Ken Charles Cameron

Born October 6th, 1930 in Quesnel, BC

To Charles Alexander Cameron and

Hazel Fern Cameron (Wilson)

Passed away: May 4, 2009, in Langley, BC

Ken had three daughters: Pearl, Fern, and Gail.

Eight grandchildren:

Pearls children: Roslyn, Danielle, & Clayton.

Fern’s children: Charlene & Jason

Gail’s children Vanessa, Stephanie & Ashlee.

Plus eleven – great grandchildren

Ken was an only child he grew up with his Aunt Phyllis, Ken was 6 weeks older then Phyllis, and never let her forget it, they were best friends and got into lots of mischief together.

Ken was a man who loved life, game for anything, loved to have fun and who loved to play hard, work hard and get things done right the first time. Ken was very outdoorsy – he was a big hunter (moose, mostly) hunted with his friend Bob for 7 years, they got 13 moose. Ken also went on many hunting trips with Ernie and his grandson Jason. He was an avid fisherman. Ken spent a few winters on a trap line in Prince George. He liked all sorts of outdoors sports, including golf, canoeing, swimming, water skiing, boating and was generally very adventurous, loved to tell stories of his life and travels. He traveled many places, which is perhaps why he had so many friends all across Canada and the US and he kept in touch with many of them. One thing we can not forget to mention is Ken’s love for Chinese food.

Ken was self-taught in every area of his life. He only went to the 3rd grade but he was motivated to teach himself everything – including how to read and write. Ken was; let’s call him meticulous. He was very neat and organized and would take as long as was necessary to get the job done right. Especially in his fabrication and building work – Ken could build what no one else could build without a blueprint or plan – he rebuilt cars, trucks, tractors, dune buggies he built wood splitters, trailers, shops, a cabin even a house.

Ken started working at a young age he worked at many different jobs mainly in logging and saw mills. In 1957 he went to work with his father in New Westminster at Fraser Mills sawmill. Then he found his passion, truck driving and he was good at it one of the best. His trucking took him all across Canada and into the US. In 1964 he drove truck for Ray Boris, in 1967 he drove truck from the coast to Toronto and Montreal for D.S. Scott, in 1969 Ken was driving a logging truck for Ed Mitting. Then in 1973 Ken went to work for Arrow Transport he worked for Arrow for 14 years. In 1979 he drove the Stewart Division, Highway 37, the toughest road in the world. Highway 37 known as the Stewart Cassiar Hwy and also the Dease Lake Hwy, is the northwesternmost highway in the province, and is very scenic, passing through some of the most isolated areas of BC. Ken also drove the Stewart Docks, new fuel tanks for B-Train, which can be up to 85 feet long. Just one of the huge loads Ken transported was a Poclain shovel 172000gvw the shovel was used on a hydraulic excavator.

When Ken was in Hyder, Alaska he was Hyderized, that is when you take a shot of pour grain alcohol after you gulped down your shot the bartender tips the glass over on the table and lights the excess, which burns a bright blue flame. He brought a bottle of 180 proof grain alcohol home with him and Hyderized everyone.

Ken’s trucking took him to Dawson City in the Yukon that is where he became a true Sourtoer. The Sourtoe was put in his beer, the rule was “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow—But the lips have gotta touch the toe.” The Sourtoes are actual human toes that have been dehydrated and preserved in salt. He received a Sourtoe certificate to prove it. Thank goodness he didn’t bring a Sourtoe home with him.

Ken retired from Arrow in 1987. A few years after retiring Ken started the snowbird thing he would go to Yuma stopping for a week to ten days then off down the Baja in Mexico - San Ignacio, Los Cerritos, La Paz until he found the Baja getting to expensive and the roads substandard. Then he found Slab City perfect for Ken, FREE RV’ing he would spend at least four months of the year there. Slab City is a free RV oasis located in the desert near Niland CA and the Imperial Sand Dunes. It is an abandoned military base (Camp Dunlap was a WW2 Marine Barracks) that has been squatted by hippies and snowbirds. All that is left are the concrete slabs of the building thus Slab City. All in all Ken spent about 12 years as a snowbird.

A life well lived.