Longtime Prince George resident Yvonne (Foxcroft) Stewart was born in Bersey, Sask., in 1935.
Yvonne laughed and said, "I was so small when I was born that they had to put me in a shoe box and place it on the oven door to make sure I was kept warm all the time. I was quite often and lovingly referred to as a shoe box baby."
Yvonne doesn't remember all the details but she remembers that her parents travelled a lot due to work commitments so when she started school she went to live with her grandmother in a huge house on Hornby Street in Vancouver. It was the same house where her grandmother had raised 16 children which, of course, included Yvonne's mother and all her aunts and uncles.
At the age of nine, Yvonne moved to Steveston with her parents. She is proud to say that her mother worked at the historic Gulf of Georgia Cannery - also known as The Cannery.
The Cannery was built in 1894 and was once the largest building of its kind and boasted as being the leading producer of canned salmon; an industry that was one of the province's largest employers, with canned salmon one of the province's principal export commodities.
Yvonne spent her teen years in Aldergrove picking strawberries and potatoes for spending money. It was hard work but she was a hard worker.
She arrived in Prince George at the age of 14 and attended school at Duchess Park.
The years went by and she met and married George Stewart. George worked at Cale Creek Sawmills, 15 miles south of Prince George.
George and his brother Jimmy both had their own trucks and they hauled lumber for a living. They were well known for the ability of each of them to separately load, haul and unload by hand enough green lumber to fill two box cars per day. It was hard work but that never stopped them.
Yvonne said, "We lived in the sawmill camp at Cale Creek until the sawmill shut down and the community faded away. It wasn't easy; we had no electricity and no running water. We had to pack water for everything. No one sat around complaining, we just did it.
"I can remember watching George load and unload his truck. When they went to pick up the lumber they found it stacked on a platform and underneath the platform there were two poles (one at the front and the other at the back) on each of the under sides of the platform. They backed up the truck - complete with rollers on the end of the truck bed - and the first post on both sides of the platform was knocked out, the lumber would fall and slide onto the rollers, the rollers on the truck would slide ahead with the lumber and that is how they loaded a truck. If they did it right and things went smoothly it was perfectly safe.
"It was my job to hand-count all the lumber on the back of the truck and after awhile I got pretty good at it. They then trucked the lumber to the planer mills along the Fraser River. Unloading the truck was another story altogether; in most cases they used a stacker with tongs to unload the truck."
When the pulp mills arrived the saw mills closed one right after the other. There was no lumber to haul and following right behind, many truckers went out of business as well.
George found work in Smithers in the auto wrecking business and later came back to Prince George. Laurie Parker was the manager at Ford Motors Trucking and he personally extended credit to George so that he could buy a truck to haul sand and gravel.
Years later, George went to work for Laurie Parker selling vehicles. It helped immensely that George knew just about everything there was to know about all the vehicles on the lot and he had no problem selling them. He won many salesmanship awards and after 18 years in the business he retired in 1980.
They lived in their dream home out at Clucuz Lake but sadly it burned to the ground after their television exploded and set the house on fire.
After the fire, they moved into Prince George and then traveled quite extensively in their fifth wheel.
Yvonne said, "Together we raised five children who in turn gave us 25 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and one great great-grandchild. We had many good times and sometimes it seemed like we had just as many sad times. George passed away in 2004 and now I am living at Alward Place and I love it here.
"I like the people and I have many good friends here. The best part about it is the fact that I can come and go as I please; I have everything that I need right here and in the neighbourhood. I keep busy with my knitting and crochet work and I try to count my blessings and be thankful everyday."
There will be an indoor spring garage sale at the Pineview Community Hall on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The address is 6470 Bendixon Road; hot food and snacks will be available at the concession stand. Donations to the garage will be gratefully accepted; phone 250-963-7056 for details. Proceeds will go to the Pineview Seniors Centre and the 24 Hour Relay for Life event.
The Gospel Singers at the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre, under the direction of Alexis Maikapar and Joyce Burkitt, are proud to present Waters of Life on Saturday at 7 p.m. and again on Sunday at 2 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children, tickets will be available at the door. The address is 1692 Tenth Ave. if you have any questions contact Lisa at 250-561- 9381
April birthdays that I know about: Bruna Valentinis Nadalin, Donna Bosnich, Patrick Stapleton, Fern Roberts, Judith Elmquist, Lois Boone, Ken Stahl, Lillie (Khin Sein) Sein, Laurie Rustad, Barb Endean, Frank Porter, Patsy Patterson, Joan Millns, Gertrude Lansing, Diane Duperron, John Frenkel, Lothar Hirt, Charlie Burkitt, Joyce Burkitt, Shirley Green, Terry Carter, Marion Watt, Shirley Gratton, Hilliard Clare, Allen Soltis, Sharon Hurd, George Kos, Alexis Maikapar, Stan Cook, Joan Frechette, Joyce Grantham, Avril Barr, Sandy Moseley, Alice Friend, Sharon Talkington, Spencer Baker, Rosemary Burns, Harold Hewlett, George Kivi, Andres Norum, Grace Spears, Maxine Valpy, Edwina Watt, Laura Simpson, Roderick Herd, Art Carter, Ginny Parsons, Bill Chappel, Lynn Boomer, Fred Penhale, Michael Murphy, Fred Johns, Leona Nyberg, and Kathy Balcom.
April Anniversaries: 64 years for Joe and Sophie Chartrand, 59 years for August and Loretta Thibault, 56 years for Mike and Evie Padalec, 54 years for Greg and Alice Friend, 54 years for Joyce and Jim Sweeny, 53 years for Armand and Doreen Denicola, 52 years for Hans and Roberta Johansen, 52 years for Cyril and Irene Fortin, 51 years for Derek and Ester Swanson and 50 years for Kevin and Pearl Blood and 50 years for Lorne and Irene Carbert.
March anniversary: 60 years for Robert and Evelyn DuBois.
