BC Tel- Plant- Antenna Crew

North-West- British Columbia, Canada

THE ANTENNA CREW

They were all stationed out of Prince George.
Some of the men I can remember are listed here, in no particular order:

Fraser Sutherland (Deceased Feb 11, 2018)
Don Peadon
Bill Houldsworth (see below)
Darel Jackman
Darrell Rutledge (Kokanee Beer Commercial guy)
Mark Kennedy
John Ferguson

Vern Fredericks (Vern was actually I&R, but used as temp Antenna Man in 60's & early 70's)

Names below submitted by:

Dennis Dessario, (antenna crew 1977-1986)
Ray Moffat
Doug Scott
Marty Peterson
Hienie Faesen
Paul Wowk

Claude Bussieres on left,
Bill Houldsworth on right, I think, (Taken beside Brown Bear Radio Room, Tucker Snowcat, photo courtesy Brian Wolfe, Ladysmith)
Rick Campbell
Glenn Woollett (Nickname Q-Tip)

and more to come! It is interesting to note, most of the antenna crew members became supervisors, later on in their careers. Guess being up that high every day, made them want to be higher on the Corporate ladder, later on. They were one of the few crews that spent more time on the road than us. Their life was, and is, hotel rooms, and driving. Now in 2003 the crew is stationed out of Vancouver only, for the whole province. Not sure what will happen with a real disaster happens up in the north, and the weather is bad, so no planes can land. Could take days to restore something that used to take hours. Another Bean Counter, cost saving plan gone haywire!

Over the years we have had numerous Antenna Crews working in the Terrace District.
In the 70's and 80's Dave Annan was the Supervisor.

Supervisor Dave Annan at Don Parr's Retirement Party

David Robert June “Dave” Annan
b- June 18, 1936
d- May 29, 2013 in Kelowna BC, age 76

I also want to comment, years ago in the 70's I think it was, we lost almost (maybe all) the whole Antenna Crew, as they were flying into Terrace Airport, on a very cloudy day, and crashed into Herman Mountain, which at that time was a small hill at the south end of the main runway. It was blasted and lowered, after this tragic accident from the Coroner's Inquest request. If someone knows those fellow's names, I would love to list them here, to honour their loss of life, in the course of doing their job. I believe it was on a commercial plane, not the corporate plane, which they used for many years after this.
To correct my story, Claude Bussieres sent me this update April 13, 2008. Here is the edited version of Claude's story of this tragic event

“The plane crash in Terrace happened on Friday, January 14, 1977 at 6pm.
Four Antenna men were killed that night ;

Nelson “Roy” Pugle,
b- Mar 15, 1943 in Victoria BC
d- Jan 14, 1977, age 33
son of Andrew Pugle and Nellie Alcock

Orville James Breitkreutz,
b- June 13, 1945 in Vancouver BC
d- Jan 14, 1977, age 31
son of James Breitkreutz, and Elaine Greenway

Lance Allan Martin
b- July 6, 1956, in Burnaby BC
d- Jan 14, 1977, age 20
son of Allan Martin and Mary Manarin

Douglas Ranald Kilpatrick “Doug” MacGowan
b- Feb 22, 1945 Quesnel BC
d- Jan 14,1977, age 31
son of John MacGowan, and Judith Christensen
He lived in Quesnel at the time.

Claude was the In-Charge on this crew only a few months earlier, before coming to Terrace Construction.
He was working in Smithers the day before, and actually partied in Smithers with the crew the night before the accident, as they were staying in the same motel.

“They were on their way to Rupert to drop-off their truck, and were flying back home for the weekend on the Northern Thunderbird (NT) Air daily scheduled Twin Otter that snowy night” de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300
Registration: C-GNTB
3 crew and 9 passengers died.

A total of 12 people died in the crash.

Thanks for the update Claude, at least now we get to honour these 4 men in a small way, with their names listed here!

Atlin Antenna being installed 1969-1970
pics courtesy Fraser Sutherland, Terrace BC