War veteran Wilf Peckham was born in 1923 and Mae (Lockyer) Peckham was born in 1926. They have been married for 67 years. Wilf joined the military in January 1942 at the age of 18 and spent the next four years in the army Signal Corps.
"There was a cease fire on May 5, 1945 and along with it came a lottery for a trip to Paris. My brother Len and I, and our friend Smitty (the truck driver), won the lottery. What an experience. We spent three days in Paris and I regret to say that I have never been back there since. When I joined the army the population of Prince George was 3,000 and at the same time there were 5,000 soldiers here in Prince George," said Wilf.
Wilf laughed and said, "Mae and I have known each other since we were kids. I won another lottery when she picked me. Mae told me that she married me because I was a hero; well I can tell you I haven't won a fight since. "I worked as a printer and pressman at The Prince George Citizen for more than 40 years.
Things have continually changed over the years in that profession. Back in my day it was known as a hot lead trade. We used molten lead in linotype machines also known as a line-casting machine specifically used in printing.
Looking at today's methods it sounds funny when I say that the linotype machine was a really great improvement over the manual, letter-by-letter typesetting device using drawers of letters to manually compose each page. I can't even begin to explain how all the computers work today to publish the daily paper," said Wilf.
Mae worked as the bookkeeper for Pollard Garage and Bryant Motors before their children were born. They raised three children: Gerry now living in Ottawa, daughter Marilyn Schritt of Burns Lake and foster daughter Charlene Roth now living in Victoria. They now have seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Today at the ages of 90 and 87 both Wilf and Mae can still be found out at Summit Lake canoeing many of the lakes in the district, cross country skiing, snow shoeing and swimming.
Wilf has curled in 68 consecutive Kelly Cup tournaments. The couple curled together in mixed leagues, and they have won many trophies over the years. They volunteer together and canvass for cancer, Salvation Army, little league, minor hockey, curling events and have served on Boy Scout committees. "We both love Prince George. We have made many great friends over the years. We still go dancing all the time, especially at the Legion.
I am a 68 year member of the Royal Canadian Legion and we both agree that it is a great place to meet old friends and make new friends. "We love the outdoors and we can't resist seeing what is at the end of a game trail. We are in basically good health and we still maintain a great sense of humour. I always say if you are married you had better have a good sense of humour," said Wilf.
