Margaret (Davidson) Smith was the Prince George New Years' baby in 1944. She married Stanley William Roy Smith in 1965. Here is their story:
Margaret's father Benjamin James Davidson was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland when times were so hard that his family could not afford to feed him. At the age of three and like many other children of that era in Scotland, her father was sent to the Father Hudson's Society Care Home in Coleshill, Warwickshire. England.
The society was established in 1902 as the Birmingham Diocesan Rescue Society for the protection of homeless and friendless Catholic children. Father George Vincent Hudson led the work of caring for children until they were 14. His vision enabled him to see that when young people left the society they still needed support as they began work and looked for a career.
Her father, at the age of 13, was sent to Canada by the society to work as a farm laborer in Ontario. He was not treated very well right from the start so he ran away from the farm and went out on his own. To make a long story short; as a young man he ended up in Prince George and found work at the airport.
At that same point in time, the Aitchison's (Margaret's grandparents) who owned the land where Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is now located on the old Cariboo Hwy happened to invite Benjamin Davidson home for dinner one night and he met and married her mom Lillian Mable Aitchison. Benjamin and Lillian started their family and Margaret was born; the eldest of their five children.
Margaret of Scottish and English descent was the first baby to be born in Prince George in 1944. She grew up here, was educated, married and raised a family here and has lived in the area ever since.
She attended King George V, Duchess Park and Prince George Senior Secondary; when she left school she worked as a telephone operator for the next three years.
She married Stanley William Roy Smith in 1965. When they started their family, Margaret left the telephone company and became a stay-at-home mom.
Stanley Smith was born at home at the saw mill site that his father owned near Bannock, Sask. in 1944.
When the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was elected, his father lost his investment in his business so he packed up his family and headed west to Prince George. Stan was 13 years old and remembers it all very well.
Stan's father first worked at a saw mill at Cobb Lake in the Vanderhoof area and eventually the family moved to the Blackburn Road area. It just so happened that their new neighbors were the Davidson family.
Stan Smith and Margaret Davidson were both 16 when they first met. Margaret thought that she was too young to start a serious relationship so she just looked the other way even though Stan thought that she was pretty special. They parted and two years later Stan started courting her again. When he figured it out that she wasn't serious about him, he moved to Terrace.
When he moved away Margaret missed him terribly and after awhile she started to chase him. By the time they were 20 they decided to get married.
Stan's dad teased him about marrying the Davidson girl who couldn't make up her mind whether she wanted him or not. Well, that was 52 years ago and they are still married today.
Stan worked as a welder and specialized in steel fabrication. He and his friend Tom started their own plumbing and heating business doing contract work all over the north; they lost everything in 1981 due to the high interest rates at the time.
In 1981, mortgage rates peaked at more than 20 per cent - this is not a typo. The mortgage rates stayed in the double digits until the mid-1990s when they started a gradual downward decent to today's interest rates.
The economy slowly recovered and during that recovery Stan worked at the casino at the Yellowhead Hotel until he found full time work at Rustad Sawmills; he retired in 2006.
Together Stan and Margaret had four children; Benjamin (Bonny), Roger (Tammy), Murray (Carla) and Lana (Jim). They now have 14 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Margaret proudly reflected back and said "I used to teach five pin bowling to kids at Nechako Lanes and I coached boys aged 11 to 14 for 18 years. I took a team to the five pin bowling nationals in 1988 and we came in fourth.
"I found the time I spent teaching and coaching the kids to be very rewarding. Our goal was to have the kids become better bowlers than us and it worked. We turned out many awesome bowlers and yes, some of them were better bowlers than me."
Over the years, Margaret worked as a cook at the Husky truck stop, the Brunswick Street senior centre, Goode's Catering and served seniors at Laurier Manor and Alward Place.
Margaret said, "I used to volunteer calling bingo and I helped feed the street people.
"I recently retired from the Alano Club on Alward Street after three years of working in the kitchen and everything that went with it. It was a great job and I enjoyed all the people."
Margaret now enjoys floor curling, Tai Chi, 8-ball pool, playing cards of any kind and is an active member of her Take off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) group while Stan enjoys karaoke night at the Alternate Pub and volunteers at the Legion.
Her volunteer work includes her seven year membership in the Prince George Genealogical Society and her association with the Pineview Community and the First Baptist Church.
