Syl Meise was born in Meadow Lake, Sask., in 1935; he was 13 years old when he arrived in Prince George with his family in 1948.
He remembers wooden sidewalks and a population of approximately 3,500. He attended Pineview elementary school, which was located where the Pineview Community Hall is presently situated. At the young age of 15 Syl started work as a horse logger near Summit Lake. He went on to other forestry jobs and worked for a short time at the Experimental Farm near the airport.
In 1965 he met Linda Beck in the Okanagan Valley and they began a long distance courtship. Linda was born in Kelowna and raised in Winfield where she helped on the family farm and found summer work in nearby orchards and restaurants. She graduated high school with Journalism and English majors and worked part time at The Vernon News while attending Grade 13. It is interesting to note that her classes were held in some of the Vernon Army Cadet Camp buildings.
She married Syl in the spring of 1967 and moved to Prince George; they will soon be celebrating 50 years of marriage.
Syl and Linda bought a piece of land on 15 Mile Road and together they built a small cabin with one electrical outlet and no running water. Eventually they built a house and went into the logging truck business which meant 14- to 16-hour work days for Syl with weekends spent on truck maintenance. Linda learned to drive truck, did the bookkeeping for the business and also worked for the Ministry of Forests.
In their bit of spare time Syl volunteered with the Buckhorn Volunteer Fire Department, competed in truck rodeos and earned his five pin bowlers coaching certificate while Linda volunteered at the school.
With a son and daughter added to their family plus several horses they decided to buy a small hobby farm near Pineview. This meant more work but also a lot of fun with the whole family milking goats, fixing fences and competing in gymkhanas. In his spare time Syl trained horses and was an outrider for chuckwagon and chariot races. For many years they both competed in logger sports; Syl excelled at axe throwing, open hot saw and chainsaw cutting competitions.
Community was an important part of their daily lives; they both belonged to the Pineview Volunteer Fire Department and served as directors on the boards of the Pineview Recreation Commission, Snow Frolics and the Timberline Trail Riders. Their volunteer work with the Riding Club included obtaining government funding for their project of building a gymkhana arena.
They also organized and enjoyed community dances which were usually family events with older children learning to dance and younger ones playing on the dance floor until they fell asleep at the table under the watchful eyes of their parents
In 1980 Syl switched from truck driving to bus driving. He worked for many years for Standard Bus Contracting driving the school bus; he also drove charter bus and the city transit bus, all of which combined two of his favorite activities - driving and meeting people.
There are many people who remember Syl as their favorite bus driver whether across town or across the province. He retired in 2000 after 20 years of bus driving, however he continued to put in many hours as a volunteer driver for different groups.
The most memorable and disturbing event of his bus driving career was in February of 1990 when three teenagers pulled guns and hijacked the school bus taking Syl and 13 students as hostages on a regular afternoon run from the Prince George secondary school to Hixon.
Syl managed to keep the 13 passengers and the hijackers calm and all of them sitting quietly throughout the ordeal.
This is truly an interesting story starting with three Prince George youths, two 18-year-olds and a 14-year-old, boarding the bus with two concealed sawed off rifles. With their weapons hidden out of sight they boarded the bus ahead of the other students, telling Syl that they had something to give to one of the students.
After a few stops to unload students the three produced their weapons and ordered Syl to return to Prince George to a local car dealership.
It was here that the police became involved in the incident and after some negotiating, the police arranged for a getaway car to be available for them. The hostage takers then had Syl leave the bus to bring the car closer and on the condition that he return, which he did, as his students were still being held hostage.
Even though Syl volunteered to remain as their hostage they released him and the students except for one which they took in the car with them. Nearly four hours after it all began it finally ended after a brief chase and the eventual arrest of all three of them.
Syl received three Awards of Valour; one regional, one provincial and one federal. The provincial award was presented to Syl by then Transportation and Highways Minister Lyall Hanson at a ceremony in Vancouver.
Together Syl and Linda raised two children, Scott and Leah, who both live in Prince George. They have two grandchildren and two great grandchildren who are the joy of their lives.
Linda worked for Dean Mason Accounting for many years until her retirement. However, a year later she decided to return to the work force and currently works for the Pineview Improvement District.
After retiring from Prince George Transit and recovering from a bout with cancer, Syl purchased a courier van and continued to work for several more years finally retiring again at the age of 75.
Syl and Linda continue to volunteer with various groups. Linda is the Zone 9 (North Central) Director for the BC Seniors Games Society supporting the 55+ BC Games. Syl coaches' slo-pitch and they are both gold and silver BC Senior Games medal winners many times over both in individual and team events.
"There is a wide choice of approximately 26 sports from cards and darts to tennis and cycling and many more," explains Linda. "We think the games are a great way for seniors to stay physically active. There is such a good health benefit, not just physically but socially and mentally as well."
They not only help organize these games but they are also active participants. Linda competes in track and field while Syl, over the years, has competed in slo-pitch, horseshoe and ice curling events. They both participate in recreational baseball and try to keep in shape with the help of their treadmill, and by exercising with weights and going for walks and bike rides.
Together they helped open the Seniors Centre at the Pineview Hall at 6470 Bendixon Road and remain active at the centre on the Wednesday drop-in events and the floor curling on Thursdays.
Syl received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 and they were both volunteers for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
They work and play together and they continue to volunteer together. They will soon celebrate 50 years of marriage and between the two of them and those combined 100 years they have given many hours of volunteer work to their community; there are no signs of either one of them changing any of this any time soon.
