A few weeks ago I met an amazing Prince George couple that I was sure you would like to meet as well. Neil, nick named Swede and Amelia (Zimmaro) Peterson will celebrate 59 years of marriage in October.
Swede Peterson, of German and Swedish descent is now 79 years old.
Amelia of Italian descent is now 82 and is the last living child of Columbus Hotel builders and owners Louis and Teresina Zimmaro. Her father built the hotel in 1927, operated it until 1950 and then sold it.
This amazing couple has lived, worked and volunteered here in Prince George all of their lives; I saw wall to wall awards, books with letters of thanks and certificates that honour them both for all their volunteer work and their extreme efforts to help others.
For example Swede received the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) award in 2006 for his outstanding service in Search and Rescue and in the picture he has a cast on his left foot. The cast on his foot is another story! You should ask him about it.
Swede spent 35 years volunteering with Search and Rescue, going anywhere that he was needed to help people all through the north. He is certified with Universal Tracking Services Inc, as a trained level 2 Tracker. He mastered tracking and then went on to teach others how to understand what constitutes a "sign" and to experience human tracking first hand. He taught volunteers how to learn to see a physical "sign" that others would look at and not see and how to be patient and concentrate on a human track in the field. He has expert knowledge of the bush and teases Amelia about her poor sense of direction. Amelia's answer to that was, "I don't need to have a good sense of direction because I have Swede!"
Swede went on to explain to me how volunteer Search and Rescue line searchers do their work. He is a totally interesting and an amazing man.
Swede says, "I worked for 35 years for Imperial Oil and I want you to know that they always paid my wages when I was out volunteering with Search and Rescue."
As I talked with Swede and Amelia I could see a full circle happening here. In July of 2011 Swede was totally paralyzed as a result of Septicemia poisoning caused by a blockage due to stones in his bile duct. The doctors told him that the only thing that saved him was that he was in excellent physical condition. Amelia laughed and said, "Swede recovered his eating skills first because of my hand tremors. It was a pretty serious time in our lives but we both tried to maintain some humour. The recovery process is still on going."
This has been a huge challenge for Swede and he said, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the great people in the physiotherapy and rehabilitation unit at the Prince George University Hospital. They all worked so hard with me and I am so grateful to this day for all their dedication and skill. We still go and visit these people at the hospital and they always have time and a big hug for both me and Amelia. The same goes for the workers involved with the Northern Health Bus. I have nothing but good things to say about the care I received from all of them. When we see the bus driver's downtown they go out of their way to greet us and say hello. Prince George is such a great place to live.
As part of the Northern Hardware sponsored canoe racing team Swede and Bill Blackburn canoed 139 miles of the Stuart and Nechako Rivers in 16 hours and took 4th place in that particular competition.
Amelia and Swede spent 15 years volunteering for St Vincent De Paul's and Community Policing. Amelia worked for many years with the meals on wheels program. She was instrumental in starting the St. Mary's Catholic League and was their very first president.
Together they still took the time to be team players in horseshoes, curling, golf, the BC Senior Games and much more!
For more information on Prince George Search and Rescue Society go to: http://pgsar.ca
Send me your seniors' information at: [email protected]
