Heart of Our City: A fisherman with two loves Norm Ostrom has owned one boat in his life — Arne A. — for almost 60 years The Arnie A There are two great loves in Norm Ostrom’s life: his boat and his wife. “A boat is like a marriage,” Ostrom said, “you have to work on it.” It’s a phrase he’s fond of saying, and he often jokes that he has two wives. He bought the vessel in 1958 from its original owners and married Margaret a year later. After they wed, Norm asked Margaret which came first. “She said the boat, and I knew I had to keep her,” Ostrom said with a laugh. As he boards Arne A. at the Rushbrook Marina, Ostrom said, “It’s like stepping into history … I almost feel like the boat should be put in a museum. You don’t see a boat this old, in that good shape.” So it’s no surprise that Ostrom and Arne A. were featured in the Royal Museum of BC’s “Living Landscapes” project a decade ago — and more recently in this month’s issue of Western Mariner in a profile by Tom Maxie, Ostrom’s grandson-in-law. Ostrom was born in Bella Bella in 1934, the fourth of six children. He grew up on boats, and said he was always trying to catch fish, no matter what kind of boat he was in. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. The first time he was aboard a salmon troller he fell ill. “I was seven years old and I went out with my dad. I did get seasick. Oh boy, I’ll never forget that.” His first job was as on a trapper, at 15 years old. “I always felt that helped me, being in the middle of nowhere. You had to be careful because if something happened you’d be in deep trouble and nobody was around.” He went on to fish almost nine months of the year, much of it alone. He moved to Prince Rupert in 1952, and kept fishing commercially until he was 82 years old. After 58 years working on Arne A., Ostrom retired in 2016 — accident-free. He credits that to the many first aid and safety courses he took over the years. “Anything that came along, I took it. That really helped me out, going

Gary McArthur