Otto Arndt was born in the heavily industrialized area of Germany in the Rhine Rhur area of Duisburg, Essen near Dsseldorf in 1939, an area that was targeted and suffered huge losses as the result of bombings during the Second World War.
Otto was an avid reader of adventure stories and as a young boy he wanted to see the world. In fact he wanted to join the French Foreign Legion and go to Africa even though he did not know what it was all about. His father encouraged him to finish his schooling in an electrical program before enacting his dreams of joining the French Foreign Legion.
It was a time when Otto was faced with either volunteering or being conscripted into the new German Air Force. He volunteered and at the same time he applied for immigration to Canada.
His notice of an immigration hearing arrived two days after the Air Force acceptance letter arrived. He felt that by going to Canada he would be his own boss so he boarded the ship to Canada, arrived in Montreal and then boarded a train to Edmonton with a goal of going as far north and as far west as possible.
The fact that he did not speak English was a real barrier but it did not stop Otto in his quest for a Canadian adventure.
He found work doing maintenance in an Edmonton laundry for three months and then he decided to hitchhike north, which brought him to Fort Nelson. He worked as an electrician and experienced setting hydro poles in permafrost.
Otto explained it like this, "I was 18 years old and I had never seen anything like it. I had to use a special shovel for that job. I had to chip away at the frost a spoonful at a time and the shovel enabled me to get the chips out of the hole. The job was very tedious and time consuming and required going down to at least three feet in order to set the pole. I couldn't stand the boredom and after a month my boss found me a job with a seismograph crew. One hour later I was on a 60 mile road trip into the bush headed for the seismograph crew camp. I spoke very poor English but I was certainly getting the adventure that I had been looking for."
Three years later, Otto ended up in Prince George with adventures as a firefighter in northern Ontario, work in a Volkswagen factory in Montral and some cowboy work in Alberta along the way.
He found work with a timber marking crew for the forest service and lived in a cabin in the Hart Highway area. One evening he was invited to supper by a friendly neighbor and it just so happened that the girl across the street knocked on the door to pick up bread pans because she occasionally baked bread for the elderly couple.
Otto reflected back and said, "I looked her over and thought - not my type. She returned later for the fourth hand in a card game. We had a great time playing cards and after the game I walked her home and shook her hand goodnight. It was then that I decided I was tired of being alone and I wanted to have this girl for a mate. I courted her for three weeks and I went out and bought a set of wedding rings."
The girl next door who later became Otto's wife was Janice Rowan. Janice was born in Saskatchewan where life was a struggle so the family moved to Prince George on the advice of relatives that lived here and they started a new life.
The young couple got married and eventually started a family; they will soon celebrate 55 years of marriage. They have three children: Jackie (deceased), Jennifer (Dean) Wood and Darrin as well as six grandchildren.
Janice worked at the Princess movie theatre on Third and Vancouver and the Strand movie theatre located near the Northern Hardware store as an usher and in the concession stand. She also worked at the drive-in theatres located where Fred Walls used to be and the Moonlight Drive-in theatre on the dirt road that is now Fifth Avenue near where the Chateau is located today. Over the years Janice worked in retail for Stedman's and in the butcher shop at the old SuperValu store on Fourth and Victoria.
Over the years, Otto and Janice moved around, always retuning to Prince George and eventually settling down here in 1991. Otto is self employed in construction and renovation projects and Janice is the bookkeeper and construction site assistant for their company. She said, "We both have strong personalities but we have always stuck to our relationship. We worked things out and we didn't go to bed holding a grudge."
June birthdays that I know about: Matt Pauley, Diane Sultano, Louise Bundock, Jean Liversidge, Ivor Buchi, Gladys Thorp, Francine Bussieres, Ethel Rhodes, Carol Bailey, Linda Wenzel, Adele Mingay, Pauline Anderson, Lee Abra, Pam Meyer, Otto Arndt, Connie Buchanan, Robert Reid, Mary Kirby, Lois Bittner, Frank Mauro, Helen Checkley, Gladys Goyer, Euclide Goyer, Lena Dumoulin, Dody Morehouse, John Wemyss, Heather Carter, Madeline Collins, Linda Earles, Rod Holmes, Mike Werstiuk, Caroline Burkhardt, June Kelly, Ann Cherniawsky, Garnet Webber, June Kromm, Skip Cleave, Margaret Girling, Doreen Gray, Don Carpenter, Keith McLachlan, Linda Parkinson, Lena Rossi, Paul Swennumson, Viola Leer, Dave Erickson and Helen McLane.
June wedding Anniversaries:
62 years for Mike and Louise Bundock, 55 years for Otto and Janice Arndt, 47 years for Terry and Heather Carter and one year for Mike and Helen Green.
