After 31 years of bringing the community to your doorstep, Bernice Trick is putting down her pen.
Part of the job Trick said she'll miss most is what she does best - delivering everyday news from the community.
"I will miss writing for my community the most," she said. "I will miss helping people that need help, and I will miss getting the message out about events in the community whether it's fundraising or Daffodil Day. I will miss that more than anything."
The culmination of Trick's career could be a book in itself.
"I've had some fantastic stories, just absolutely unbelievable stories," she said. "I had the Regional District beat when they brought in 911, and the garbage dump was changed to the Foothills Landfill site. I covered the city beat when Discovery Place went down in flames and up from the ashes rose the Civic Centre, CN Centre, the Aquatic Centre and the Art Gallery. And the emergence of UNBC and oh the problems we had with University Way. There were slides that just kept coming down."
Little did little Bernice Holliday know what awaited her while she was growing up in Snowden, Saskatchewan, where she was the only student that year to graduate from Grade 12.
Her career did not begin in journalism, but in education, starting when she attended Teacher's College in Saskatoon, a branch of the Saskatchewan University.
She went on to teach elementary school for one year in Saskatchewan and five years in Prince George before Tony Skae called her up to join the staff at the Prince George Citizen in 1980.
Trick had started a newspaper called The Little Dipper in Mackenzie before moving to Prince George with her husband John, who grew up here and wanted to work at Northwood Pulp Mill. The couple also had two children, Patricia and Michael, who are now in their mid-forties.
Bernice's first beats were coming events and police court, which allowed her to become very familiar with the community.
Since then, she's worked with eight publishers and innumerable city, news and managing editors.
"Each one had knowledge to contribute and share," she said.
Throughout her journalism career, Trick had covered city news, health, police and the school district -- but one beat always held a special place in her heart.
"I still think my favourite is community," said Trick. "They're the people that counted to me. They're the people that read the paper and they were the most important."
Trick won't completely walk away from the written word. She will continue writing in a freelance capacity.
"And The Citizen will be my biggest client," said Trick, who will work with the advertising department and write content for supplements and special features. "I won't be working as much but I'm really excited about this new direction."
