ALASKA HIGHWAY NEWS THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2023 | VOL. 79 NO. 9
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SURREY BOUND Bert Bowes Grade 8 basketball team makes history after zone sweep
Guest Speaker
invites you to the Public Launch of
Northern Lights Church
Chris Byberg
March 5, 2023 at 10:00 am
Executive Director
National House of Prayer 10116 100 Ave, Fort St. John (inside the Salvation Army Foodbank) NorthernLightsChurch.ca • Where Heaven’s Light Transforms Our Night • 236-358-0300
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Local senior feted for 100th birthday Matt Preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca
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Two miraculous things happened 100 years ago in 1923: the first instant camera was invented and Marie Kirkpatrick was born. And both were out in fine form and fashion Saturday as family and friends from near and afar gathered at the seniors hall in Fort St. John to capture Kirkpatrick’s centennial 100th birthday celebration. “It’s just been a day to day thing. I’ve had a good family and a happy life and a nice husband,” said Kirkpatrick. “There’s been hard times and good times. I’m grateful and happy and I’m in a good place.” Kirkpatrick was born Feb. 27, 1923, and raised in Desjarlais, Alberta, before her dad moved the family to a homestead in Clayhurst, B.C., in December 1931. She finished her grade 8 studies and had started grade 9, but because her parents didn’t have the money to continue sending her to school, Kirkpatrick went to work. “I’m the oldest in the family so I was sent out to work. I worked for an uncle and aunt, then I worked at the Dawson Creek hospital for eight dollars a month and board and room,” she recalled. “We took temperatures, we served the food, and we washed the floors. We did everything.” After a year at the Catholicrun hospital, the work proved too taxing on Kirkpatrick’s body and her doctor told her to take three months holiday. She later went to work in housekeeping closer to home, which led her to meeting her husband, Neil, in Baldonnel in 1941. They eloped and married in Grande Prairie in November 1943, and a year and a month later, on Christmas night, Neil was shipped overseas to war in Europe. He didn’t return until October 1946. “He was some of the last to go over so he was the last to come home,” she said. After the war, the couple farmed three miles from Fort St. John where they lived for 62 years and raised a large, loving family: five children, ten grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren, many of whom travelled from Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Kelowna to take in Saturday’s birthday celebration. “It makes me almost tearyeyed,” Kirkpatrick said.
MATT PREPROST PHOTO
Marie Kirkpatrick with her kids Bonnie, Sandi, Kelly, and Glen.
Marie was married to Neil for 66 and a half years before he passed. Together they lived through decades of monumental societal and technological change. Consider that in 1923, a gallon of gas cost just 22 cents and a new house $5,600. Back then, the world population was only 1.9 billion, Disney had just been founded, and the bulldozer and Q-tip cotton swab just invented. “Sometimes I think [the world] is going too fast,” Kirkpatrick admitted. But she still keeps a positive outlook, reminding her grandchildren the secrets to living a long and happy life: work hard, be a good person, and get along with everyone. “Be thankful for every day and be kind and help your fellow neighbours,” she said. Kirkpatrick lives in the Heritage Manor II assisted living building in Fort St. John. A dance was held there Monday evening in celebration of her birthday. “All my life I’ve loved to dance,” she said. “That’s my favourite thing to do.”
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MATT PREPROST PHOTO
AN EVEN 100 — Marie Kirkpatrick takes in the moment with family and friends during her 100th birthday celebration at the Fort St. John Seniors Hall on Feb. 25, 2023.
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