Giving back motivates this local couple
I first met Kathy when I did a story about a young volunteer in our community (Sufey Chen) and I wanted to balance the story with a more experienced volunteer who was deeply embedded in the Prince George community.
I came across Kathy everywhere I looked. She wasn’t in it for the glamourous, high profile events where you go just to be seen, she was there to get the job done and right beside her all the way was her husband, Lino. This is what I call a true power couple. Here’s their story:
Lino Nadalin was born in Morsano al Tagliamento in the Province of Pordenone in the Northern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in 1946. He is the eldest of Bruno and Bruna (Valentinis) Nadalin’s four children.
“As a kid I resented the time it took to do all the chores because it constantly interfered with my soccer games,” he said. “In Italy every boy dreams of becoming a world famous soccer player and I was no exception.”
In 1956, when Lino was ten years old, his father left for Canada and worked for Canadian Forest Products (Canfor) in a logging camp on Vancouver Island, he recalled. His father returned to Italy four years later. As a boy Lino heard about Canada for years from his dad and grandfather who lived in Canada from 1921 to 1929. Lino headed to Vancouver in 1965 to meet up with his uncle to find work in Canada. He worked at the sawmill where BC Place is now located.
That spring Lino moved to Prince George. The pulp mills were being built and there were plenty of jobs.
“There was lots of work for a young strong person,” Lino said.
Lino moved to Victoria for a short time and worked as a welder in a ship yard. He then moved back to Prince George and went to work for Finning Tractor and eventually ended up working for Canfor just like his dad did back in 1956.
Lino has a daughter, Caroline, who lives in Hawaii.
In another part of the world, Kathy Lang-Pauley was born in Wausau, Wisconsin in 1948 and immigrated to Canada in 1968. Kathy is the fourth eldest of Gilbert and Lucy Lang’s 15 children.
“My father was a hard working farmer, a welder by trade while my mother was a stay-at home mom. Both were very good Catholics,” Kathy said. “Dad always said that he had all of us kids so he could make up his own baseball team.”
“I lived in Williams Lake, raised my family and worked for the BC Telephone Company,” Kathy said.
A pending office closure was the inspiration behind her transfer to Prince George in 1986.
Kathy has two children Scott (Tina – deceased, Angelica) of Olympia, Washington and Julie who lives in Prince George. Kathy has four grandchildren.
Kathy met Lino at a dance in 1999 and they married two years later.
For more than 40 years Kathy has been a dedicated member of the Order of the Eastern Star and a longtime member of the Scarlet O’Hatters a group within the Red Hat Society. She also wrote the weekly Seniors’ Scene column for the Prince George Citizen for eight and a half years that resulted in 262 people features.
“I turned the column into two books with the proceeds going to the Prince George Community Foundation.”
Kathy has received accolades for her extensive community work, including a Healthier You Seniors Initiative of the Year award in 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013, and the Outstanding Volunteer Award of Merit from the City of Prince George in 2012. She was also honoured with a nomination as the 2013 Citizen of the Year.
Kathy and Lino both belong to the Forever Young Chorus and enjoy playing cards. Lino is very much a bridge enthusiast.
Kathy and Lino love to travel and enjoy spending their time together volunteering, dancing or working in their extensive garden.