Barbara Latkowski
Caledonia Courier
For Doug MacLachlan, Fort St. James is home and has been for the last 37 years.
The tall and smiley 91-year-old with a sharp sense of humour arrived in Fort St. James from Vancouver in 1979.
“I received a job offer right after university,” MacLachlan said. “I thought I would only stay for a year or so.”
After studying the history of English Literature at the University of British Columbia, MacLachlan decided to take a job teaching English as a second language in the Fort.
“I dabbled with this in Vancouver, but it was here, that this really began for me.”
MacLachlan taught students from all sorts of cultures and countries including Punjabi, European children and kids from indigenous backgrounds.
“You couldn’t go wrong with these kids. They were great. They had such a willingness to learn and to succeed,” MacLachlan said.
Throughout his time in Fort St. James, MacLachlan still managed to fulfill a passion of his time and time again over the years.
“I have travelled to many different places.”
MacLachlan has visited many countries over the years in Europe, Africa and Asia.
“Northern Africa was very interesting, MacLachlan said. “From the people to the landscape, it was fascinating.”
But for MacLachlan, Fort St. James has always remained home.
“I thought I would only stay a year but I ended up staying for good. “This place just grew on me.”