Love Birds

VALENTINE’S DAY 2023 - This life-long romance developed through baseball, a business, a brain injury, the Bible, and hundreds and hundreds of feathered friends.

BY ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT

When Kathie Brooker slid into first base during a church youth group baseball game in Calgary back in 1978, she had no idea that the handsome young ball player with his foot firmly planted on the base would one day become her husband.

“It was those blue eyes,” says Kathie (now Pritchard) smiling across the kitchen table at her husband Ken (Kip).

“I slid into first base and Kip looked down at me and said no one slides into first base. I said, ‘I do and I’m safe!’”

Kip drove 17-year-old Kathie home after that ball game and asked her out. She said yes and the rest is history.

“It was love at first sight,” said Kip. “She was gorgeous; she’s still gorgeous!”

Kip was 20; Kathie was 17. On their first date, Kip took Kathie to visit a show home. “I loved to design the inside of homes and there were lots of free show homes to go look at in Calgary back then,” he said.

Kip was a flooring representative for Western Canada for a mill out of Quebec and Kathie loved design, so Kip’s unusual suggestion of where to go for a first date sounded like fun to her!

Their relationship flourished and the lovebirds got engaged on Christmas Eve of that year; they were married the following September.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Ken and Kathie Pritchard love spending time together photographing the many different species of birds that live in qathet.

And although they met in Calgary, Powell River always figured prominently in their life as Kip’s grandparents lived here and his dad was born and raised here.

“Kip’s grandfather was the chief electrician at the mill in 1912,” Kathie explained. “My grandmother was the payroll clerk at the mill at the same time,” Kip said.

Kip’s grandparents married in 1916 and lived on Maple Avenue. When his grandfather was sent to work at the mill’s Stillwater plant they looked for a place to live south of town. “That is the reason why, in 1935, they bought the property at Donkersley Beach,” said Kip.

Kip and Kathie returned to Powell River each year when their children, Krystal and Kris, were young, to visit Kip’s parents at the beach and every time they did, they found it harder and harder to go back to Calgary.

It was on one of these visits that Kip was offered a job with Jacquie Brock, owner of Bowes Furniture. “I opened up the interior design department there for her,” said Kip. “We moved here in 1990 – it was one of the best decisions we ever made,” says Kathie. Their children were in Grade 3 and Grade 1 then. Now they are grown with kids of their own.

Since moving to their new home last spring, the couple photographed 75 species of birds in the first three months while sitting on their verandah.

“We absolutely loved raising our young family and watching our children grow; it was so rewarding. A lot of our family “life” together involved being immersed in the beautiful outdoors with regular trips to the Rockies [even when it was -20°], camping around Alberta and our wonderful summer vacations spent with Kip’s parents at the Beach House here in Powell River,” recalls Kathie.

Four years after moving to Powell River, Kip wanted to open his own store and in 1994 they opened Ken’s Personal Touch, a flooring and window covering shop, on Marine Avenue.

The pair worked side by side in the business. “Kathie was always a straight ‘A’ student in school,” said Kip. “I knew she’d be a great partner in business, too.”

“We always enjoyed working together,” said Kathie. “We can read each other so well.”

Kathie had a little kitchen in the back of their shop. It was there that she’d exercise another passion of hers: baking bread. “When a job was complete to the customer’s satisfaction, Kathie would give them fresh buns right out of the oven,” said Kip.

Kathie’s car was rear-ended in November 2001, leaving her with minor physical injuries and a life-altering, permanent, traumatic brain injury. For while, altough she recognized her husband, she couldn’t remember his name.

“We met so many wonderful people through our business,” said Kathie. ”We tried to continue to operate it after my disability, but life had changed so much for us. We finally decided to sell it in 2009. It’s so great to see it carrying on successfully with Chris and Melanie as Personal Touch.”

That accident changed both their lives. For Kathie, the injury slows down the mental processing power of her brain so she cannot think as quickly as she once did. She becomes exhausted when there is an excess of stimuli such as background interference or loud noises.

Because of this, she has to plan her outings very carefully and wears earbuds. “We haven’t eaten in a restaurant since the accident,” she said, noting that when they want to eat out, they order meals to go.

For Kip, when Kathie was unable to do many of the household chores she’d done before the accident, he took over.

“The doctors warned us that our marriage would experience tremendous challenges and that a high percentage of marriages ended up in divorce, recalls Kip. “I said, ‘No, I married her for life.’”

Things did change after the accident. “Our whole world changed,” said Kathie. “It’s interesting how when God gives you a detour like that, He opens up a whole new world for you, but you have to be open to change.”

After selling the business, Kip wondered what he would do next. They built a cottage on their beach house property and ran it as an Airbnb before COVID hit. “Then we looked at each other and asked if we wanted to keep doing this or did we want to do something else?” said Kip.

They decided they needed a smaller house and property that required less maintenance. Their beach home sold and they found their new dream house all at the same time.

“We were there for 18 years, and we loved it, but we are getting older and it was a lot to maintain. We were third generation on the Beach House property, so it was a huge decision for us to sell,” said Kathie. But they did, and last spring they moved to a new home closer to town that they call “Bird and Pop’s Country Cottage."

Bird is a good nickname for Kathie. Not only are both Kathie and Kip passionate about birding, Kathie’s mom was known as Nanny Bird to her grandchildren, Krystal and Kris. Kathie said she thought she would be known as Nanny Bird to her grandchildren, but grandson Kolton shortened it to Bird and Bird stack.

“The sweetest sound I can hear in the middle of a shopping mall is: ‘Bird, where are you?’ said Kathie. Kip and Kathie’s love affair with birding started in April 2016. “I’ve always enjoyed photography,” said Kip. “I met a guy on a Christian birding site and told him about Kathie’s brain injury and he asked if she liked photography. I said yes and bought her a camera. So, we decided to try out this birding thing.”

One of the first birds they found was a Harris’s sparrow. After finding it, they registered with eBird.org (a worldwide site). Another birding friend and mentor of theirs in the United States said it was really important to log this bird on the eBird site, so they did.

Today the couple spends hours doing citizen science research and recording their findings. “We have learned so much and have wonderful mentors including two incredible local birders. We contribute to the pattern of birds and the research of birds wherever we go,” said Kip. “We log all the birds and enter the data, even if it is just one or two birds. This is a legacy we are leaving as some of these birds could be extinct one day.”

The Pritchards share the photos they take on social media. “Through our photos we have gotten quite a few people interested in birds,” said Kip. They’ve given talks and done slideshows locally, including at Gerry Gray Place and for the Malaspina Naturalist Club.

“One of the joys of birding is sharing our photos with people who can’t get out and see these birds themselves,” said Kip. “Before we started doing this, we didn’t know Powell River had so many beautiful birds!”

The Pritchards have photographed 215 different species of birds with about 90% being right here in qathet.

Known as ‘the bird people’ (and the K team), they smile and say it is a passion they share and something they love doing together. Since moving into their new home in May, they logged 75 different species from their verandah in the first three months. “Finding a bird is so exciting,” said Kathie.

Although their love for each other has kept them together, faith is everything to this couple.

“We have learned to trust the Lord with absolutely everything because He can see a way ahead that we cannot see. We lean on the Lord and we lean on each other,” said Kathie.

They’ve been husband and wife for 43 years and through that time, they’ve learned how to talk, communicate and give to each other 150 trillion per cent, says Kathie.

Kathie can’t imagine her world without Kip. “He’s my rock.”

And Kip says Kathie is his best friend.

“We love doing things together,” he says.

“His mom said we are two peas in a pod. I said yes, but we are individual peas because we both have our own interests and passions, but we love being together,” said Kathie.