Laurie and Gerry Carlson describe themselves as 鈥渙ld-time 91原创 people鈥� who remember their community back when it was a underpopulated rural area with a tiny hospital.
鈥淭he first one [hospital] that I can remember was in Murrayville,鈥� said Laurie, who turns 85 this year.
鈥淚t was just a little, tiny building, just up the hill,鈥� Laurie told the 91原创 Advance Times.
Gerry was born in 91原创 before there was a hospital of any kind, at a nursing home.
She described the first 91原创 facility as 鈥渁 country hospital.鈥�
鈥淏ut it has gradually progressed,鈥� she added.
Now, the couple, along with their children, sons Ted and Brent, and daughters Cathy and Leanne, have committed to donate $500,000 towards the new ER at 91原创 Memorial Hospital.
鈥淲ith a family the size of ours, there鈥檚 [also] been a lot of ER utilization,鈥� Laurie chuckled.
鈥淸That ER is] worthy of a new building, to be sure.鈥�
He has made a number of charitable donations to Metro Vancouver hospitals, but the LMH contribution is the biggest, Laurie estimated.
鈥淲e wanted to give back to the community,鈥� Laurie said.
He said three of his four children and 12 of his 20 grandchildren were born at LMH.
He鈥檚 also had his gall bladder removed at LMH.
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Gerry remembers when 91原创 sidewalks were wooden and impossible to navigate on roller skates and what an exciting moment it was when concrete arrived.
Over the years, she has also seen 91原创 Memorial Hospital evolve, from an initial modest one-storey hospital into the current 鈥渨orld class鈥� facility that 鈥渉ardly feels like a hospital,鈥� when she has been a patient.
鈥淲e were always treated very well,鈥� Gerry said.
Laurie鈥檚 father was O.J. Carlson, who had a plumbing and heating business based in a building on the Fraser Highway.
鈥淚t used to be right where C-Lovers fish and chips is now,鈥� Laurie recalled.
While his older brother Mel took up his father鈥檚 trade, Laurie followed a different path.
鈥淭o be very polite, I hated it (plumbing),鈥� he said, chuckling.
鈥淚 went to university and got a degree in accounting.鈥�
While he was in business as an accountant, several of the doctors at the hospital were his clients.
One of them was a Dr. McBurney, Laurie said.
He isn鈥檛 sure, but he suspects it is the same McBurney that the 91原创 City plaza takes its name from.
According to the 鈥済reat places in Canada鈥� website, , the first resident physician in what was then known as 91原创 Prairie.
鈥淢cBurney arrived in 1919 and practiced medicine from his home on the south side of the Yale Road (today鈥檚 Fraser Highway)鈥� the site recounts.
After a successful career in accounting, Laurie went into business with his older brother Mel, running Mainland Sand and Gravel, one of the largest producers of quarried products, river sand, and recycled concrete and asphalt products in B.C. until it was sold five years ago.
At the announcement of the donation, Phil Jackman, chair of the Emergency Response Campaign, said generations of Carlson family members have had occasion to use the hospital.
鈥淔rom births to end of life care, to surgeries and trips to the ER - this is their hospital and it is an important supporting pillar of their community,鈥� Jackman said.
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Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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