Della (Brownscombe) Walker was born in Wells, BC in the year of 1937. Her father worked in the gold mines and in 1942 the family moved to the Hixon area where Della attended school at the Canyon Creek and Woodpecker elementary schools. In 1951 she started high school in Prince George and boarded with family members until she graduated in 1955.
Della said, "I worked in the office of Columbia Excavating until I had a terrible car accident out at Chief Lake. It was while I was in the hospital that I met my husband Linton Walker. Linton was working for CN Rail at the time and he just happened to go along with a friend of his to visit his friends' girl friend in the hospital. The friend's girlfriend was my room mate and the rest is history. We struck up a friendship which led to a courtship and we were married in 1956. That was 58 years ago!
"We had three children; two sons Deane and Robert who we lost in a tragic car accident in 1978 and a daughter Annamarie who lives here in Prince George. We called Annamarie our country addition because she was born and raised in Stoner.
"Linton, who is now 81, worked as an engineer on the CN Rail for 35 years and retired in 1990; I worked at Sears Canada for 23 years and retired in 2002. During that time we also owned and operated the Saw Dust Trail Campsite in Stoner for 20 years."
Della is a 40 year member of the Royal Purple and a 15 year charter member of the Gospel Singers at the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre.
Linton volunteered many hours as a minor league hockey coach and is an avid coin collector.
Their passion was cribbage and cribbage tournaments. They are both members of the American Cribbage Congress. The American Cribbage Congress was established in 1980 as a non-profit organization dedicated to making the game of cribbage fun and fair for people of all ages. The group sponsors over 150 sanctioned tournaments a year through out North America. Della said, "We traveled to many different cities just to play cribbage while on a vacation. All of that ended three years ago when Linton had a serious heart attack. Now we just take it easy. We are both thankful that we did all that traveling while we were able to. We can't go very far right now so we are just enjoying our retirement and hoping to do some more traveling in the near future."
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The Prince George and District Senior Citizens Activity Centre, 425 Brunswick Street will be holding their annual general meeting on Monday, February 23rd at 12:30 pm phone 250-564-3287 for details.
Dance at the Hart Pioneer Centre, 6986 Hart Hwy. February 28th 8 pm to midnight $10 at the door, those 19 and over are welcome; for more information call 250-962-6712.
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February birthdays that I know about: Judy Jackson, Darlene Meyers, Catherine Bond (94), Gilbert Stolz, Bob Carrier, Judy Fisher, Lloyd Annis, Ton and Amy Vander Ploeg, Sophie Chartrand, Kirsten Redding, Paul Steindl, Iris Frenkel, Verna Wright, Clarence Boudreau, Kathy Iselmoe, Joan McKay, Helen Wlasitz, Wendy Wlasitz, Peter Osis, Aurela Kronebusch, Marlene Johnson, Rudy Wortman, Gertraud and Roman Hildebrandt, Mary Brizan, Betty Pearson, Raymond Roch, Helen Dahl, Andrea McKenzie, Evelyn Porter, Delores Bircher, Ingrid Maack, Lillian Peter, Ted Scoullar, Judy Johnson (JJ), Jack McKinley, Edna Stitt, Muriel Goodson, Fred Dettling, Else Olesik, Sonya Martin, Marlys Labonte, Barb Carson, Millie Christenson, Doris Dittaro, Irene Carbert, Manfred Hamm, Chris Jacobs, Joyce Antonyk, Sandy Shinnie, Neil Peterson, Frank Burkitt, Connie Card, Denise Chenail, Francis Chroscinski, Joyce Denluck, Ted Girling, Louise Gobin, Luci Goodfellow, Wanda Hauff, Gary Jorgensen, Audrey Kelly, Doreen Klages, Anita Laurin, Louis Matte, Gardan Hall, Sharon Harrison, Gary Glenn, Carol Ventress, William Theessen, Stella Schreiner, Dorothy Balogn, Ann Mcleod, Dorothy Mosser, Mel Pearson, Kimberley Pike, Russel Prouse, Olga Roux, Samual Ryder, James Stanyer, Mona Strand, Noreen Stubley, Jack Wagner and Gordon Ware.
Anniversaries: 50 years for Ernie and Diana Myers, 50 years for Wayne and Jan Braaten, 50 years for Earl and Lorraine Turner, 13 years for Lino and Kathy Nadalin, and nine years for Dave and Wendy Wlasitz
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Note of interest: February 2015 has four Sundays, four Mondays, four Tuesdays, four Wednesdays, four Thursdays, four Fridays and four Saturdays. Apparently this only happens once every 823 years.
