Helen (Petro) Wlasitz was born in Homok, Ungmegye, Hungary in 1929 and arrived in Canada in 1930. Helen married Stephen Wlasitz in 1947 and they moved to Sinclair Mills where Stephen worked for the Canadian National Railway. They bought three and a half acres of land in Sinclair Mills between the CN Railway and the Fraser River. They converted an old building on the property into a warm and cozy home and started a family. When first son, David came along Stephen left the CNR and went to work for the Sinclair Spruce Lumber Company because of the availability of a school at Sinclair Mills.
Helen said, "I was married at 18 and two years later I was a Mom. Twelve years after that I experienced the worst year of my life when I had to send David off to stay at the dormitory in Prince George so that he could attend high school in town. It was the first time that David was away from home." With tears in her eyes Helen recalled that day very vividly and I have to admit that I shed a tear along with her. She said, "I was very brave in front of my eldest son on that very first day that he left for school - with a suitcase in his hand. I knew that I would not see him again until the weekend. I waved and said good bye. I really had to work hard at not crying. I didn't want to cry and upset him so I held on. After the bus left I decided to stay busy so I went to the woodshed to get some fire wood and there was our family dog, sleeping on David's old worn out coat. I took one look at that coat and I started to cry, in fact I cried most of the day. I never told anyone about that day until now. I still hate the site of a suitcase to this very day. When Dale started high school five years later things were different and it didn't seem so traumatic.
"I had to learn to drive a car at this point in time so that I could drive the ten miles from our house to the bridge. The first few times out I just held my breath and said 'just go for it'. It wasn't too long and I was doing ok. My boys David and Dale both helped me study for my driver's license and I was so proud of them for helping me."
"Life was really wonderful for us at Sinclair Mills. We knew we were blessed to be living in God's beautiful country. You could see how bright the stars were at night and you could actually hear the quiet in the evenings. Yes, we had some minor inconveniences compared to the luxuries of today but it was the way of life and we were happy. We had great neighbors and we all helped one another. We spent every day together as a family. When the whistle blew at the sawmill indicating that the work day was done for all the hard working men, the kids came home and dinner was ready.
"Our boys grew up to be wonderfully good husbands and attentive sons and I am so thankful for that and my three grandchildren. David and Wendy (Malm) live here in Prince George and Dale and Celeste (McMullen) live in Calgary along with their three children."
Over the years Helen worked as a cone picker, tree planter and a research assistant with the Canadian Forestry Service. She worked as a custodian at the school in Sinclair Mills and later on at the Upper Fraser School. She studied for and successfully received her log scaler license and worked for several years as a weigh master and log scaler at McGregor and Upper Fraser.
Stephen retired and passed away shortly after the couple moved into Prince George in 2008.
Now at the age of 85 and with a twinkle in her eyes and a great sense of humour Helen says, "The people in Prince George are wonderful and it is the best place in the world to live. Yes, Prince George is a great place, we have plenty of everything here - plenty of mosquitoes, plenty of rain and plenty of snow."
