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Pioneers and transportation trailblazers honoured at Douglas Day

Douglas Day celebrated by the Township of Langley and the City of Langley
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Mayor Jack Froese pays the piper at the Douglas Day banquet on the weekend.

It is a special day where people who have contributed to the community for decades are celebrated for making Langley the place it is today.

Douglas Day was celebrated by the Township of Langley and the City of Langley on Sunday, November 19 with a banquet for local pioneers. Members of the community who are at least 70 years of age and have lived in the Township or City for at least 60 of those years were welcomed to the Langley Events Centre, where they caught up with old friends, enjoyed lunch and entertainment, and were fêted for all they have given to Langley.

“This is a wonderful community, a place many people want to live and work in,” said Township of Langley Mayor Jack Froese. “Many of the things we value today were established by residents who put down roots in Langley decades ago. Their hard work, ideals, and vision helped shape the way of life we enjoy now. It truly is a pleasure to honour our pioneers on Douglas Day and thank them for their contributions.”

Douglas Day is an annual event named in honour of Governor James Douglas. His proclamation at the Big House in Fort Langley on November 19, 1858, brought the crown colony of British Columbia into being and earned the community the title of “The Birthplace of BC.”

The Township of Langley has been recognizing Douglas Day since the 1920s, and the annual banquet has been held for more than 60 years.

In 1946, the celebration of Douglas Day was established by the Township as a municipal bylaw. The province’s shortest piece of legislation, the Douglas Day Act, states, “November 19 of each year is Douglas Day throughout British Columbia.” While many municipalities in the Lower Mainland celebrated Douglas Day in the past, Langley is one of the few to continue the tradition.

The annual Douglas Day banquet is organized with the assistance of a dedicated committee and volunteers, and each year features a different theme. The 2017 event, which celebrated the 159th anniversary of the founding of the crown colony of BC, recognized the community’s transportation pioneers.

From canoes used on the Fraser River by the Aboriginal people, the Hudson’s Bay Company ships that sailed into Fort Langley, and the horses and buggies used by pioneering farmers, to automobiles, the railways and Interurban that connected early communities, and our modern-day airport and highways, transportation innovations have brought people, goods, and business to Langley and played an enormous role in the development of the community.

The 2017 Douglas Day event celebrated the following pioneers:

