This year's Golden Girl, Sue Wiggins, is no stranger to hard work. Born in England at the end of World War I, Wiggins came to Canada in 1951.
A nurse by training, Wiggins is best known on the Sunshine Coast for counselling seniors and her work with the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Gibsons Legion.
Wiggins is also no stranger to thinking on her feet. During World War II she ran two operating rooms patching up air raid casualties in London. An accident when she was helping another nurse lift a heavy patient resulted in a slipped disk. That was the beginning of a lifetime of back problems for the otherwise healthy senior.
When she first came here, Wiggins was surprised at the difference between nursing in Canada and her native land. In England, nurses were also fully qualified midwives. In Canada, that was not the case.
"I was shocked to find out [nurses] couldn't deliver babies," she said after her first delivery when the doctor was detained. "What was I supposed to do -- put it back?"
After another emergency delivery again landed her in hot water, Wiggins decided on a change of career. She went to work as a bookkeeper for Goodyear in Toronto. "I loved every minute of it," she said.
Wiggins credits that job and its attention to detail with preparing her to help seniors on the Coast. Although the government no longer funds the seniors' counselling, Wiggins still has people ask her for help. Recently she helped a Gibsons resident sort out house taxes. Wiggins' work for the Legion Auxiliary was acknowledged with a life membership five years ago. And although she's not quite as active with the group as she once was, she still attends all their meetings.
Wiggins initially came to B.C. in 1975 when her son told her it was God's country out here. She has two sons; one lives in Saanich and the other in Atlin (just below the B.C. Yukon border). She also has a daughter who raises horses in New Mexico.
Wiggins belongs to a local knitting club. She loves to sew and do needlework. She's also an avid gardener. Being named Golden Girl was quite an experience for the helpful woman.
"It was quite a surprise and I was very happy," she said after receiving the award.
