Wilf and Alta Schneider

Sweet Valentines

Some things have stood the test of time; love is one of them! Wilf and Alta Schneider made a commitment to spend all their tomorrows together on August 26, 1950. Married in Armstrong at the United Church nearly 70 years ago, and then off to the reception at the old Legion where 50 of their closest friends and family would celebrate their special day.

Backing up a bit, let’s tell you about this wonderful couple. Wilf was born in Davison, Saskatchewan on Sept 9, 1926. A series of moves would take place from Saskatchewan, to Alberta, to British Columbia and he would eventually land in Lumby, where Wilf worked in the logging industry. Through his life, Wilf experienced a variety of careers; one of them awarded him the ‘Youngest Blasting Ticket’, while employed at Pioneer Mines in Lillooet. 

Primarily, Wilf was an outdoors kind of guy and most his working career involved being in the outdoors. His first job after school was working in a Pole Yard where he was earning .35 cents per hour!  Logging wasn’t always in the cards for Wilf, as he joined the Merchant Navy in 1945 and headed off to Australia for a short stint; his mates called him ‘spudbarber’! Life would unfold for Wilf and when he was 22 years old, he headed north to go find his soul mate. And that he did!

Alta was born in Oliver on November 28, 1927. The family would then move to Armstrong and had a dairy farm on Pleasant Valley Road. After graduation in 1945, Alta went to Victoria to attend Normal School for teachers. (Apparently that was what it was called back then!) Her hearts work was teaching, and she would go on to teach for many years. Her first teaching job was in Grand Forks where she taught grade 4’s. One year she had 56 children in her class!!

She eventually moved to Fraser Lake to continue her career, but at a slower pace than what she was experiencing. She was boarding with a family while in Fraser Lake and the big thing in town when a new teacher rolled in was to get out and meet him/her. The owners of the home she was boarding with would screen the men coming through, and when Wilf crossed the threshold, the sense was ‘this one is a good one’!

Through the next year, there would be dances and movies and lots of courting!  Wilf was asked, “Did you know she was the one”, his reply was “I couldn’t help it”. Wilf jokingly said “she made me an offer I couldn’t refuse”!  But in reality, the two would fall in love, and Wilf would ask Alta to spend her life with him. Seventy years later, three children, work and travel, Wilf and Alta are now cozily nestled in at Heaton Place Retirement Residence.  “He waits for her and she waits for him, they always are smiling and talking, and when they told me they have never once had a fight, I had to fight the tears, “ says Carrie O’Neill.  The best marriage advice they told me they had ever been given was from the minister that married them; “Someday you’re going to get angry, just don’t get angry at the same time’! 

Wilf and Alta will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a nice dinner out this year; they truly are a shining example of love’s longevity!