Long-time Prince George resident and retired architect Trelle Morrow was born in 1930 in the East Kootenay town of Fernie; however he was raised in the South Country half way between Fernie and the Montana border. Here is his story in a nutshell:
Trelle, whose architectural career spanned nearly 40 years, made a significant and meaningful contribution to the City of Prince George. You can find all the details and the history of the many prominent buildings that Trelle designed during his career on the internet; just Google Trelle Morrow and you will see that he is part of the City's Heritage Commission, he is an award winning historian and he is recognized for his contributions in support of arts and culture.
I want to take this opportunity to say that Trelle designed, among others, the Prince George Citizen building at 150 Brunswick Street 53 years ago for W. B. Milner and in doing so he incorporated the use of laminated spruce timber as far back as the 1960s. Today, buildings using laminated wood receive a lot of attention for the innovative idea of using laminated wood in the construction of new buildings.
The days of the great depression of the 30s are remembered very well by Trelle. They were fortunate to be living in a rural community where people could survive because of their gardens and wild game for meat. Trelle explained, "It was a time when work was scarce and one could see the trains loaded with transients on a regular basis. At one point in 1938 we lived only a block or so from the railway. People looking for food would come to our door; my mother offered up her standard menu of a bowl of her canned fruit and a piece of bread and served them out on the back porch."
The family lived in Salmon Arm during the war years. His mother was a school teacher and his father had gone off to war, serving nearly five years in the Ordinance Corps of the Canadian Army. Trelle was impressed by this and during his high school years he served as an army cadet which was mandatory during the war years. He said, "The drill hall was run by a very capable WWI veteran so we all towed the mark with our rifle practices and learned to wear our uniforms with pride as we learned military values pertaining to loyalty, professionalism, integrity and mutual respect. We learned our lessons well, and at that point in time, our cadet core in Salmon Arm ranked the third best in the province."
Due to several moves during his elementary school years, Trelle was able to skip Grade 5, which moved him ahead causing him to be a very young high school graduate. Trelle and his high school friend Bill Mosher both decided that they wanted to go to university so they could get jobs running around in a government truck like the one their young engineering friend Harvey Topham was driving.
So off they went to Vancouver to get educated. Trelle said, "I lived off of $1,000 a year while I went to university and that included tuition fees of $200, books, transportation and room and board. I took one year of arts and five years of architecture and graduated from the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture in 1953."
After graduation he worked in the architectural office of Wade & Stockdill in Victoria and soon saw a job posting in Prince George. He moved to Prince George in 1954 to find that at the time he was the only UBC graduate in his field in the city.
The road trip north to Prince George in 1954 was a real challenge because of the poor road conditions. The pavement ended at Lac La Hache. Spring break up was the worst because as Trelle put it, "Mother Nature would make ditches across the roads for drainage and this made for a mighty bumpy trip. On our arrival to Prince George I can remember planked roads on the Peden Hill road and beyond. We have certainly come a long way since then."
Trelle met Allison Gilbert at a UBC youth organization group at Point Gray United Church in Vancouver. Allison was a prairie girl from Alberta attending UBC to become a home economics teacher. After her graduation she worked for the school board in Oak Bay. The young couple married in 1953 just before they moved to Prince George.
Trelle said, "I came to Prince George for the job interview and Allison went to the school board office to see about a job. She was hired on the spot and started teaching at Prince George Senior High. I was hired to work in the architectural office of W. R. Brownlee & Assoc."
By 1956, he established his own practice and has been a part of the history of changing the landscape of the city ever since. The 1960s saw a building boom in the city so there were lots of jobs. He worked on many local and northern projects until his retirement in 1997.
Together they raised two children: Monty (Maria), who works for Canfor, and Jean (Allan) Reed is a teacher. They have three grandchildren. Trelle and Allison were married for 61 years when sadly Allison passed away in 2014.
Recently the Prince George public library awarded Trelle with the Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History award for his book on the history of Prince George's buildings; Living Legacies: 100 Years of Prince George Architecture. Trelle previously won the Jeanne Clarke Award in 2010 for Aviation North: Flying frontiers in northern British Columbia and in 2012 for The Grand Trunk Pacific and other Fort George Stuff.
At the age of 86 he remains an active member of the Heritage Commission. He has published nine books and written many essays on buildings in the Prince George region. If you take the time to talk to Trelle you would uncover his great sense of humour and his seemingly unending knowledge of the history of northern British Columbia and in particular Prince George.
Trelle and Allison were both members of Kiwanis Prince George for over 15 years. Trelle said, "Over the years we enjoyed a great social life and many good friends. When we arrived here we quickly learned that Prince George held many formal events and by the end of the 1950s I had to buy my first tuxedo. By the end of the 1960s the formal events, dances and annual balls put on by the Masonic Lodge, the Order of the Eastern Star, Rotarians, the Kiwanis and other service clubs started to taper off. It was a glorious time when all the service clubs invited one another to their annual installation ceremonies. Prince George had a real social grounding and over the years we seem to have lost a big part of that. Social clubs have diminished and even our way of dress has changed for social occasions. I always say that we still need to respect the occasion and dress for it accordingly."
