Long time Prince George residents Bob (Gordon) and Patty Horning will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in December. Here is their story in a nutshell.
Bob Horning, one of four children, was born on a small mixed farm in Turtleford, Sask. in 1937. He arrived in Prince George for the first time in 1952 when he was just 15 years old. He returned to the family farm until 1956 and at the age of 19 he returned to Prince George, found work in the sawmills, got married, started a family and he has been here ever since.
He met Patty Fleming - his wife of nearly 60 years - at a dance in Nukko Lake. Patty was born in Nelson in 1942. Her family moved to Prince George when she was 10 months old and she too has been here ever since. Patty was raised and went to school up to Grade 8 in the Chief Lake area. From there, she moved closer to Prince George and became a live-in baby sitter for Florence Dawson earning $10 a week. Back then, this was considered a good wage along with good benefits. Patty held this job until she met and then married Bob Horning.
Bob’s work in the sawmill industry was not easy but he did it. He worked in the bush as a faller and a choker setter. The faller’s job involved cutting down the trees and the choker setter is a logger who wraps a special cable known as a choker around the log so it can be pulled out of the bush to be retrieved by skidders. Time went by and he learned to operate a cat and a skidder.
The injuries that came and passed while working in the bush were the loss of a finger, a broken leg and many bruises and sprains that healed nicely in his younger years.
Over the years, he worked part-time for Rahn Bros. Logging and Teardrop Holdings. Due to another work-related accident, Bob retired in 2006 after 34 years in the industry.
In 1956, he picked up a part time job as a swamper on the Westcoast Transmission pipeline assisting operators and other crew members with a variety of manual labour-related tasks. Apparently, this was an easier job with better pay as compared to the work in the logging industry.
Patty lost a finger when she worked for Crescent Lake sawmills, a small company owned by her father.
When the children started to arrive, she became a stay-at-home mom and happily and proudly raised their five children; Brenda (Kelly Solmonson), Bonnie (Ted Harris), Annie (Frank Mocilac), Roberta (Derek Dobrinsky) and Gordon (Lanita) who in turn gave them a blended family of 12 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Patty was always willing to volunteer for everything to do with the children.
All through those years Bob and Patty maintained a small farm of their own in the Chief Lake area. Since Bob worked away from the home, it was Patty's job to look after the cows and chickens.
The children grew up and due to Patty’s health issues, the couple sold the farm and moved closer to town in 2006. Living closer to town makes it easy for Bob to play pool at the senior centre while Patty can always be found pulling some of her many baked goods out of her oven as treats for her neighbours, friends and family.
Both Bob and Patty are volunteers at the Hart Pioneer Senior Centre. They have been volunteering as needed for the centre for nearly 30 years and have met many new friends and interesting people during that time.
Patty laughed as she reflected back to their 50th wedding anniversary and said, “We met at a dance at Nukko Lake. We continued our love of dancing together for all those years so we made sure we attended a dance at Nukko Lake for our 50th anniversary. We finished the celebration by taking a 10-day cruise to Hyder, Alaska and then a trip into the Yukon. Bob said that he did not like all the water and the crowds of people and that 10 days was long enough. He did tell me that in spite of everything he would agree to doing the same trip again in another 50 years.
“We have a great family and we have enjoyed watching our grandchildren grow up. They all have minds of their own and they are all good people – but why not - they all come from good stock.
“When people ask us the secrets to a 60-year marriage we simply explain that no one wants either one of us so we just have to stay together and that is okay by both of us.”
