Don Ford was born in Tisdale, Sask. in 1933.
There was no work in Tisdale so, on the advice of friends, he decided to head west and took the train to Vancouver. He had no idea of what to expect but that did not matter, he was going west to find a good job.
Don and a buddy of his arrived in Vancouver and went to the Labour Temple looking for work. They sent them to the unemployment office and from there they were told that they should go north to Vanderhoof because it was there that they were hiring workers on the Kenny Dam.
They took the bus to Vanderhoof and upon arrival they were told that yes, they were hiring but that they would have to go to Vancouver to apply because the hiring was being done out of the Vancouver office. Don immediately spotted the run-around that they were getting so they just backtracked and went back to Prince George.
Don said "when we left Vancouver we left at 4 p.m. on a Thursday and 22 hours later we arrived in Prince George at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 18, 1952.
"The bus depot at that time was located across the street from the Korning Hotel - which is now the Croft. We were pretty thirsty so we paid 25 cents to store our luggage and then went across the street for a beer. We both landed a job at a sawmill out in the Chief Lake area that same evening.
"We stayed at the Columbus Hotel and then made our way out to the Chief Lake General Store and set up a general delivery mail address. I worked for the next three years for Miller & Rahn sawmills."
Don went on to work for B.C. Spruce, a planer mill that originated in his hometown of Tisdale, Sask. Four years later he took over the Home service station on Queensway and First Avenue and three years later he went into construction.
His next job was for John Assman, who owned Prince George Warehousing. He worked there for four years unloading the huge 125 pound aluminum beer kegs off the rail cars and then delivered them to the following hotels: the National, the Astoria, the McDonald, the Canada, the Europe, the Croft, the Simon Fraser and the Prince George Hotel.
He also delivered 120 kegs of beer per week to the popular bar called the Barn which was located at the Inn of the North and catered to the younger people and in particular the college students and the young business people. All of this was back in the day when the pulp mills were being built in our town.
Finally, he settled down and worked as a sales representative for Sun Life Insurance and retired 34 years later at the age of 68.
Don met and married Erna Southoff in 1956. They had one daughter.
In 1976, Don and Lynda Buckingham started a family and together they had six children. He has four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Don was proud to point out that this equates to five generations. Sadly, Lynda passed away in 2014.
Don has been a fraternal member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 43 since 1957 and over the years he served on many of their committees as needed.
In 1994,when he was the president, Tom Masich invited the Legion branch to prepare to host the annual national track and field championships set to be held in 1998. Don was the chairman of the arrangements committee for this very successful event. The Legion raised $120,000 in cash and in-kind donations from the Prince George community. This is what they had to do to hold an event like this before the Government of Canada started to fund sporting events.
He housed all the athletes at the new University of Northern British Columbia for their ten-day stay.
He organized a three-day training camp following the championship games for all the athletes in their particular sport. The training camp was the first of its kind in Canada at that point in time.
Don was presented with a plaque in appreciation to his dedication as chairman of the Royal Canadian Legion Track and Field Championships in 1998.
In 1999, Don was presented with the Life Membership Award from the Legion (Pacific) No. 43 Branch and the Meritorious Service Award B.C./Yukon No. 43 Branch in 2005 and the Legionnaire of the Year award in 2001.
Don has been a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Last Post Committee for 47 years, serving as a pall bearer for burial services or an honour guard at memorial services for veterans.
He has been a member of the Elks for the past 26 years.
Don said, "I enjoyed all my volunteer work with the Legion and the Elks. In fact I still attend the meat draws at the Legion on Fridays and Saturdays, the Elks meat draw on Thursdays and the Peacekeepers meat draw on Sunday.
"In my younger years I was fit and I belonged to a fastball team for many years. The years have taken their toll and I can no longer do the things I used to do.
"I now live at Alward Place along with many other great seniors. It is a great place and I surround myself with a lot of interesting people.
"When I arrived in Prince George in 1952 I was only 19 years old. I did not intend to stay here but by the time four years quickly passed by I knew Prince George would forever be my home and I have been here ever since."
