for him I would not be here."
