Part 2 of a three-part series
Due to length constraints I had to change my year in review from a two-part series into a three-part series with Part 1 last week being a memoriam of those I wrote about in the past and a short recap of some that are now 90 years old or older. I will now continue to recap the names and a bit of information of the many interesting subjects of my column throughout 2015.
Armand Denicola, a highly decorated Second World War veteran was born in 1922 in Benevento, Italy. Doreen, his wife of 51 years worked for the telephone company and looked after the family home.
Ken Dawson was born in Vancouver in 1923, an experienced welder who retired after a 27 year career (never taking a sick day) as a vocational school welding teacher at the College of New Caledonia. He married Joyce (Thibodeau) Dawson, now a retired hospital employee. The couple moved to Prince George in 1961.
Barbara (Olds) Murray was born right here in Prince George in 1924. She worked as an assistant in the library at the Connaught elementary school and at D.P. Todd secondary school.
Marie Trew (87), retired registered nurse from Prelate, Sask. remembers the dirty 30's and all the Saskatchewan dust storms. She lived in Hudson's Hope for 36 years making a living in the retail business and filled in as a volunteer nurse at the local Out Post Station.
Linton Walker (82), retired CN Rail engineer and wife of 59 years Della (Brownscombe) Walker are both members of the American Cribbage Congress and share the love of the game.
Audrey Cleghorn (82), graduated from high school with plans to continue her education in the field of nursing; instead she retired as a BC Tel chief pperator after a long career in the telecommunication industry.
Maureen Stock met Elmer Braun 52 years ago at the bowling alley in Prince George. Both were born in 1938 and both hail from Saskatchewan. Elmer invited Maureen to a dance at the old CCF Hall (Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Hall); they dated, got married and the rest is history.
Harold Moore was born in Bancroft, Ont. in 1927. He nearly lost his life in the cold waters of Lake Ontario in a work related event while working as a fireman on a barge. Harold arrived in Prince George in 1948 at the age of 21 with ten cents in his pocket and a personal debt of $65 to pay for his half of the fuel to get here.
Prince George born Yvonne Rowe (86) taught at the Canyon Creek school in what is now Hixon. She was decorated with a 30 year service award pin as a member of the Women's Auxiliary to the University Hospital of Northern B.C., volunteered for the public library for the past 30 years and was the recipient of the Prince George Community Service Award in 2007.
Allan Thorp (84) attended elementary school in Woodpecker and retired from Westcoast Transmission after 37 years of service. He married Gladys (Folden) Thorp (83) 61 years ago. They have both been active volunteers for many years.
Myra (Wright) Nadeau (82) was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, trained as a school teacher and retired after a 40-year teaching career.
Mary Victoria Hanson Lilleng Brizan (89) of Norwegian and Swedish descent spent her first five years in remote logging camps. She first learned to speak English in grade one and went on to university to receive a Bachelor of Arts in teaching.
Pietje (DeBoer) Kragt (82) was born in Harlingen, Holland, moved to Canada in 1954 and learned to speak English at her first job at the local hospital. She married Henry Kragt in 1955 and together they raised eight children.
Retired Duchess Park secondary school English teacher Gerry Dulmage (80) met Mai (Jaansalu) Dulmage (74) in Europe. Mai Jaansalu was born in Tallinn, Estonia; a small Baltic country south of Finland and a former republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Gerry and Mai have an amazing life story of how they met and how they both came to make Prince George their home back in 1966.
Patricia (Reynolds) Morgan (82), born in Black River the capital of
St. Elizabeth Parish, in southwestern Jamaica and husband Lance Morgan (deceased) a young Jamaican pastor moved to Prince George in 1962. Pat was schooled as a nurse and a teacher; she opted out of both for marriage and to raise her family. Pat was an integral part of the growth and development of the First Baptist Church and assisted her well-known husband in his pastoral ministry and in his community involvement.
Eileen (Broughton) Hoagland (87) left her hometown of Forget, Sask. at the young age of 18 and headed west for adventure. Arrived in Prince George, married, raised four children and became a widow at a young age. At the age of 80 and still full of adventure she started an exciting bucket list with the last thing on the list being to live to be 90.
Vern and Verna Wright, owner operators of the Kole Creek Bison Ranch near Hixon and one of only a very few bison breeders in British Columbia hosted the Forever Young Chorus wind up pot luck lunch with one of the highlights being the bison meat balls entre.
Denise (Deurbrouck) Chenail (80), retired registered nurse from Saskatchewan and volunteer extraordinaire gave up nursing and married George Chenail (deceased) in 1953. They headed west to Bear Lake in the pursuit of work and started their life together. She would become one of the first ambulance attendants in Bear Lake in the late 1970's.
Joan Inez Margaret (Perry) Buchi (85) was born in Black Diamond, Alta.; she met and married Prince George born Ivor Buchi (86) while teaching school in Fraser Flats. Joan said, "It was not love at first sight, we got married in 1950 and we just celebrated 65 years of marriage."
Long-time residents and life long volunteers Mike Bundock (83) and Louise (McGillivray) Bundock (79) are still actively and quietly doing their volunteer work in our community. They have been married for just over six decades and have lived in Prince George since 1965.
Margaret (Smith) Keibel (85), retired registered nurse, left Lancashire, England seeking adventure in Canada. She eventually arrived in Prince George in 1960 and she has been here ever since. She learned to play the ukulele and is now the teacher of her own ukulele class.
Cliff Dezell (80), born in Williams Lake, retired pharmacist, Freeman of the City, former city councilor and his wife Sharron (Haynes) Dezell (76) born in Duncan and a retired school teacher have had a 55-year history together here in Prince George.
Lyndon (aka Lindy) Barnes (87) from Trochu, Alta. met Roberta (aka Bobbi) Swan (83) from Vancouver on a blind date. After 63 years of marriage Lindy still says he married the prettiest and sweetest girl in the world.
To be continued next week.