Charlie and Lorraine Allen

Benny and Penny Anderlini

Bob and Susan Anderlini

Albert and Dorothy Anderson

Gezina Anderson

Muriel Anderson

Harvey and Dianne Antonsen

Carol Armstrong

Roxy Bakker

June Barichello

Del Barron

David and Lynda Beales

Roger Beaulieu

Elsie Beggs

Duane Benson

Bill Berry

William Betts

Ernie and Sharon Bird

Phyllis Bishop

Sven Bjorknas

John Blair and Sonya Klemm

Italo and Jackie Bonetti

Bruce and Karen Brandow

Frank and Chrissie Braun

Ed Bregg

Marie Breier

Jim and Margaret Brezden

Barrie and Beverley Brown

Fred Burgmann

Myrtle “Walli” Burnell

Norma Carruthers

Allan Cartwright

Wilfred and Jeanette Cartwright

Bill and Hazel Casey

Dick and Betty-Lou Chell

Barbara Chiste

Carl and Lynda Christensen

Ken and Lenore Christensen

Lucy Christianson

Terrence and Judy Christie

Irma Cockett

Walter Compton

Mary Ann Corfe

Barbara Cornies

Thelma Coward

Lorne Dance

Jean Davis

Rodney and Ada Deans

George DeGianni

Alfred and Eleanor Deglan

Wilma Denbraber

Daroyl and Evi Dent

Alex and Lois Dickson

Evelyn Dornan

Nettie Driediger

Helmut and Karyn Dyck

Seward and Joy Easingwood

Richard and Lois Edwards

Roy English

Judy Evans

Marilyn Farquhar

Dave and Elsa Faulkner

Dorothy Ferguson

Joe and Florence Fifer

Mary Foote

Keith and Janet Foss

Marvin and Brenda Foss

Audree Foster

Patricia Frederick

Bernard and Dianne Froebel

Hilda Frosdorf

Peter and Rosemary Genberg

Bruno and Shirley Giacomazzi

Roy Giacomazzi

Jake and Helen Giesbrecht

Jarnail Gill

June Goin

Glen and Marlene Goldsack

Mary Gooden

Tom Goodyear

Victor Gorcak

Ethel Graham

Betty Granholm

Bruce and Nicole Granholm

Terry Greenfield

Eunice Greenwood

Alan and Jean Gregson

Bob Griffiths

Wilfred and Barbara Haid

Paul and Joyce Hamilton

Hazel Harrower

Jackie Hauser

Cora Hayward

Verna Hickey

Gordon and Joan Hill

Jean Hope

Terry Horne

Dorothy Humberstone

Robert and Maureen Humphrey

Wayne and Margaret Humphrey

Margaret Hunter

Charlie Iberg

Norma Jamieson

Alice Johnson

Eldon and Sandra Johnston

Gladys Johnston

Rodney and Dorothy Johnston

Carel and Lynda Jongs

Eugene and Shirley Kaetler

John Kelly

Alice Kennedy

Dan and Jan Kitsul

John and Joyce Klassen

Edward Kosciuk

Mary Koziel

Helmut and Shirley Kramer

Joseph and Loretta Krentz

Barry and Marilyn Kristoff

Skuntla Lal

Gerald and Anna Larsen

Marj Lee

Gail Leslie

Kay Lindquist

Hazel Lindstrom

John and Donna Linke

Arlene Locke

George Lockerby

Diane Logan

Percy and Kay Lotzer

Albert and Elsie Lundin

Gail Lynch

Victor and Sheila MacDonald

Jean Makela

Wayne and Lynda Markel

William Marr

Elsie Martin

John Masztalar

Roy and Vicky Matts

Joan Mayo

Ted and Marylee McCallum

Reid and Jenny McDonald

Nora McKain

Wayne and Angelika McDougall

Donna McTaggart

Helen McTaggart

Robert Meek

Genny Milligan

Alex and Lucille Minnis

Phillip Miskulin

Margaret Mitcham

Mary Mitchell

Diane Moffat

Doug and June Moore

Beryl Moore

Fay Morelli

Vernon and Merrilyn Morelli

Margaret Mountain

Claud and Darlene Muench

Pat Muench

Dorothy “Dot” Mufford

Penny Mullin

Joyce Murchison

Lurene Music

Fred Mutch

Arne and Barb Mykle

Ellen Mykle

Alieta Nataros

Bonnie Nelson

Dorothy Newcomb

Monica Newman

Kathleen Nicholas

Robert and Melerly Norman

Mary Olafson

Clarence and Edith Olson

George Omelaniec

Sam and Pam Omelaniec

Vera Omelaniec

David and Sheila Ormrod

Betty Oswald

Norman Paterson

Fred and Maureen Pepin

Audrey Pihan

Barry and Eileen Pihan

Bill and Arlene Pike

Patrick and Annemarie Plumridge

Sue Plumridge

Robert and Sharon Poole

Edward Powroznik

Winnie Price

Mary Probert

David and Doreen Radtke

Jerry Radtke

Arlen and Marilyn Randen

Molly Reding

Dick Rees

Don and Lorraine Reimer

Harvey and Odette Remple

John and Doris Riedweg

John and Leslie Ritchie

Jack Roberts

Bernice Robinson

Marilyn Rockson

Birta Romegioli

Jim and Dawn Ryan

Ron and Edna Sawatsky

Wilfried Schnabel and Gertrud Wagner

Grace Seifred

Diana Sendall

Norman Severide

Jean Seymour

Gail Shields

Marjorie Shiell

Mike and Betty Skwarok

Alfie Smaback

Jean Smith

George and Janet Southam

Wilma Stromsten

Doris Stroyan

Allen and Gwen Sturn

Gerald Tapp

Robert and Joan Tapp

Al and Marilyn Tecklenborg

Phyllis Thomas

Bryan and Joyce Trattle

Getrude “Toots” Tucker

Bill and Mary Twemlow

Barry and Susan Vaughan

Edward and Mildred Vaughan

Ernest Vaughan

Harold and Joanne Vaughan

Laverne Vaughan

Peter Walton

Stan Warner

Anita Waska

Phyllis Waugh

Sharon Weatherly

Phyllis Wegesser

Marie Wenman

Wayne and Betty Westby

Ray Wiens

Fenn Williams

Doreen Willushaw

Grace Wilson

Jim Winter

Lilian Witt

Ellen Worrell

Shirley Worrell

Joe Wrazy

Willie and Diane Wright

Don Wrightman

Ron Yates

John and Shirley Yeomans

Martha Zado

Hazel Zaklan

Frank and Leona Zoretic