The third time's a charm, so perhaps this third go at retirement will stick for Sechelt's Don Petry, who has held the position of executive director for the Sunshine Coast Salmon Enhancement Society (SCSES) for the last 10 years.
It was almost 12 years ago that Petry and his wife moved to the Sunshine Coast from Toronto to retire from Petry's career of 45 years in catalogue advertising. He had retired once before from a position with Sears Canada but he threw his hat back in the employment ring again, starting his own advertising consulting business.
Petry was reading mystery novels by L.R. Wright at the time, which are set on the Sunshine Coast, and he and his wife Joy wanted to see the area.
"We came down to see our daughter in 1989 for Christmas and at the time we were talking about retiring in southern Ontario. But we came here to see the area and we ended up buying a house," Petry recalls.
In 1994 Petry and his wife made the move.
He was geared toward retirement and had an interest in fishing that soon led him to the SCSES where manager Bob Anstead was working seven days a week to keep up with the demands of the job.
"I talked to Bob and said I wanted to give him a hand feeding the fish one or two days a week. After a few weeks, he decided I wasn't going to kill all the fish and I could stay," Petry said.
That was the start of Petry's volunteer effort with the SCSES at the Chapman Creek Hatchery that would turn into a 10-year commitment working on the board as an executive director. During that time he was instrumental in securing annual monies to keep the hatchery in operation through fundraising efforts.
"We need to raise over $100,000 yearly to keep this hatchery in operation," said current SCSES director Geoff Carr. "Our annual budget is roughly $125,000 and we get $13,500 from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, $1,000 from the District of Sechelt and a portion from the regional district."
The mission of the SCSES is "to rebuild local salmon and trout stocks to historic levels; to facilitate the education of its members and the community at large regarding all aspects of salmonid life cycles and their needs; to aid in the long term management of these stocks and local streams; and to fund, operate and manage the business affairs as an independent, not-for-profit community hatchery operation."
That's a big job for a hatchery that is run almost entirely on community donations, which is where Petry's expertise has paid off.
"He ended up organizing the annual salmon dinner and auction, which is the society's main fundraising event," Carr said.
That annual event in April is sold out every year and makes up a large portion of the society's funding.
Another initiative of Petry's was encouraging businesses to sponsor a tank of fish each year. Organizations such as the Sunshine Coast Credit Union and Fiedler Brothers Construction have come through year after year with substantial donations in this area.
Other annual fundraisers Petry has been involved in include the Salmon Release Day in May, the Catch a Trout Day in July and October's Rivers Day.
Those events don't bring in huge amounts of money for the hatchery, but they do serve to meet other SCSES goals such as education of the public and public awareness of the society itself and what it does.
And much of Petry's time has been spent keeping good community relations and applying for various government grants on behalf of the society.
When Petry announced his desire to step down as executive director this year, Carr realized no one person could continue to do the amount of work Petry was doing. Instead the entire board of the SCSES is splitting up his duties between them.
"This alone speaks volumes for the contribution Don has made," Carr said.
But Petry shies away from the spotlight and is quick to dismiss his contribution, laying accolades on others.
"For the last five or so years, Lynne Bayzard, our volunteer secretary of the society, has been indispensable in assisting in the success of the dinner. If you're going to mention anything about the dinner, mention her," he said.
Now that Petry has retired from his position, he plans to spend more time with his wife, take up landscape and wildlife photography, do some fishing and try his hand at making knives from scratch, but he won't be a stranger at the hatchery.
"I'll still volunteer here a few days a week," he said with a smile.
And the hatchery is looking for more volunteers to join him. If you are able to commit half a day a week to volunteering at the hatchery, Anstead encourages you to call him at 604-885-4136. But be forewarned - you may get hooked.
