Mr. Pinniger – P for Mr. Personality

Reginald Alwyn Pinniger was born April 6, 1930 to Alfred and Blanche in New Westminster, B.C. “As the youngest of six my pet peeve was hand-me-downs because I had four sisters,” says Reg, kidding. Growing up, Reg’s dad was his main influence – and that was a good thing. A member of the United Church, Alfred taught his son “the fundamentals of life and the difference between right and wrong,” says Reg.

Also encouraged by his parents, Reg became a life-long donor to the Salvation Army and a Member of the Benevolent Order of the Elks that spanned three decades. Reg’s happiest childhood memory was at the Rotary Club summer camp in White Rock, around 1940. “I remember Miss MacGregor, the cook. She made the best pot of porridge I’ve ever had in my life,” says Reg. “We had it every morning and that’s where I learned to like porridge.” Maybe it wasn’t that the porridge was so great: food has a way of evoking memories, luckily happy memories for Reg – unlike Oliver Twist asking, “Please sir, I want some more.” Reg likes fish ‘n chips more and confesses to having a sweet tooth: chocolate and licorice all-sorts are his guilty pleasures.

Hockey played a big part in Reg’s life, so much so that he headed the New Westminster Royals fan club in 1954. And he managed the New Westminster Salmonbellies Jr. lacrosse team, running the club for three years including the year they won the Minto Cup–1960. But Reg wasn’t only a fan or sitting on the sidelines. He played hockey in the recreation leagues and was goalie in the days before facemasks. You know what’s coming… he was hit in the mouth with a puck. “It flattened all my bottom teeth but I flicked them back up with my tongue and kept playing. Thanks to my brilliant dentist Dr. Currie, I still have a full set!” says Reg, with a big grin.

When he wasn’t at the ice rink, Reg was hard at work. In 1948, the Province (which was then an afternoon paper) needed “ a kid in circulation”. It was that ‘someone who knows someone” lucky break for Reg. A year later he applied for the “Classified Manager, Advertising” position and began a successful 35-year career in advertising at Pacific Press (as it became known when The Vancouver Sun and The Province merged). “During the paper’s nine-month-long strike, dad prepared over 2,000 union members their strike pay from the kitchen table while mum stuffed their cheques into envelopes,” his daughter (and only child) Vanessa remembers.

But in 1956 Reg quit work. He and three buddies, all in their early twenties, headed north to find adventure. “They visited my aunt Nell – she ran the 10-Mile Lake Resort near Quesnel,” says Vanessa. “Then they travelled to Dawson Creek , where dad had a chance meeting with a Lucky Lager rep, which led to his job as the GM of a new hotel in Chetwynd, on the footills of the Rockies.” Two years later Reg returned home to look after his ailing mother Blanche. Sadly she died that year and he looked after Alfred until he died another two years later. During that time he was hired as a sales rep at the Vancouver Sun.Reg and Joan (nee Wood) married on February 1, 1963 and their only child Vanessa came into the world on Boxing Day, 1964. “Dad met my Mum (among others!) when they were both working at The Vancouver Sun in the old Sun Tower,” says Vanessa. “Before that, he was a busy bachelor!” “A bachelor until your mother got her claws into me,” says Reg with a sly chuckle.

Vanessa also enjoyed a long career at the Vancouver Sun. “In those days everyone’s kids got a summer job at the paper. I worked at classified ads while I went to university. Dad and I commuted together. He drove and laughed at me while I put on my makeup.” Vanessa and Reg didn’t see each other at work. He was out all day meeting and greeting customers. Everyone at every car dealership in town (and beyond) knew and loved him, and Reg loved his job.

After retiring in 1993, Reg started a 21-year ‘career’ volunteering at the Vancouver Airport. He was one of the original YVR Green Coats, spending every Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon as an airport ambassador – helping passengers, answering questions, pointing travelers in the right direction. “My Mum used to say ‘what better face for a passenger to see after a long flight than your father’s,’ “says Vanessa.“It was my most enjoyable job –helping people. Every day was different. Every shift something different was going on,” says Reg, adding how he loved walking around the airport before his knee acted up. He strolled international, domestic and U.S. departures and bonus: he got free parking when he and Joan traveled. Reg hung up his Green Jacket in 2014 to look after Joan (who had dementia) in their beloved condo until she fell and broke her hip and ended up in long-term care a year later. She died on August 24, 2018, just one month after Reg fell and broke his hip.

Throughout his life, Reg has been genuinely interested in people, from the people he worked with at the newspaper to pals he plays cards with to strangers he greeted at the airport. To this day he never stops helping friends and family with business advice and financial assistance; and looking after first his mum, then his dad, and finally his wife at the end of their lives. Vanessa says everyone knows her dad as “easygoing, generous, dependable, loyal, patient, organized. And he loves to laugh. Ask Reg to describe himself and he’s more modest. “I couldn’t find an enemy,” he answers, laughing.

And talk about organized! Reg’s systems are famous. He’s got a system for everything, from his morning breakfast routine to household filing and he can often be heard saying “I’ve got a system for that!” Reg has binders of information in a VERY organized filing system, including a detailed list of every trip he has ever taken– since 1960.

Car trips are particularly detailed. “Dad’s one of the best drivers I know – he taught me how to drive. He’s still driving at 91 although he now just goes down the block to the bank or to give the car a good run and keep the battery charged,” says Vanessa. Reg has a lifelong love of cars. His first was a model A Ford. Then he switched to old Austin cars. Then he bought his first Pontiac and has driven a GM to this day. Having big accounts in advertising with car dealers helped Reg got a new car every few years. As Reg says, he became a “GM man”.“Every year when I was a kid we drove down the west coast to California in one of his many GM cars,” Vanessa reminisces. “Mum used to put the ice chest in the middle of the big bench seat and would make us sandwiches and pour hot tea from a thermos while Dad drove. Dad didn’t like to stop along the way unnecessarily; he liked to get to the next place on the (detailed) map so we could pile out of the car and get into the swimming pool at the hotel with as much daylight left as possible.

“When they weren’t hosting at home, Mum and Dad were avid travelers, clocking in many miles from regular trips to the UK and around Europe; vacations in Hawaii, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, road trips around the U.S., cruises in the Med and across the Pacific. And twice- annual trips to their beloved Las Vegas, where Dad could always be found playing Keno.” (Reg’s dad taught him how to play cards – specifically cribbage—when he was young, perhaps that began his love of cards.)Before the pandemic Reg was usually found at the Richmond Centre for Active Living (Seniors Centre) playing crib three days a week and whist one night a week with his fellow seniors and news friends, like Malcolm. He’ll be back there as soon as it reopens.

Reg has a long list of loves. He loves a good parade –particularly marching bands and bagpipes. He loves doing jigsaw puzzles and he played the harmonica at every chance he got. “Dad was always the life of the party– the guy with a lampshade on his head. He always whipped out the harmonica and was known to do the Russian dance, even in later years (like at my wedding!) until his knees finally gave out (no wonder he developed arthritis!).

“Dad had a huge record collection and loved Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Band, which was constantly played on our old mid-century teak console record player in the living room of our family home in New Westminster. In the basement Dad built a rec room complete with fireplace, his prized bar and pool table. In a nutshell: party central. Most extended family events, from christenings to Christmas, were at our house. And he loved to smoke a pipe. To this day I love the smell of pipe tobacco because it reminds me of him.”

As for the best things he has done for himself recently, “I bought myself a brand new Chevy Cruze in 2015 when I was 86!’ says Reg. “And I just got my COVID vaccine.” Reg says he just wants to be remembered as “a fair shooter.” No wonder everyone loves him.