Frank Barteski said he feels “fine” after turning 100.
The centenarian who lives at Revera Sunwood facility with his wife Patricia, 97, was taking it easy last Monday after a birthday bash with family, including his grandson, his wife, and his 16-month-old great granddaughter, on Sunday, Oct. 30, where Frank was treated to a special lunch and yellow frosted cupcakes.
Born on a farm in northern Saskatchewan – between Ketchen and Hazel Dell, before moving closer to Preeceville, Saskatchewan with his parents and eight other siblings, including one adopted.
“When we were kids we walked two miles every day to school. Some walked as much as four,” he said, adding that they also did their farm chores.
“So we grew up with that type of spirit,” he noted.
And in the winter time, Frank remembers, going out at night to watch the stars and watch the northern lights.
“It was fantastic,” he exclaimed.
Frank would grow up and enter the Canadian military. He spent a year in Victoria, BC, training. However, after being told he was too small to be in the army, he was discharged in Regina, where he ended up meeting the love of his life, Patricia.
Patricia would take care of her family’s house when her parents were away, where they rented a portion of it out. Frank rented out the space while looking for work, work he would eventually get with an oil company. Patricia was still in high school.
One day he approached Patricia and asked her if she would go with him to purchase a new pair of pants. She said yes, thinking he must not have purchased pants for himself before. Another time he purchased a coat.
“He very shyly came and asked if I could turn it up for him and I, very shyly, said yes,” explained Patricia. Their first date together was around 1943. They were married three years later on Nov. 16, 1946.
Frank worked for Imperial Oil for about 15 years before he had a desire to move to the coast. Patricia’s parents were farmers in Pitt Meadows. So they did, and Frank got a job with Shellburn Refinery in Burnaby where he worked as an instrument mechanic for another 30 years.
“Today they call them technicians,” he said.
“The refineries actually ran automatically. They had automatic sensors that knew the levels of the liquid in the tanks. We measured the flow of the oil, or the product through the pipes. We measured temperatures, you know, so that it all came to the control room,” said Frank.
It was a big control room that told the operators what was happening at the refinery, explained Frank.
“So we looked after that equipment. The sensors were all over 20 feet, 40 feet, the things that we were measuring. there was no elevator so we had to climb up the ladders,” he laughed.
Sometimes, he said, he would be 100 feet up and only had an air tube and whistle to communicate with the people on the ground.
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“If you were up at the top and you wanted to talk to somebody down below, you first blew (your whistle) through that tube,” he said. “And, vice versa, if you wanted to talk to somebody up there from the bottom.”
“Or you hollered,” he laughed.
Frank noted the technology in the oil industry really started to change in the 1980’s.
“Today’s technology is different than it was in 1980 even. And 1980 was quite advanced from 1930,” he chuckled.
Frank enjoyed mechanical work, working with trinkets, and troubleshooting.
The couple moved to Maple Ridge around 1958, where they would raise their four children – two of which who have since passed away.
Frank and Patricia helped in the startup of a girl’s softball league and a boys little league in Maple Ridge.
“There was no little leaguers for the boys, there was no games for the girls,” explained Frank.
And, he added, that back then there were no baseball diamonds to play at, just the school grounds.
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Frank enjoyed skating and skiing when he was younger – teaching his children how to skate on the dikes when they froze over.
Now they have two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Frank doesn’t think he did anything special to reach the age of 100. He tries to be active. Frank and Patricia still walk three kilometres regularly.
“We always liked our fruits and vegetables. But apart of that, we weren’t particular. We stayed out of alcohol, of course,” he said.
“Once in a while, but that’s just a treat. I think that has a big bearing, I would think so anyway. I don’t know. I have no experience with that,” he laughed.
Life for Frank and Pat has been full of events. Once they retired they did a lot of travelling all over the world including Canada, Alaska, United States, Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
They have even been to Cape Canaveral in Florida to see a space shuttle launch.
“Huge, huge equipment,” marvelled Frank, thinking back. “You wouldn’t think that they could get it off the ground. Just tremendous.”
However, Frank noted, his whole life has been very exciting.
“We were so thankful that we were relatively healthy and we had the opportunities,” he said.
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