Chris Duprey
A party was held on March 30, 2019, at the Peterson’s Yachting Club to celebrate the launch of “SS Patience” on Lake Robson. Approximately 30 people were in attendance.
Al Peterson began work on a Chris-Craft Corvette model in the winter of 1966. He was recuperating from knee surgery following a skiing mishap, and felt he needed a project to work on to pass the time. He found this model at a hobby store. Initially he thought he would buy a nice plastic model of a legendary historical ship. But, as Al said, he got carried away and bought a kit of balsa and mahogany wood to build the model.
He worked on it for six to seven months, and it began to look like the pictures in the kit. Then, life got busy with kids, moving and his career. The kit and model were packed away and really were not thought about for over 30 years. He knew he would finish it someday, just did not know when.
Finally, he did uncrate the model in the spring of 2018, 52 years later. He noted a few dings and marks from all the moving they did throughout the years. Even though the construction of the model was still in great shape, he had to do quite a bit of finishing and detailing work. It took an enormous amount of patience from both his wife, Jan, and himself to complete the project. Al said it was probably three-times as much work than if he had not hurried it along 52 years prior. So, he named the 48-inch long model “SS Patience.” The launch was a huge success and completed a dream that began in 1966!