John and Willie Penner, Kimberley BC, '09

John Penner Ag 69

Life has certainly been interesting and rewarding. Shortly after graduation I married Willie, and this summer we are celebrating our 40th anniversary. We currently live in Kimberley BC and our two children, and daughter-in-law all reside in Calgary AB. Shane, our firstborn, is an Engineer, his wife Sue, an Accountant and our daughter, Sheryl, is an Engineering Drafter. They all have been successful, working in the oil & gas industry. We are due to expand our family in January 2010 with a grandchild.

Spring of 69 I had 2 options – a career in farming or a career involved with financing the Canadian farming industry. Gaining employment with Farm Credit Canada in 69 as a Lending Officer and later at the Regional Office in Winnipeg as a Loans Review Officer I worked with farmers to assist with debt review and money management. I’ve worked in Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan, finishing off in corporate office in Regina. Corporate office was an exciting time in that I was able to be instrumental in leading the corporation into lending for value-added businesses. I did this by being on the committee to change the Act to incorporate other venues of lending including manufacturing of farm machinery. During this time Willie also joined me at FCC in the accounting department for five years. After 30 years, an opportunity came up for me to retire early at age 50.


Now what to do? I’d married into a skiing family and the only place we wanted to be was in the mountains. The only steep terrain we had in the prairies was skiing down a grain elevator or towed by a snow machine over ditches blown with snow. Over the years we had a vision of retiring in the mountains and a goal of skiing. So, we moved to BC, living in Fernie and Kimberley, skiing the winters away.

We are now involved in a very different area of interest from agriculture, and our timing was excellent. Resort development in the southeast BC Kootenays was rapidly growing and becoming involved in alpine resort development (ski resorts) was an excellent opportunity to meet citizens from our nation as well as from overseas who wished to invest in skiing properties. To work at this, along with skiing, was the epitome of retirement for us.

Now fully retired, we love the lifestyle we have fallen into. We ski, golf, fish, and travel at our leisure. We are also looking forward to being grandparents, and not just to dogs and cats.

Regards, John & Willie