Gerry and Jewel Bates recently celebrated 60 years of marriage. Here is a peek into their 60 years of marriage.
Gerry was born in Kipling, Sask. in 1936. He was the youngest of seven children and at the age of three his parents sold out and moved the family to Hazelton.
The economic crash after the war combined with the drought of the Dirty Thirties created hard times for the Saskatchewan farmers. The government offered relocation help to farmers so his father decided to take advantage of a government offer to pay the CN Rail freight charge to ship their cattle by rail to their new home in B.C. The family and their belongings were at one end of the rail car while the cattle and the hay to feed them was at the other end. To make a long story short, they settled in Telkwa.
Gerry grew up and went to school in Telkwa. He left high school early and found work as a driller's helper. He eventually moved to Vancouver to work at the headquarters for the drilling company and worked all over the province in mineral drilling and foundation testing.
Gerry said "I started my electrical apprenticeship in 1957 with Stanroy Electrical Contractors. I have to say that I was lucky to get the chance at my apprenticeship because of another man's bad luck. This other man was in a serious accident and was no longer able to work. I was in the right place at the right time and I was recommended for his position. I grabbed the opportunity and finished my electrical apprenticeship in 1963.
"I married Jewel Schurman in 1958. We moved to Fort St. John and then Fort Nelson following electrical contract work. We arrived in Prince George in 1965 and I worked for Houle Electric and other contractors.
"I bought a gravel truck in Vancouver, drove it to Prince George, did some work with it in Prince George and Vanderhoof and then sold it.
"There was lots of commercial work in Prince George during the '60s. I worked on the construction of all three pulp mills with Dillingham contractors. My work took us to Kitimat, Prince Rupert and then I worked in Iran for two years. While we were in Iran, Jewel took on the job of trying to teach English construction terms to the Iranian workers.
"We moved back to Prince George in 1978 and I worked in supervisory positions for electrical contractors until I retired in 2011 at the age of 75."
Jewel Schurman, the youngest of two children, was born at the family home in Vancouver in 1939. She grew up and went to school in Vancouver and then worked for the provincial government in the Old Age Security office from 1954 to 1960.
Over the years, she worked as the office secretary for Wayne Watson Construction and Houle Electric.
She said "when the children started to arrive, I became a domestic engineer. I volunteered for anything to do with the children. I drove them and their friends everywhere. Since then, they have grown up and left home and now my hobbies are everything to do with our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"We have lived on our 75 acres of land ever since 1973; we travel in our RV during the summer and spend our winters at home on the farm and we love it. We have coffee every Monday with our longtime friends and travel mates Frank and Eileen Pighin.
"We had our biggest and best barn dance (upstairs in our barn) in 1975 when we threw a farewell party for Al and Marg Alberts. We danced all night to the music of the Old Time Fiddlers and by 5:30 in the morning everyone was hungry so we went into town for breakfast."
Jewel reflected back and said "Gerry and I met in 1953 at the ball park in Vancouver. Gerry and his buddies were flirting with all the girls. I caught his eye, I pursued him and five years later we got married. He took me to Telkwa for our honeymoon.
"It seems like it was just a few years ago when actually it was 60 years ago. I am proud to say that we just celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary on Dec. 19. I understand that this event is sometimes called a diamond jubilee and that diamonds are forever because of their durability and longevity. A diamond will never spoil with time and I think that would be how I would describe our life together these past 60 years.
"True, it has not always been easy but we did it and we raised some great children. We have two children Steve (Lynn) and Wendy (Leonard) Legault. We have a blended family of seven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren and most live here in Prince George.
"We celebrated our anniversary with friends and family at the Northern Lights Estate Winery. We had a wonderful time and toasted many more years of a good marriage."
The Hart Pioneer Senior Centre wishes to invite you to join them and dance the night away on Dec. 31 to bring in the New Year of 2019. The address is 6986 Hart Highway and you will be dancing to a popular five-piece band called The B Side. The New Year's Eve party goes from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., there will be a hot and cold buffet, door prizes, all the New Year's Eve party noisemakers and some snacks. The tickets are going fast at the reasonable price of $40 per person; all proceeds go towards the operation of the senior centre. For more information phone the office at 250-962-6712.
December birthdays that I know about: Chuck Chin, Bill Bosnich, Elaine Swaykoski, Adrian Girard, Marion Valle, George Weinand, Sandra Rees, Wendy Girard, John Husberg, Bob Raine, Erika Harder, Judy Schlesier, Ingrit Gohl, Dirce Pandolfo, Ivy Whitfield, Roy Whitfield, Phil Staniland, Paul Duperron, Marg McLachlan, Wilfred Vogt, Margaret Keibel, Terry Burgess, Shirley Byman, Alcide Gauthier, Elaine Sokolowski, Belen Pankonin, Lucy Young, John Warner, Faye Sibley, Joan Watt, Donalda Carson, Simone Kwast, Shirley Michaud, Bob Michaud, Maureen Bricker, Jean Durston, Carol Haugland, Doris Banzer, Erich Bertram, Margaret Leveridge, Wendy Foresterling, Esther Monroe, Catherine Halladay, Sid Corby, Trish Barnes, Albert Gendron, Arthur Cardinal, Fred Bagg, Duncan Gouchie, Ralph Chappel, Sandy Sitter, Lauri Karjaluoto, Chet Hoecherl, Ted Mcafee, Terry Burgess, Nora Larsen and Delbert Wood is 92 years old today.
December anniversaries: 68 years for Ivor and Joan Buchi (nee Perry), 64 years for Eldie and Georgina Ward, 63 years for Jack and Avis Cook, 62 years for Don and Marion Vaale, 62 years for Alcide and Margaret Gauthier, 61 years for Charlie and Joyce Burkitt, 57 years for Malcolm and Elaine Lamb, 56 years for John and Eva Werlberger, 56 years for Roy and Shirley Green, 54 years for Bill and Donna Bosnich, 52 years for Mario and Emma Mauro, 51 years for Bill and Shirley Smith and 35 years for Armand and Gert LeFebvre.
