Longtime Port Coquitlam city council member George Laking dies at 96

Picture an old man with a paint can, a roller, and a good dose of determination.

Talking to a CBC reporter in 2013, George Laking’s determination is on display.

For more than 20 years he was a fixture on Port Coquitlam city council and, in 1980, he became the city’s 12th mayor. But on that day in 2013, his focus was solely on graffiti.

Laking, by his account, had painted over graffiti at Elks Lodge 19 times.

It’s a pretty good illustration of a guy who spent most of his life trying to make Port Coquitlam a little nicer.

The City of Port Coquitlam announced Laking’s death on Tuesday.  He was 96.

“George was a beloved member of our community and his loss will be deeply felt by all who knew him. He was a dedicated public servant and a tireless advocate for our city,” stated Mayor Brad West in a release.

George’s father worked at a shingle mill before taking a job at Essondale Hospital, (later Riverview and today səmiq̓wəʔelə), while his mother worked as a matron at Boys Industrial School, according to Port Coquitlam: City of Rivers and Mountains.

Laking was  a teenager when he took a job at the Canadian Western Lumber Company in Coquitlam.

He married Jocelyn Huth, a nurse-in-training at Essondale, and the two eventually moved to York Street and raised two daughters, Louise and Kathy.

As a young man, Laking was off work for seven weeks when the 1948 Fraser River flood closed the lumber yard when he worked. When the river jumped its banks again in 1961, Laking took a seat on the Flood Relief Committee.

That committee work led to a career in politics. Laking was elected alderman (now called a councillor) in 1967, served as mayor from 1980 to 1981 and stayed in office until 1990.

He oversaw the opening of the Poco Place Shopping Centre and did planning work that led to the development of Citadel Heights, Westview Heights, and Riverside, as well as the development of the Coast Meridian industrial site.

Laking was also on hand when Terry Fox received the Order of Canada. (In a CTV news story, Laking can briefly be seen shaking hands and holding his umbrella over Fox.)

“(Terry) was just like one of the family in this town,” Laking once told a UPI reporter.

Local historian and former longtime Belcarra mayor Ralph Drew recalled Laking as a veteran local politician during his early years running for office.

“He was both kind and generous, taking newbies like me under his wing providing patient advice and guidance,” Drew wrote in an email to the Dispatch. “Along with the legendary Mayor Len Traboulay, George played a leading role both within the Tri-Cities and at the [Greater Vancouver Regional District].”

Laking was also deeply interested in Port Coquitlam’s history.

In the foreword to City of Rivers and Mountain, Mayor Traboulay lauded Laking and fellow workers for interviewing long-time citizens and poring over old newspapers and city council minutes, “usually working long hours out of their cramped quarters at City Hall to produce this book.”

Talking to CBC in 2013 at the age of 85, Laking confessed to being a little frustrated with the graffiti problem.

“It gets a little tiresome after awhile,” he said. “You know, I’m getting old.”

Dealing with graffiti in 2013

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/graffiti-artists-target-port-coquitlam-s-elks-lodge-1.1346691

An 85-year-old Port Coquitlam man says the city needs to do more to stop graffiti artists from spray painting the local Elks Lodge.

George Laking has tried to paint over so-called graffiti “tags” 19 times, he says.

“I’ve seen times when I painted out one day and the next day it was all over again,” he told CBC News.