Yvonne Rowe will soon turn 86 years old; after many years of dedicated work she continues to have a busy and active life. Yvonne is an active member of the Quest Club, a uniquely Prince Georgian club founded in the year of 1924 by a group of local Prince George ladies. She was recently decorated with a 30 year service award pin as a member of the Women's Auxiliary to the University Hospital of Northern B.C and she has volunteered for the public library for the past 30 years.
It comes as no surprise that she was also a Prince George Community Service Award recipient in 2007.
Here is her story: Yvonne (Kenney) Rowe was born here in Prince George. Her mother was a school teacher and her father worked on the Yukon Telegraph Trail situated at cabin #4. I went to Google and learned that the Yukon Telegraph Trail extends through British Columbia from Ashcroft in the south to Atlin in the north. The portion of the trail located in the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine is approximately 500 kilometres long, extending from Moricetown near Hazelton to the village of Telegraph Creek. It was after World War I that her father went to work for the railway.
Her parents met in Terrace and were married in Prince George in 1928. Yvonne came along one year later. Yvonne said, "My parents had a double whammy that year; I crashed in, in October of 1929 and three weeks later the New York stock market crashed as well."
Yvonne graduated from grade 13 in Prince George and went on to Vancouver Normal School to train as a teacher. She was teaching at the Canyon Creek School in what is now Hixon and boarding in a room upstairs at the local caf. Yvonne said, "We used to sit in the kitchen of the caf and play cards in the evening and that is how I met my husband Richard Rowe.
"Richard was a draftsman from Victoria working in the Canyon Creek survey camp for the Pacific Great Eastern railroad as a surveyor. We met at the caf in 1949, we got married in 1951 and the rest is history."
Yvonne taught school for about 13 years and then stayed at home to raise her family.
She said, "Over the years I met many ladies who remembered me as their teacher or the teacher of their children. So many years have gone by that I just can not remember them all.
"Richard went on to work for BC Rail in their real estate activities and industrial development department and after nearly 40 years of service retired at the age of 65.
"We were married for 63 years and I am sad to have to say that Richard passed away this past August after complications of a fall from a ladder. He never fully recovered from that accident. Together we raised two children Lori (Jim) of Summit Lake and Larry (Debbie) of Prince George and they in turn gave us five grandchildren and five great grandchildren."
Yvonne laughed and said with a big grin, "When it is my time to go my obituary will be short and it will go like this: Hatched, matched and dispatched in Prince George."
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The Elder Citizens Recreation Association (ECRA) Annual General Meeting will be held March 24th at 1692 10th Ave. Members of ECRA are encouraged to attend this important meeting.
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The Gospel Singers at the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre present: A Shelter in Life's Storms on Saturday, March 28th at 7 pm and Sunday, March 29th at 2 pm at 1692 Tenth Ave.
The show will feature vocalist Marie Moore, accompanied by Glen Callieou on guitar and the Synergy School Hand Bell Choir. Adults $10, children 5-12 years $5; call 250-561- 9381 for information.
