Interview excerpt with Audrey Smedley L'Heureux transcribed by Melanie Rutherford for the Prince George Oral History Group as part of Young Canada Works project at Prince George Public Library, summer 2004.

Melanie: How did you become involved in journalism?

Audrey: The newspaper became part of my life. I contacted The Citizen, and they said I could report from Vanderhoof. I found out I could get $3.00 a picture, so I bought a Hawkeye camera. They often ran a whole page of my stuff. The Nechako Chronicle newspaper in Vanderjoof was not doing well, and for a year or so, I wrote stories about Vanderhoof for The Citizen, and I typed a carbon copy for the Vanderhoof paper. I was getting 50 cents an inch in 1960, plus the three bucks for a picture. Holy Smokes! I was actually making some cash. Then I found there was an outfit in Prince George that was selling a photo studio. They gave me a $300.00 loan to buy the stuff from the studio. I found a place on Stuart Street owned by Buddy Ahlm, and I set up a studio. I had a dark room and put in an inventory of photograph items. I did weddings and other functions. The Chronicle continued to fall apart, and they decided to ask me to be the editor.

Melanie: And where was that?

Audrey: In Vanderhoof, for the Nechako Chronicle. I took the job and planned to still run the studio, but I found out that wasn't going to work. However, I was only getting $250.00 a month at the Chronicle, and it included the family car. But the Chronicle was going bankrupt. One day I went to work and there was a lock on the door.

A syndicate from Vanderhoof, including Dr. Mooney and four others who may not be so well known now, put up some money and bought the paper. And this was a big deal, and they had to have an editor, so I stayed. You gotta have a paper in town, yeah, you gotta. And it was the only newspaper…there was no TV or radio in town, so it was a major thing. Later, one member of the syndicate wanted out of the paper. I had a piece of land that he wanted. I traded the land for his share.

I used to get the yearly reports on the Chronicle because it was incorporated as a company. When I got the yearly report, I went to the lawyers for the syndicate; it was falling apart, just falling apart. I said to the lawyer, I should be running the paper. And he said, "Of course you should." Well, I said, I won't run it unless I own it. And I haven't the money. He said, call the Bank of Commerce, it's where you have always dealt. So I called the bank, oh I remember sweating bullets that day! I said, I think I should be running that paper. They said, "Of course you should be running it." And I said, I haven't any money. That's okay, the bank said, you buy it, and then we'll sign the thing saying how much it is. And I said, I don't have a car and I'm not going back to Vanderhoof without a car. And so I did. It took me several years to learn it should have gone bankrupt. I had a revolving loan and I never knew where the hell that was, never did figure it out. And I knew I had to have money to leave.

Then my personal life took a new direction and I left Vanderhoof, left my job behind, and came to Prince George.

Melanie: What year was it that you left?

Audrey: It was 1967 that I came to Prince George and worked for a year.

End.