Because Prince George is centrally located in British Columbia, the city’s residents can travel in any direction without being constrained by borders or shoreline. It takes less than two hours to drive from Prince George to the Cariboo and Rocky mountains, and only half a day to travel to Jasper National Park. Prince George is surrounded by wild backcountry where it is still possible to explore untrodden ground within short reach of home, an experience that George Evanoff eagerly pursued.
New Opportunities
After completing his new house, it wasn’t long before George Evanoff again turned his attention to the outdoors. At the top of his list of favourite activities were hiking, fly-fishing, and hunting in the summer and fall, and skiing in the winter and spring. In the days before the completion of the Yellowhead Highway east of Prince George, there were few serious local ski opportunities, although a ski hill did operate on Tabor Mountain, just east of the city. George started skiing there in 1964 and 1965, initially buying rope-tow tickets for himself, while Lillian and the children skied around at the bottom of the hill. Still, he yearned for the big mountains of the Rockies, and it wasn’t long before he turned back to the CN railway as a means of accessing Jasper, this time from the west instead of the east.
Lillian remembered the family’s trips to Jasper in 1965 and 1966: “We would get onto the train in the evening, put the kids to bed, and arrive in Jasper at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. Then, George would run into the baggage car and throw our skis out. We had to hurry, as we had to check into the Athabasca Hotel where we used to stay, and catch the bus for the ski hill at 8:30 a.m.”
According to his son, Craig, the train crew would be annoyed with George because he would barge his way into the baggage car to throw skis, bags, and other stuff out. Then they would run from the station to the Athabasca Hotel in a panic. I asked Lillian if they ever missed the bus. “No, no way!” she said emphatically:
We used to spend all day up at the ski hill. On the first trip, Craig was about five years old, and we weren’t going to buy lift tickets for the kids as it was too much money; we thought they would just play at the bottom on the rope tow. I was just learning how to ski and George and I were going up the steep slope on the T-bar when George said, “Look who’s behind us!” Craig and Delia were riding up the steep slope. I don’t know how the kids got on the lift, but I was so scared … We bought them lift tickets from that moment on. We skied Saturday and Sunday, and took the night train back, and arrived in Prince George on Monday morning.
Delia later told me that she and Craig had simply snuck onto the ski lift that first time. “It was my idea,” she said, sounding much like her father.
From this beginning, Craig went on to become a mountaineer with a number of significant ascents, as well as a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association (Level 2), and a certified ski guide with the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. Delia excelled as a runner, winning all of the ten-kilometre races that she entered as an adult, and setting a Cranbrook, British Columbia, ten-kilometre record that held for fifteen years. After that, she ran the Vancouver Marathon before turning to cross-country ski racing. She entered the famous Cariboo Marathon fifty-kilometre cross-country ski race three times, finishing in the top three women, and winning her age class on each occasion. She finished first overall among the women in at least one of the races. Delia remembered that once when George and Lillian came to watch her compete, her dad was so excited that he inadvertently skied up and down the racetrack at the finish line and had to be told to stand back. Delia later took up bicycle touring, which she continues to enjoy.
Professional Standing in British Columbia
After moving to British Columbia, George Evanoff applied for membership in the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of British Columbia (ASTTBC) as it is now known, which is the professional association responsible for registering technology professionals in the province.5 George Evanoff was registered with the association as a senior engineering technician on May 24, 1968, in the electrical engineering discipline, and he was reclassified to applied science technologist (AScT) on October 28, 1982.6
In his original application, dated October 16, 1967, George described his job as maintaining existing electrical and instrumentation equipment, analyzing and correcting equipment problems, advising and instructing operating personnel, preparing training courses and texts, preparing technical reports and studies, selecting new electrical equipment and preparing cost estimates, assisting in new design work, preparing drawings and specifications, and supervising new installations. These professional skills were evident in George’s many outdoor interests, such as installing and maintaining ski lifts, and designing and building avalanche and backcountry rescue gear, and eventually designing his ski lodge.
Lillian recalled that George was proud to receive his AScT seal so that he could at last stamp his own professional work, without asking an engineer to do it. George’s enthusiasm about using his own seal speaks to the fact that he was not shy about standing behind his work. George Evanoff retained his professional membership in the ASTTBC for nearly five years after his retirement, terminating it on October 24, 1995.
Work Life
Don Doern was the manager of pipeline operations for Westcoast Petroleum Ltd. at the time of George’s retirement from the company in early 1991, and he spoke at George’s remembrance service in November 1998.7 When I contacted Don Doern in 2005, he explained that George Evanoff was a one-of-a-kind type of guy:
George started with the company in 1964, and retired in 1991. It was during this time that the pipeline underwent a huge transformation, by doubling the number of pumping stations, tripling its horsepower, and almost quadrupling its pumping capacity. It was also transformed from a totally manned, twenty-four/seven system to being fully automated with a state-of-the-art computer-run control system. George was instrumental in developing the plans and overseeing the expansion projects on the electrical side. In between major projects, he constantly tweaked systems so they operated more efficiently, and provided insight for future projects. George and his fellow employees in the technical planning departments could truly make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
But Don also noted another side of George Evanoff’s character:
Anyone who knew George knew that he was an individual of boundless energy; everywhere he went was at the dead run, but following close on his heels was disaster just waiting to happen. Early in George’s career with the pipeline, he was working at the Kamloops Tank Farm on some upgrades. He was running back and forth from the control room to the tank manifold area when, on one trip out the door, he managed to hook his coat on the carriage-return arm of the superintendent’s prized typewriter. This was in pre-computer days, and no one was allowed to touch this typewriter without the express permission of the superintendent. George’s jacket pulled the machine off the table, where it crashed to the floor and disassembled itself into its many component pieces. George was oblivious to this incident until he returned from his trip out to the manifold, and found the superintendent sitting in a chair staring woefully at his prized possession lying on the floor. George, in his most cherubic voice asked, “What happened here?” We were uncertain how he managed to survive that day, but thankfully he did.
Despite George Evanoff’s propensity for near-disaster, Don Doern remarked that “he was one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, and caring men I have ever worked with. He always had time for you, and was eager to teach you new things if you were willing to learn. The pipeline truly benefitted from his presence and he was sorely missed when he retired.”
Vehicle Woes
Don Doern recalled an occasion when George borrowed a company