‘The Widget ( Curse”

- ‘There i isa rather frustrating: trait i in ‘the Widget blood that s seems to filter down. .,
through the generations:-in very general terms,.a.sense of headstrong independence, that.
- seems to afflict young adult male Widgets. Not.all of them, of course. But there is least one
in each generation that seems to stray from the path of basic common sense. .
: You might: recall that Lars himself joined the merchant navy at the tender. age of 15,
his. only purpose the quest of independence. His Uncle Hedy had been the same way; wan-
dering off-to,a logging camp in his mid-teens. His youngest s son, James left home i in 1 January .
—-:1949, two. months before his 17th. birthday..
_ James, Jimmy to some, roamed from logging. show. to construction camp | for,
five years k before he came to his senses. It was April Fool's day 1954 when, he returned ,
the source ‘of an “inside” family. joke, and things have gone well ever since. Jimmy now
~ owns and operates Widget Contracting Ltd. and presently has a contract to fall and.
haul timber out of the Clutch Creek area for Milton Jovial. -.
In the next generation, Jimmy’s | first born, Paul Henry, discovered motorcy-
___ eles in the summer of 1965. Jimmy wasn’t overly concerned at first. Paul was only 14
: at the time and stuck close to the confines of the family estate.
By the time he was 17, though,-Paul was on his own. He and four older.
friends had rented an old trailer in Thornhill and if there was a common thread bind-.
ing the group it was the lack of any | desire to work and a strong inclination to roam.
But like his father, Paul returned home in his early. twenties... A little
sheepish and a lot wiser. A few years later-he started his own A-frame logging . ,
operation, Widget Logging Ltd. He married-a Prince: Rupert girl in 1971 and the
family was blessed with twins on Jan. 22, 1974. Mark Allan, according: to the
official record, is 14° minutes older than his sister. Sheri Lynn. _—
Mark and Sheri, however, share little resemblance as. twins.
Sheri i is slim and attractive with light brown hair, Mark is heavy set, broad
~~. shouldered, and has dark brown hair like his father. Sheri i isa’
Grade 12 honour roll student with hopes of becoming a doc-
tor, Mark is a Grade 12 dropout with a love for. motorcy-
7: cles. Abit ofa rebel, just like his father. . _ ot, |
- But Paul has a second son who was somehow
‘spared the male Widget curse. Billy, who turns 16 this
November, i is more what you might describe as an
“average » iid. He holds average grades at Skeena .., t
. Junior Secondary. He likes sports, fishing and hik-
« ing. He spends most of his time roaming Widget
Woods with Bobby, his.cousin and best pal. -
Billy, though, does cause his parents a bad
moment now and then. Like a year ago last Jan-
uary when he and Bobby went snowmobiling on .
top of Hedy Hill. oo
The boys decided it would ‘be great
fun to build a “jump”. A little more than an
‘hour's labour and they had completed their
creation. They were ready to perform their
death defying leap.
At the toss of a coin, and because it
was his idea to begin with, Billy went first.
Following the appropriate fanfare and