Thanks so much to Laureen (Woolsey) Kosheiff of Fairview, Alberta for organizing this event, held on Saturday May 2 at the Fraser Lake Legion. So many joyful connections and reconnections between family members and longtime friends. And the food was delicious!

George’s Bio

At the age of 90,  George Woolsey is probably the oldest living pioneer of the Fraser Lake area. 

George was born into the family of Lloyd and Birdie Ray , residents of Nithi Valley BC, on May 8, 1936. The Great Depression had taken a toll on the Ray family who already had 6 children.  George was officially adopted upon his birth,  by Isabel and George Woolsey Senior, also residents of the Nithi Valley.

In 1940 George and his adoptive parents left the Fraser Lake/Nithi Valley area to reside in Victoria during the war years.  George has fond memories of the exciting times when so many Canadian soldiers were returning to the capital city. 

One sad memory was in learning that his birth brother Bruce Ray had been killed overseas shortly before the war ended in 1945.

The Woolseys moved several times during the ensuing years. The family resided at Albert Canyon, near Revelstoke BC before moving to Ontario. After leaving school George was employed by the CNR railroad for 16 years at their Toronto area office.

In the summer of 1968,  just as the sockeye salmon return to the waters of their birth,  George, his wife Beth, and their four children: George Jr, Bob, Laureen and Jim reconnected with the Ray family back in Fraser Lake. They moved into a cabin on the North Shore, before residing in the Village of Fraser Lake.

George worked for Fraser Lake Sawmills,  the Endako Mine, and as a logger in the bush, before his retirement. His only birth sibling still living is Terry Ray of Vanderhoof, the youngest of Lloyd and Birdie’s large family.