The other day Lino and I were in the line up at the Super Store waiting to pay for our groceries when I noticed this tiny little lady with silver hair struggling to unload her groceries onto the conveyer belt from the cart on her walker. She was all of 4 feet 4 inches tall and probably only weighed in at 90 pounds if that. She was so cute and determined but I asked her anyway if I could help her unload her groceries. She very briskly said, "No". Lino and I just grinned at each other and then she leaned over and with a grin said to me, "I'm 96 years old and I am very independent and I want to keep it that way!"
That was my introduction to 96 year old Betty (Elizabeth Shields) Mould-MacAulay who was born in Glasgow, Scotland in August of 1917. Betty came to Canada in 1943 and arrived at Pier 51 in Halifax, Nova Scotia as a war bride. She married the love of her life Staff Sargent Allan Mould who drowned in 1988 while on a fishing trip. They had four children: Two sons who are deceased, Sandra Patterson of Red Deer Alberta and Suzanne Cameron who currently works for the City of Prince George.
Betty and the family arrived in Prince George in 1943 and the city girl from Scotland was once again taken aback by the great Canadian wilderness. Her husband worked in the saw mills for Carrier Lumber and Betty kept busy with her young family.
Betty worked in customer service at McLeod's, Woodwards and also worked Bay Days at the Bay. Her passion was her work as a dance instructor. Betty says, "I had only one formal dance lesson in my life and I just took off from there. I taught ball room, highland, tap and line dancing. Our line dance troop called the Spurs and Jingles were doing a line dance show at the 1993 Canada Summer Games in Kamloops; I stepped in a hole and fell and wrecked my back. I had to have seven stitches to my head and the accident caused me to lose my balance and that finished my dancing career. "
When you look at Betty you see a lovely face with bright happy eyes, great skin and a smile that portrays a good sense of humour. I asked Betty to tell me what it was like to be 96 years old and she replied in great excitement, "I can hardly wait until I turn 100. Just think, in less than four years I will be 100 years old. I am really looking forward to that day! I love people and all animals. It is so important to me to remain independent and to maintain my determination to keep going. You can knock me down but you won't keep me there! I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the drivers of the Handy-DART Bus and all my friends here at Alward Place and at Pine Centre Mall. Everyone is so good to me and I appreciate it."
Betty showed me a picture of the Spurs and Jingles line dancers group and besides Betty I recognized Doreen Gray, Hazel Peters, Spencer Baker and Eddie Baker (deceased). I personally remember this group from the days when line dancing was so popular. In that same line dancing era we also had the Whispering Pines Dancers, the Snowy River Dancers and the North Country Dancers. I was a member of the North Country Dancers for over ten years and then line dancing seemed to fade away.
Line dancing is a great form of exercise for your body, your balance and your memory plus it is fun. Line dancing classes are available at the Hart Pioneer Senior Centre (250-962-6712), the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre (250-561-9381) and the Prince George and District Senior Citizens Activity Centre (250-564-3287).
October Birthdays that I know about: Dave Mazarik, Kelly Flath, Bill Jones, Lindy Barnes, Dick Lenko, Tass Goussis, Helen Webber, Magdalene Pudlas, Viola Howson, Helen Huxley, Alda Russman, Pam Boulding, Don Thompson, Minnie Meier, Janice Taylor, John Broderick, Jean Stitt, Adene Clay, Pietje Kragt, Joe Chartrand, Frank Sarrazin, Patti Esopenko, Wilf Peckham, Lloyd Iwaskow, Heather Corbett, Eileen Hoagland, Magdalene Pudlas, Syl Meise, art Reynolds, Judy Shul and Sally Rosevear.
Anniversaries: 62 years for Herbert and Ruth Giesbrecht, 51 years for Bob and Ruth Reid and also John and Judy Elmquist.
