Sanderson, Pete Beth - Courtenay, April 24, 2009

Peter G. Sanderson

Bill has asked each of us to give a summary of what has happened in our life since graduation. If you are reading this at the reunion I send my regrets for not being there but Beth and I are on our boat somewhere in the Great Bear Rainforest area of the central coast of British Columbia. We have been planning this trip for a long time and I just could not cut it short to get to Winnipeg. Have fun everyone!

Beth Hauser and I met in a microbiology laboratory in the fall of 1968. We sat back to back. Terry Highmoor and I asked if she wanted to go for a canoe ride in this old wood and canvas canoe that I had found somewhere. I don’t suppose she had ever heard a pickup line like that before. It was raining by the time we got to the river so we did not have that canoe ride. But it was the start of something good and we have been together ever since. And we are still boating.
During university and after grad I worked for Chipman Chemicals first as a research assistant and later as a technical representative in Alberta and the Okanagan Valley. In 1972 we had an opportunity to get into business for ourselves and so we took over the Esso Bulk Agency in our home town of Carman Manitoba. We worked very hard, the business grew and expanded, and we had a great run in the 70’s. But after 7 years it seemed like a lifetime had already passed. I did not know who my children were. We decided to leave. Our bent for small business did not slacken just shifted directions and we bought Parkland Floor and Interiors in Carman. We owned that business for 14 years first in partnership with Jim (class 67) and Judy McGregor. Beth and Judy operated the business for the first number of years and I joined A and M Soil Service. In 1989 Judy had moved to Winnipeg and Beth needed help. I joined her and we worked together until we sold out in 1994.

We loved Carman. It was my birth town and we spent 23 wonderful years raising our family and participating fully in the community. I was chair of the Boyne Valley Hostel Corporation and was also chair of the Carman Larger Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada. It is a small town with a big heart in the middle of some of the best farming land in Western Canada. We have strong friendships from our time there that distance cannot diminish.

By 1994 the kids were gone from home and we were getting restless. Perhaps it was that old canoe calling but we took a motor trip to the west coast, ended up on Vancouver Island, bought a house and went home to Carman to announce what we had done. Within weeks our business was sold, our home was sold and an auction in the community hall sold everything we would not move. October 31, 1994 we left Carman for Courtenay, BC.

By the fall of 1995 we were back in business with another venture; a Shell retail center with a gas bar, convenience store and an automatic carwash. In the next 5 years that became a second retail center and further opportunities to train new Shell retailers.

In 2000 we retired and decided it was time to have a little time for ourselves. We have been cruising the coastline of BC and traveling the western half of the continent by rv. In our spare time we built two houses, renovated one for our son, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity to build 4 more.

Our children have relocated here with their families. Our son is an engineering tech with McElhanney Engineering and our daughter is operation manager with the Royal Bank. Beth’s parents have moved here and so has one of her sisters. With grandchildren we sit 14 for family dinners.

I look back at my time in the faculty as a wonderful experience. If it had not been for the people I met and the skills I learned while at University I would not have accomplished what I have done. I have wonderful family, great grandchildren and live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I have my health, my freedom and so far enough financial independence to enjoy life on my terms. University is a complete education and I was fortunate enough to spend that time in a faculty that focused both on learning and personal relationships. Thank you to everyone.