Allan Thorp was born in Strome, Alberta in 1931 and he says, That makes me 21 Celsius! Luckily I married Gladys Folden in 1954 and during those 58 years we had 4 children, Candace, Darold, Gordon and Melva and, we now have 10 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Al said, My dad was an Alberta farmer who lost everything we owned including the farm during the drought and the Great Depression. We came to Prince George on the CNR in 1937 and arrived in Woodpecker on Nov. 2nd, and it was cold! I went to Woodpecker School for 8 years. Back then we had to have 7 kids enrolled in the school in order to get a teacher. My oldest brother repeated grade 8 to make up the 7 students we needed to hire a teacher, who taught all grades from 1 through 8. The entire school body was made up of children from the Thorp, Widdis and Ben Down families.
In 1945 Al moved to Prince George to attend high school and was introduced to a totally new way of life. Flush toilets, running water and showers were a new experience after being isolated in the bush.
Al finished grade 11 and went to work at Doc's Radio Clinic on 3rd Ave. for $80.00 per month. He said, I thought it was pretty good pay because I had never had any money before. Other jobs I had were at Rose's Ice Cream shop (on the corner of 2nd and Brunswick), Canadian Propane and the Prince George Bakery where Kelly O'Brien's is located today. I brought home $275.00 per month working the graveyard shift five nights a week at the bakery.
His father was ill so his parents sold the 80 acre farm in Woodpecker for $500.00 and they moved to Prince George. Al said, I was 19 and the only one working so I helped look after them and I claimed them as dependants on my income tax. We purchased a sawmill cabin on skids for $700.00 on Fraser Ave. which at that time was the boundary of Prince George, and is now called Carney Street. We had to pack our water from a stand pipe at the corner of 5th and Fraser. If anyone left the pipe dripping in the winter a huge mound of ice would form. Then you had to run and grab the pipe and hold on in order to get some water.
Al started at Westcoast Transmission in 1957 as a wheel barrel operator. When he retired he was the Southern District Manager and he was responsible for 14 compressor stations, approximately 150 people and 2,000 km's of pipeline that went from the U.S. border all the way north to Chetwynd.
Al says, I retired in 1994 and now I enjoy playing cards, 10 pin bowling, I belong to the Old Time Fiddlers and the drama club, the Forever Young Choir and the Country Cuzzins at the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre. I still enjoy gardening and our cabin at Summit Lake, but most of all I enjoy our family and friends.
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