It is a special day when 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, Nov. 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 B.C., 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.
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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
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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
