It was always about family, community and friends for Ken Goss, who passed away Jan. 6 at the Rotary Hospice House.
Ken was born Jan. 19, 1950.
“He was born and raised here and he was a great ambassador for the city,” Ken’s wife Darlene said. “Wherever he went he’d be promoting Prince George because he loved the people and wanted the community to thrive so he volunteered for various things - from a number of charities, right into sports.”
Ken was an excellent athlete in his youth, playing baseball, hockey, basketball, lacrosse and the list goes on. He was on several all-star teams during those days and then played golf in his later years, Darlene recalled.
Ken was a construction plumber pipefitter for 18 years before he found his path in real estate sales.
“Whether it was commercial or residential, he always looked for the property that was best for the client,” Darlene explained Ken’s philosophy. “He didn’t think about the dollar signs, only what was best for them. He always said ‘if I won’t sell that house to my family, I won’t sell that house to you’.”
Ken was recognized for his outstanding care of his clients with several MLS awards and was awarded Re/Max 100 per cent club in 1990. In 1995, he was presented with the Re/Max Team Spirit Award for Western Canada and was inducted into the Re/Max Hall of Fame that same year.
“In real estate he was an innovator,” Darlene said. “He was the first to put his phone number rather than the office phone number on his signs. He was the first to use a cell phone and the first to decal his vehicle and the first to use a truck rather than a car and he said he was the first to change the dress code from a suit and tie to more casual. These are the little things that depict who he was.”
And then there was his other job, volunteering in the community.
“He was always involved with things that would improve the community,” Darlene recalled. “He supported the Evening in Pink when it was going, helped start the Cougar Alumni tournament to raise money for the Spirit of the North so we could have better equipment for our local hospital.”
It was about how to make life better in Prince George.
“Ken was always a great supporter of local businesses,” Darlene said.
Most recently, Ken was looking for a way to bring in more multi-tiered living for seniors.
“It’s something our community needs so badly,” Darlene said. “And that was his pet project.”
Darlene thought this was important for us to know about Ken.
"Ken always liked to wrangle his friends into volunteering with him," Darlene said. "He called himself an ‘idea’ man and he knew enough people and the right people to bring a project to fruition. He knew who to delegate the different jobs to."
And that was never more obvious than when he sat on the planning committee for the Canada Winter Games that took place in 2015 and his group was called the ‘posse’ and would answer the call for all the spur-of-the-moment needs that always come up during any national event, she added.
“They would call Ken up, whether it was getting chairs, changing a sign or driving people somewhere,” Darlene recalled fondly. “And once he got actively involved in it, he would always volunteer his friends – myself included.
“He was a kind and generous man with a great sense of humour,” Darlene said. “His glass was always half full, never half empty. He always had a very positive attitude towards everything. Family, friends and community were very important to him. He just loved people.”
