Retired pharmacist Bud Whitwham and his wife Muriel have been a huge part of Prince George for the past 56 years.
Bud, the eldest of three children, was born in 1930 in Vancouver. His parents lived in south Burnaby and since there was no hospital in Burnaby, at the time, Bud came into the world at the relatively new Grace Hospital at the corner of Heather Street and 26th Avenue in Vancouver.
His father was employed as a foreman at British Wire Ropes at Granville Island. Back then the area was an industrial manufacturing area and today it is a popular tourism and entertainment destination.
Bud grew up in Burnaby, graduated from Burnaby South High School, attended the University of B.C. and graduated with a bachelor of science from pharmacy school in 1954.
Bud explained, "during my studies at UBC, I worked for George Reid. George had three stores; he owned the prescription pharmacy in the Birk's Building in Vancouver, the drugstore in North Burnaby and the Fifth Avenue Pharmacy in Prince George.
"George worked at the Birks Building store and his son Ken Reid worked the North Burnaby store. When I graduated I took over as manager and a partner in the North Burnaby store. When George retired in 1954 Ken went to the Birks Building; after a bit George wanted Ken to go to Prince George and take over the Fifth Avenue Pharmacy and he sold the Birks Building store.
"We came up to Prince George in 1959 on a holiday and liked what we saw.
"Prince George was growing by leaps and bounds and many doctors started to arrive. The doctors had confidence in the future of Prince George and in 1960 there was a group of six doctors that wanted to start their own group clinic. Plans were made to build the first phase of the Victoria Medical Building; the original three-story building opened in 1962. The second phase of the Victoria Medical Building was the addition of a five-story building next to the original building.
"In 1962, Ken Reid moved into the new pharmacy in the Victoria Medical Building. Muriel and I moved to Prince George and I took over the Fifth Avenue Pharmacy from 1962-1970. In 1970 I also moved into the pharmacy in the Victoria Medical Building.
"The old Fifth Avenue Pharmacy building now belongs to the Prince George Italian Club.
"When Muriel and I and our three children moved to Prince George, the Fifth Avenue Pharmacy was part of the centre of town. We were near the old liquor store, CKPG and Jack Lee's Outrigger Restaurant. We had a perfect location in the busiest part of town.
"Back in those days, doctors made house calls during all hours of the night and day. At the pharmacy, we worked 12-hour shifts because of the shortage of pharmacists. The extremely busy doctors were not shy at all about phoning us at home and after hours to go down and open the store to fill a much-needed prescription and of course we did it for the doctors and for the people that needed the medicine."
Bud met Muriel Spurr in 1948 and they married in 1952. Muriel was born in Rocanville, Sask., in 1929. She was the third of eight children. Her father worked at the coal docks in Rocanville and when her mother died, when Muriel was 10 years old, her father moved the family to New Westminster and found work at Fraser Mills.
Muriel graduated from Trapp Tech high school and worked for the unemployment insurance office for many years.
Bud hung around with a group of guys his age and they were known as the Burnaby Boys. Similarly, Muriel hung around with a group of girls her age and they were known as the New Westminster girls. The group of 12 New Westminster girls that are still left remain good friends to this very day.
Both groups attended a dance at the Hollywood Bowl in New Westminster on the same night and to make a long story short that is how Bud met Muriel.
Muriel said, "Bud wasn't the best dancer but we got along just fine on the dance floor and the rest didn't seem to matter. We got married in 1952. To this day he can admit that he is not a great dancer and you know it still doesn't matter.
"When we got married Bud still had two years of pharmacy school before graduation and I just kept on working and paying the bills."
Bud said, "Muriel was the bread winner while I was still in pharmacy school so I owe one half of my degree to Muriel. I am quite proud to say that we recently celebrated 66 years of marriage.
"Muriel and I had three children. Our eldest child is Rob; he is the general manager of community services for the City of Prince George.
"Our daughter Sandy (Don) Augatis has worked with Costco in Prince George since the day it opened and is now part of the office staff.
"Our son Jay (Lisa) is a chartered accountant in Vancouver.
"We have four grandchildren and two of them have graduated from UNBC with degrees. One of the best things to come to Prince George has been UNBC. We supported UNBC from its inception and now our grandchildren are benefitting from all the hard work that the many volunteers did to make it all possible for our city."
When the children started to arrive, Muriel became a stay at home mom. She volunteered with everything to do with their children.
Bud said, "We can remember that when we moved here the only place that the children could go to see Santa Claus was at an old furniture store on the corner of Third and Victoria. There were many happy children who came to see Santa Claus. The children entered in the front door and exited on a side door after talking to Santa Claus.
"In the 70s the building came up for sale; Barry Phillips and I bought it, tore it down and rebuilt the store to what is now the Western Bank Building.
"We just want the people at the Western Bank to know that the spirit of Santa Claus is in your building. We tore down that old building and those of us who remember Christmas back then and the fun that the children had visiting Santa Claus for so many years - well, we just know that the spirit of Christmas and Santa Claus is in your building."
When they became empty nesters, Muriel took up golf. Bud said, "Over the years she competed in the B.C. Senior Games and has well over a dozen medals in her trophy box. She taught me how to golf but she must have kept some secrets because she can still beat me on the golf course. I am actually pretty proud of her for that.
"I retired in 1993 and we started to spend our winters golfing in Arizona. We used to arrive back in Prince George in time to golf but for the last 10 years we have remained in Prince George year-round."
Bud and Muriel concluded by saying, "Our move to Prince George has been nothing but good for us and our family. We only intended to stay here for five years and now 56 years later we are still here with no intention of leaving. Prince George has been a great place to raise our children and we have made many long-lasting friendships with really great people."
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October birthdays that I know about: Emma Mauro, Kelly Flath, Dave Mazurak, Helen Green, Mike Green, Barbara Chartrand, Lindy Barnes, Alda Russman, Pam Boulding, Minnie Meier, Janice Taylor, John Broderick, Adene Clay, Pietje Kragt, Joe Chartrand, Frank Sarrazin, Victor Bowman, Eileen Hoagland, Syl Meise, Judy Shul, Barb Sandberg, Bill Mintenko, Cameron Sutherland, Cathy Bilbrough, Robbyn Unruh, Sally Rosevear, Yvonne Rowe, Don McLaughlin, Bobbi Pringle, Bertha Orydzuk, Pat Husberg, Shirley Smith, Ann Miller, Henry Engelsjord, Donna Roach, Larry Rowe, Ute Schuler, Margaret Smith, Don Wilson, Tony Carpino, Christa Hughes, Hope Humm, Denice Gudlaugson, Ann Fitzsimmons, Steve Marynovich, Ida Nikkel, Marie Prentice, Annette Yarama, Claudette Beauchamp, Ralph Fetterly, Doris Little, Irene Hnathshen, Shirley Moonie, Gordon Sewell, Synove Dedreu, Elaine Ceal and Cheryl Renwick.
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October anniversaries that I know about: 65 years for John and Ethel Esler, 64 years for Swede and Amelia Peterson, 64 years for Allan and Gladys Thorp, 58 years for Hugo and Ursula Riske, 56 years for Bob and Ruth Reid, 56 years for John and Judy Elmquist and 54 years for Roy and Sandra Goodkey.
