Martha (Tuningley) Cook was born in 1922 on the family homestead near St. Walburg, a town in northwest Saskatchewan.
Like many others back then Martha headed west to find work and eventually ended up in Sechelt.
It was in Sechelt that Martha would eventually meet and marry Edward Cook.
When I asked Martha for her story she was quick to say, "I am not anyone special and there is nothing out of the ordinary about me."
I would have to disagree with that statement and I will tell you why. Over the years I watched Martha doing volunteer work.
I first watched her help clean up after a dinner event at a local senior centre. She picked up all the table cloths, and after wiping them down she proceeded to fold them all perfectly. Each one was folded identically and they all looked like they just came out of the original packaging from the store.
She is meticulous about everything that she does.
Martha is now 93 years old and she still volunteers once a week at the hospital thrift shop, cutting up the rags to be recycled into useable cleaning clothes. Using a good scissors she removes buttons, zippers, heavy seams, bindings and sleeves from cotton fabric and then stuffs the rags into bags.
The bags are then sold for cleaning cloths.
She is fondly known as the "rag cutter lady" and no one can cut rags like she can!
In the 1940s, Martha worked for people in the logging industry and that is how she met Edward. They were married in 1945, moved to Boston Bar and a short time later they started their family. The years went by and the family moved to Prince George in 1969. Edward, who is now deceased, worked for Lakeland Mills as a machinist.
He could make any hard-to-find machine part and he was known to help friends by making a special ordered drive shaft for local race cars.
When Edward and Martha arrived in Prince George they first lived in a small house on property owned by Lakeland Mills. Martha pointed out that their three boys had to cross the railway tracks twice a day on their way to and from Duchess Park school. Together Martha and Edward raised three boys; Russell (Rosemarie), Neal (Julia) of Prince George and Haven (Janice) who lives in Australia along with their grandsons Phillip and Matthew (Rebekkah) and a great grandson Edward.
The family was flooded out of their small home at the Lakeland property several times over the years so Edward and Martha decided to build a new home out on Sintich Road. Martha was now in her glory because she had land and lots of it. She had a huge garden, a large raspberry patch and a cold room to store all of her produce from the garden. She still prides herself in that garden and says she raised the food needed to feed her family a healthy diet.
She lived on the farm for 35 years.
Edward passed away in 1997 and Martha lived alone on the six acre farm for ten more years before she moved into town.
She said, "I loved it out on the farm. I never wanted to move into town but with failing health and problems with my eyesight, my families encouraged me to move into town."
Martha joined the Hospital Auxiliary in the early '70s and is proud to be a life member of the Auxiliary to University Hospital of Northern B.C. Over the years she spent many days and hours doing volunteer work however, these days she spends most of her volunteer time at the thrift shop.
She used to belong to the Quilters Guild and over the years she made many award winning quilts and made numerous donations of many gifts to Ducks Unlimited to be used in their fundraising projects.
Martha likes to keep busy but she said, "What I would really like to do is go back to my gardening."
Plant sale
The Elder Citizens Recreation Centre is holding a plant sale from 10 am to 1 p.m. followed by a drop in strawberry tea ($5 per person) from 1 to 3 p.m. on May 23 at 1692 10th Ave. You won't want to miss either one of these events.
Anniversaries
May anniversaries that I know about: 53 years for Supi and Lil Peter, 52 years for Joyce and Jim Sweeny, 50 years (this past April) for Cyril and Irene Fortin, and 46 years for Terry and Heather Carter.
Birthdays
May birthdays that I know about: Lino Nadalin, Silvia Spoletini, Millie Conklin, Orville Claffey, Alannah Shandler, Joe Anderson, Jean Shiels, Pearl Harrison, Dan Watt, Willa Osis, Sally Roe, Evelyn O'Sullivan, Isabel Fleck, Aime Dumoulin, Carl Benson, Larry Young, Margaret Humphreys, Olga Boudreau, Paul Richter, Iris West, Margaret Gauthier, Neal Cook, Irene Sitorski, John Hiebert, Shirley Bogh, Susan Chin, Germaine Bachand, Shelby Cooke, Gail Lindley, Luanne Koocher, Richard Mintenko, Clyde Smaaslet, Bill Hoksbergen, Steve Sintich, Edgar MacPherson, Susan Adair, Mel McConaghy, Gladys Cormack, Jeannie Knox, Keith McLachlan, Keving Blood, Stewart Law, Colleen McLaughlin, Shirley Smith, Ann Dekker, Freda Hermanson, Vern Goglin, Laurent Plouffe, Ruth Reid, Marion Idiens, Fay Eckert, Jo-Anne Stainton, Ed Staub, Judy Griffith, Aime Dumoulin, Anne Close, Diane Ellis, Anne Sharp, Alvena Brooks, Carole Milne, Jean Davey, Trixie Bartlett, Eric Benwell, Ellen Bracey, M. Jeanine Christie, Raymond Cosh, Henry Deslaurier, Clarence Lapp, Vi Pfefferle, Bill Sankey, June Everall, John Rogers, Robert Feniuk, Jennie Price, Del Alen, Patricia Horning, Lorraine Prouse, Ernie Gregorash, Havy Brantnall, Jean Clause Mulaire, Jim Weisbrodt, Elizabeth Warren, Trudy Jechow, Garth Lasko, Alice Payne, Bill Burt and Debra Pfefferle.
