Pat Edwards, this year’s Golden Girl, is a perfect example of what makes this group of Gibsons and district senior women so special — she’s blessed with a marvelous sense of humour, good health and a lifelong desire to help others.
Edwards, who celebrates her 87th birthday this Sunday, Aug. 3, has the good fortune to require no medication whatsoever. So she spends a great deal of her time helping others who are not so lucky.
A retired high school teacher, Edwards actually taught another Golden Girl, Lorraine Goddard, at North Surrey High School (as it was known then) when Edwards was first starting her career. At that time Edwards, an athlete all through her own school days, was teaching physical education and another course called effective living designed to help graduates get along in their personal relations with others.
“She taught my kids too [at Elphinstone Secondary],” Goddard said. “She’s very forthright, there’s no mincing words. You know exactly where you stand with Pat.”
This isn’t the first time citizens wanted to nominate Edwards to be Golden Girl. Previously she had refused.
“I don’t do it for recognition,” she said.
“None of us do,” Goddard replied, and Edwards changed her mind about the award.
Her nominators this year, Edna Husby and Margaret Smith — both Golden Girls — are thrilled Edwards relented.
“Pat has worked tirelessly. She volunteered at Happy Cat Haven, with the seniors at Harmony Hall [and Christenson Village] and is a strong member of the Gibsons Legion, Branch 109. Her high spirits always bring a smile to everyone’s face. And she collects money for children who can’t afford school supplies,” their nomination letter read in part.
Edwards’ kindness has always been evident in both her personal and professional life.
She built her house in Gibsons with her mother in mind. The elder Edwards battled arthritis in her later years and Pat wanted her to be comfortable. The halls and bathroom are built to accommodate mobility challenges.
“My mom lived to be 93, and Dr. Lehman thinks I’ll outlive her,” Edwards said.
A house fire last year demonstrates her resilience and her intense loyalty to Gibsons.
While Edwards was making jelly, a phone call took her attention away from the stove and the wax she was melting to cover the finished preserves caught fire. Her kitchen needed some extensive renovations. And she was most annoyed when the flooring ended up coming from Sechelt instead of her hometown.
“I told the renovator not to make that mistake with the blinds. They come from Gibsons,” she said.
Edwards retired from teaching commerce in 1984.
“I taught for 35 years and couldn’t pay anymore into my pension. At the time there were a lot of young people just coming out of university who couldn’t get a job, so I thought it was time to give them a chance. [The school] was after me for years to substitute teach but I kept telling them, ‘there are young people who need jobs, ask them,’ and I never went back,” Edwards said.
When Edwards came to Elphinstone the school had three electric typewriters and the rest were manuals. She worried about her beloved students competing for jobs in Vancouver after graduation without the Sunshine Coasters being on a level playing field. It wasn’t long before Edwards had all electric typewriters in her classroom.
Some of her methods were ahead of her time. She arranged for all her commerce students to have job experience, and because Elphinstone was the only high school at the time, she had employers in both Gibsons and Sechelt.
She had personal contact with all the employers as well as the teachers whose classes the students were missing in the mornings they were out working.
She had high standards. More than one student had to redo a project after “Miss Edwards” held it up to the light to find the erased errors.
Edwards is thrilled to be in the town where so many of her former students still live.
“Every once in a while I’ll be somewhere with a crowd and I’ll hear ‘Miss Edwards’ I tell them no more Miss, it’s just Pat now. That shows we’re friends,” she said.
She also laughed about a rule she drilled home to the students that had a humourous result in one household.
“I always told them that when they were out working in an office, whatever happened in the office stayed in the office. If they needed to talk about something, they should talk to their boss instead of someone outside the office. One student who did job experience at [a Sechelt business] was quizzed by her father on what was happening at the job site. ‘Sorry Dad, I can’t tell you, Miss Edwards said so,’ she told her dumbstruck father.
Nowadays, in addition to her volunteer work, Edwards spends leisure hours reading. She has always loved books but held off telling anyone her second major in university was English because she didn’t want to teach it.
Is there anything that’s ever challenged this fabulous senior? “Science, I never could get the hang of it. Fortunately I had lots of help and finally passed it to go on with my studies,” she laughed.
