Who is Al Irwin?

Until July 10, Al was a senior reporter at the Langley Times for the past 20 years, covering business, Langley Township and court beats. Al’s wife Cindy worked for Langley School District for the past 23 years, teaching hearing-impaired children at Blacklock Elementary, Uplands Elementary and for the past year, H.D. Stafford Middle School. Both have retired to their baronial mansion in North East Aldergrove (Mission).

Why did you become a reporter?

I thought it would be a pretty good gig, travelling the world, mixing with politicians, criminals and celebrities, and not working on the green chain at Hammond Cedar.

If you hadn’t become a journalist what would you like to be?

I was actually planning on becoming a history teacher, and was at Vancouver Community College studying history, Spanish, political science, biology and anthropology, but doing well only in English, when I learned of the two-year journalism program.

Hardest part of your job?

Interviewing people who have had a tragedy in their lives.

Best part?

Langley is full of fine and generous people, and I have been fortunate to meet a lot of them.

Who is/was the biggest influence in your life?

My parents. My father was a Prairie wheat farmer born in 1902. He was a great horseman, and loved falling trees. He survived the Depression by working in logging camps in northern Manitoba each winter from 1929, planting a crop every spring, and losing it to drought each year until he joined the Air Force in 1939. My mother, born in Drumheller in 1920, grew up in the Coquihalla, during the late ’20s. They were hardworking, loving parents, who taught me integrity, and perserverence.

Most memorable story you wrote for The Times?

My interview with Bill Marr, the son of Langley’s first doctor. Bill, who is in his early 90s, has memories not only of his grandfather, but also his great-grandfather, whom Bill knew to age 11, and whose stories went back almost to the gold rush era.

Earliest recollections?

I remember my dad shoeing his horse when I was about three, and wondering why he was driving nails into the horse’s foot.

How do you recharge your batteries?

I like to go boating on Harrison Lake, and I read a lot.

What’s playing on your iPod?

I don’t have an iPod, but I have perfectly good vinyl – Hendrix, Cream, Rolling Stones. But I love Gordon Lightfoot and the blues.

What book is on your bedside table?

Dangerous River: Adventure on the Nahanni, by R.M. Paterson.

If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?

John Lennon.

The world would be a better place if only people would ...

Lighten up.

Tell us something about you that most people don’t know.

As a college student during the late 1960s, I drove taxi in Vancouver. During the 1980s when my brilliant journalism career was stalled by the recession, I went back to driving cab briefly. It is one of the toughest jobs I’ve ever had, and it has made me a generous tipper.

Where were you born?

Vancouver, in 1947, but my parents moved to Mission during the flood of 1948.

In high school, you were the ... silent, studious type.