Bertok, Louisa oral history interview

Louisa Bertok has worked has worked for Paddlewheeler Riverboat Tours and on the M.V. Native and for 7-8 years. She first started by doing the maintenance on the Native, but now also she also serves, does tour narration, cooks, and bartends. At a young age her father and 4 brothers taught Bertok how to work with tools. At the age of 11 she learned how to do autobody work on cars, her brothers showed her what to do. Bertok has never received any formal training. She first did marine restoration work on the Samson V, which is docked beside the Native, and was asked by the Leaney’s, the owners of the Native, if she could help them with a task, as they knew she was mechanically inclined. They liked her work and has worked for them ever since. When Bertok is not working on the Native she is both volunteering and working at the Fraser River Discovery Centre, as an on-call receptionist, or on the Samson V, which she has worked on for 11 years. Bertok volunteers at all the places she works because she believes in giving back, and feels a deep connection to the waterfront. Her goal with the Native is to get her marine first aid certification and an engineering ticket, to be “the first Native on the Native”. The sound quality of this recording is poor.