Joan Inez Margaret (Perry) Buchi was born in Black Diamond, Alta. in 1930. She met Prince George-born Ivor Buchi while teaching school in Fraser Flats in the year of 1949. Here is their story:
In September of 1949 Joan Perry arrived in Prince George from Vancouver by plane shortly after graduating from Vancouver Normal School.
She was excited about her first teaching post. She was told that she would be teaching in a log cabin school and teacherage about seven miles from the town of Prince George and that she would have 14 students from Grades 1 to 8 inclusive.
Her plane landed, she picked up some groceries, hired a taxi and headed for her new home. The trip took her over the old Nechako Bridge, onto the just being built Hart Highway which was a gravel road, onto the Summit Lake Road which wasn't much better and then finally onto the Fraser Flats Road which was a narrow road with grass growing down the middle of it. Joan said, "I remember thinking, one more turn and we will be on a cow path."
Joan explained, "It was a Saturday afternoon and the school representative was not at home to give me a key. I wasn't aware yet that Saturday was a town day for the locals. My very resourceful taxi driver climbed in a window and opened the door of the teacherage from the inside for me.
"Nearby neighbours later stopped by and invited me to their home for dinner and I was introduced to my first four students. What a wonderful start to my teaching career. I loved the job right from the start. Two years later the Fraser Flats School was closed and the Shady Valley School was built on the Old Summit Lake Road."
Joan eventually met Ivor Buchi, a local boy born in 1929. Joan said, "It was not love at first sight. I was engaged so I was not looking for anyone else. Ivor was a good looking country man and that intrigued me. He invited me out on his river boat and I thought well, why not.
"I remember the time that Ivor took me squirrel hunting; he was so surprised when I actually shot a squirrel. The rest is history, we got married in 1950 and this December we will be celebrating 65 years of
marriage."
Ivor and Fred Buchi along with Danny Usen started a gyppo sawmill in Isle Pierre; later Ivor worked for Gillorn Logging (Gilbert and Lawrence Rustad) which eventually became part of Rustad logging.
It was his job to float and run the logs along the Nechako River down to the saw mill. Ivor used his river boat extensively for work, hunting and fishing.
Time went by and Ivor and Jim and Ted Perry bought 97 Transfer; they owned and operated the company for the next 15 years.
Ivor then went to work for the power line contractors as a mechanic and worked all through the north, Revelstoke and the Kootenays. He retired at the age of 55; they lived several more years in the Okanagan, Kelowna and Armstrong areas and then they moved back home to Prince George.
The couple moved into town in 1958 and Joan continued on as a teacher for many years teaching mainly at Isle Pierre and Harwin elementary schools and later at the junior high school in Kelowna.
When they retired they traveled many times to Alaska and Hawaii. Joan volunteered for many years with the Girl Guides as a Brown Owl and as a Girl Guide Commissioner, the Armstrong Hospital Auxiliary and at Alward Place: Ivor was always there to help do the heavy lifting and to help clean up.
Joan also served as an airport ambassador at the Prince George Airport until health issues slowed her down.
Earlier this month the Buchi family celebrated Joan's 85th birthday, Ivor's 86th birthday and their upcoming 65th wedding anniversary with 50 people and family members attending from both the East and the West coast.
Joan said, "Ivor and I raised our four children Carol (Herbert Burbee) from Terrace, Bryan (Randi) of Halifax, N.S. and David (Trudy) and Merry Anne (Daryl) Banks who live here in Prince George. We now have nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
"We have had a long and interesting life but that is a book of its own. We worked hard and we worked together. We are thankful for our family (and it is a big one) and all of our good friends."
Note: I was interested so I checked out the description of a gyppo logger. Wikipedia describes a gyppo logger as a lumberjack who runs or works for a small scale logging operation that is independent from an established sawmill or lumber company.
