It's Friday, and as I leave my cluttered desk behind after 31 years I feel an urgency to have a last word as I say farewell to my faithful readers.
It's been a great run. Unbelievable stories that I, a Saskatchewan farm girl and the only member of her Grade 12 graduating class, was privileged to cover and write.
Like the 10 years I covered city council. I recall the day we waited at city hall for Mayor Elmer Mercier to emerge from the fifth floor to re-toss his hat into the ring.
But but he didn't show, the deadline passed, and John Backhouse won the position which he would hold for the next 10 years.
Backhouse stepped into a dormant community, where the last big thing that had happened was the building of the library in about 1979 and 1980.
Discovery Place, the proposed $29 million city centre, went down in a vote of flames, but from the ashes rose the Civic Centre. It was Bruce Strachan who reminded council of a $5 million legacy from Expo 86, telling aldermen to use it or lose it.
The Civic Centre, costing $12.1 million "and not a penny more" under Backhouse was built with no borrowing required, and from there CN Centre, Aquatic Centre, Art Gallery and UNBC emerged.
What a time we had with the building of University Way. It's ancient slide areas, requiring tons of gravel reinforcement, resulted in doubling the cost to about $16 from $8 million. The extra money was one thing, but the real problem was whether we could get the road done in time for Queen Elizabeth to officially open the joint in 1994. Jokes abounded at the time about how to get the Queen up the hill - horseback, trail bike or in hiking boots - but with just hours to spare, the day was saved. And what a day it was, and what a boom it brought in all ways from economics to international recognition to growing our own northern medical care givers.
Remember the time that we had an exodus of doctors and it was critical that something be done quickly? The now infamous health rally called in 2000 attracted 7,000 northerners who witnessed the frustration and tears of doctors and nurses who were overworked and without hope.
But the province came through and changes were made. Most importantly was a promise by UNBC president, Charles Jago, who said if there's the will, we'll find a way, and the seeds for the Northern Medical Program were firmly planted.
Four short years later we welcomed the first 24-student class of would-be doctors who graduated from residency programs in 2010.
I was there, covering health, when the North first vied for a cancer centre in the '80s, and despite the Rotary Club raising about $200,000 seed money to entice the province, it didn't happen. Eventually, the money was used to help build Prince George Rotary Hospice Society to help those suffering with cancer.
Then came a memorable day I like to refer to as "Good Friday" on Sept. 21, 2007 when former Premier Gordon Campbell came to town.
He came to officially open the $30.75 million Northern Sports Centre at UNBC , and while here, announced the building of a $70 million long-awaited cancer center, and kicked in another $11 million so the $36-million airport runway expansion could get underway immediately. Covering two out of three kept me on a high all day.
In between the landmark stories were hundreds of others etched in my memory forever. The stories of teenagers Barbara Greene, who died in England undergoing a transplant that was her only hope, and Gairett MacIver, who astounded the world by surviving a four-transplant surgery, only to die from complications after resuming life back home.
Our team was on the road with Rick Hansen as he crossed the B.C. border to be welcomed home from his world trek, and we watched people in our lives being honoured in special ways, like Terry Fox and Monica Becott.
One of saddest -- yet proudest moments for me was writing the obituary of Del Laverdure, who died April 9, 2008 after serving as well loved publisher of Prince George Citizen for nine years.
That kind of assignment makes a writer feel like they've been given an entitlement that they can only pray they are worthy of.
I've worked for eight publishers -- first being John Evans and the latest being Hugh Nicholson -- as well as a host of managing, news and city editors.
They were topnotch journalists like Tony Skae, Pete Miller, Roy Nagel, Peter Godfrey, Doug Martin, Bob Mackenzie, John Harding, Dave Paulson, Neil Godbout and Randall Heidt, to name just a few. Each had knowledge to contribute and share.
Throughout it all there was you, the loyal readers of the Citizen -- the ones that matter the most and the reason we reporters keep pen and notebook close by.
To those who counted on me to get your message out, I'm grateful for your trust and I humbly say thank you.
Adios Amigos.
