Surrounded by family and friends on the Williams Lake Golf and Tennis Club patio July 11, Frank Burgess said he was simply honoured to be around people he cared for.
Burgess turned 98 years old on July 10. He followed that up with a round of golf — one of his life-long passions — and later attended the weekly meeting of the Williams Lake Seniors Golf Club where Burgess has been a member since 1997.
Enjoying a cocktail following his round with his wife, Norma, and three daughters, Bonnie, Wendy and Louise, by his side, Burgess recounted how he originally discovered the sport.
“I was a very busy man back then,” he said of his arrival in Williams Lake. “My business was growing then.”
Burgess ran Burgess Plumbing, Heating and Electrical Co. Ltd., and estimates he took over the business in 1957.
He took up golfing as a hobby when the WLGTC was still a nine-hole respite where Boitanio Park now sits.
“Nobody helped me learn,” he said. “I just went out and tried. Sadly I never became a good golfer,” he joked.
When Burgess wasn’t working, he’d spend much of his spare time on the golf course from there on out.
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“I thought golf was great,” he said. “We started doing trips to Reno (to golf), and we went many times.”
By the time the WLGTC located to its current location on the west hillside of the city by around 1976, Burgess said he’d made many friends through the sport.
“Noel Donnelly and I, we golfed together for 20 years,” he said. “We were about the same skill, so that was good.”
Asked what he enjoyed about the sport, Burgess said “just hitting a good shot was the real pleasure.”
“I was a good hitter for distance in the beginning,” he said.
His daughter Wendy said Burgess later taught his three girls to play the game.
“We think it’s great he’s still playing,” she said.
A few years ago, Burgess was presented a lifetime membership by the WLGTC.
“The golf course has been very good to me,” he said. “This course has been just wonderful, and Williams Lake is so lucky to have such a good golf course. It’s as good as any.”
Burgess recalls winning the WLGTC Seniors Championship one year, and collecting two eagles on holes three and four, as highlights of his playing career that come to mind.
“I just love the game,” he said.
“And it’s just nice to have all my friends here today. Every one of them I’ve played with.
“Williams Lake has been very good to me, and the golf course has been good to me, too, and Norma and I are so lucky our family is so good to us.”
