Above is the picture of the Riviera School in Touraine, the back yard of the school
Above is the picture of the Riveria School in Touraine from the front of the building.
Above is the back yard of the George Etiennes Cartier School in Touraine, Quebec
Above is the front of the George Etiennes Public School in Touraine, Quebec
Above is a picture of the French church in Touraine, Quebec called ?????
The picture above is the French church that was in front of the school in Limbour, Quebec
Above is a picture of the school yard in Limbour. This was the French school. The English school was a little school house that was to the left of this picture but has since been torn down.
Above is a picture of the Foster's house in Touraine on Calais Street. Claire, Ernie and Michael
Foster lived here in the early 60s. Their house was directly across the street from our house
at 66 Calais St.
Above is a picture of the Courturier's house which was right next door to us. Carmen, Renee and their two kids Andre and Anne-Marie Courturier lived in this house. Carmen's mom lived with the family also.
Above is a picture of Sue's family house at 66 Calais St in Touraine, Quebec. A recent picture taken in August 2007. Paul Andre, Theresa, Chris and Sue Legare lived here in the early 60s. Sue's housewas on a corner lot.
Here is a picture of my father Andre Legare practicing Karare downtairs in our
house at 66 Calais St, Touraine, Quebec My father has a black belt in Karate and used to teach Karate. I have a green belt in Karate. The whole took Karate at the Langelier Karate Studio which was the corner of Rideau Street and Colonel By Drive where the Rideau Center is now. Our family also took karate at the George Sylvain Karate studio on Queen Street. That building has since been torn down and now a huge office building is situated there.
Calais Street Touraine, Quebec (1960 - 1967)
Our family moved into the Riviera housing development in Touraine, Quebec which was situated across the river from Hull and next door to Pointe-Gatineau where my grandpa
Albert Legare lived.
We moved into a bungalow at 66 Calais Street which was a corner lot. The housing development was new and the streets were not paved yet. In the Spring and when it rained
there was lots of mud everywhere.
Across the street from our house lived the Foster family: Ernie, Claire and Michael. Ernie the dad was from England. Claire the mom was Canadian and Michael was their only
child.
Next door to us lived the Couturier Family: Renee the dad, Carmen the mom and Andre and Ann-Marie were their children. Carmen's mom lived with them.
Across from the Couturiers lived the local priest who preached the sermon on Sundays at the local church which was situated in the basement of the Riviera School. The mass was in French and mom and dad would give us 10 cents each and sent us on our way to church every Sunday morning. Mom and dad stayed home. Mom told me once when dad was a young altar boy that one of the priests tried to touch him somewhere where he was not supposed to and this turned off from going to church ever again. My parents were Roman Catholics.
Calais Street had lots of kids. Rosemary down the street had three sisters.
Chris went to school which was in a model house. Chris sat at the back of the room and got sick because the window was open and mom went down to the model house and gave the teacher a real rough time.
Mom and dad could have sent us to French school but never did. We were taught in English.
Chris and I were soon packed up every morning with our lunch and had to get the school bus to go to the Limbour English school a few miles away. On the lot the school was a huge French elementary school. We had our small two storey two classroom school at the back of the lot.
The Bertrand twins were our classmates. Their mother May Bertrand taught the kids in touraine everything from ballet, majorette, dancing and everything in between. She said she had been in the ballet in England. Mom let her use our basement for some of the classes. My brother Chris and I took ballet in the basement of Riviera Elementary school. Chris was the only boy taking ballet lessons.
I was 6 years old and Chris was 5. The Couturier kids were in similar ages to us. Andre and Ann Marie were our playmates. Michael Foster was few years older than us but he played with us too.
Michael had an aquarium with lots of exoctic fish. His mom and dad were real nice too.
One day Michael and I were playing Monopoly and I looked after the money and took more than I should have and Michael flipped out and took the whole game board and threw it up in the air.
Michael and I were sitting on my front cement block steps to my front door. Michael and I developed a puppy love crush on each other. Michael bought me a 10 cents ring and put it on my finger like it was an engagement ring and I was so pleased and overjoyed. We talked about our future together. He was 10 years old and I was 7. Michael said he wanted to be a forest ranger and I would be the wife and have the kids and we would build a house in the forest.
I saw Michael a few years ago at the Kelly Funeral home on Carling Ave. He was driving the car for the bereaved families. My friend Maureen was going to the cemetery to bury her second husband.
Michael was driving the car and I asked him "Are you Michael Foster that used to live on Calais Street when you were a kid". He replied he was. So we started to update each other with what had happened to each of us over so many years of not seeing each other. Michael was married and had one daughter. His dad Ernie died of cancer. Michael drank too much and had a heart attack and his wife told him to stop drinking and he did.
I told him I was divorced from John Clark, that I had worked for National Defence as a civilian secretary and that I was an antipoverty activist and an antipsychiatry activist, a shit
disturber so to speak. He asked about my brother Chris and he asked if Chris was married. I told him my brother was single.
My uncle Athel who was called Pete was a chronic alcoholic and he and wife were having problems because of this. His kids Stephen and Robin were left in my parents care
for perhaps a few months. They were close in age to me and Chris.
One day my mom gave Robin a new umbrella to use as it was raining. Mom told Robin to take care of the umbrella and not to break. Well Robin was a kid and we know what kids can do, they are not perfect at times. Robin took the umbrella and somehow it got broken.
When Robin got home my mom was real mad as she loved at her broken umbrella. Mom marched Robin into the basement and gave her a beating. Me, Chris, and Stephen witnessed the incident. It was horrible to hear Robin's cries downstairs in the basement. My mom could be real mean and cruel.
We kids on our block went into the nearby forest that had a small stone grotto. We loved to play in the forest all year long. We saw this one big tree and decided it was going to be our very own tree house where we could sit and have some fun. We found a thick branch and put into the crack of the tree and climbed onto individual branches that we wanted to sit on. We later on nailed on boards to our branches to sit on.
One day Michael and some of his friends who we were estranged from for awhile came by and tauted us kids while we were sitting in our tree house. Michael and Monkey face his friend as we called him because he had big ears started to throw big chunks of stones at all of us.
None of us were hurt as we ducked carefully. I told my mom about this and she had a talk with Michael's mom. He never did that again.
I remember when the Barbie doll came and the GI Joe Doll. I used to play with Ann Marie's dolls as her mother Carmen bought her kids anything she wanted; she spoiled her kids real rotten. She got her kids a pool in the backyard, gave her kids the best birthday presents and at Christmas they got all the latest toys.
Carmen was real nice to our family. She gave us food, drove us around in her car. Carmen was lots of fun. Going over to play with her kids was fun. We had all the toys anyone could ask for to play with.
Renee, Carmen's husband had a woodworking room where he created beautiful wooden bowls, coffee tables etc. Renee used to drink lots of jars of instant coffee to keep him awake as he had to jobs everyday to go to.
One day my brother was playing with Michael foster. They were playing in a snow bank in the front of our house. Chris got his snowsuit pants wet from the wet snow. When entered our house, mom noticed that Chris's pants were wet and she ordered him down to the basement. The basement was not finished off yet. Mom beat Chris with a piece of wood and he tried to protect himself with raising his hands and a chunk of flesh fell off his little finger and has a scar on his finger that is plainly visible to this day from the beating. No attempts were made to bring Chris to the hospital for stitches or for pain relief. Years later my brother showed me his scar on his finger and I was a Treats coffee place in downtown Ottawa and I just broke down and cried in front of everyone. Seeing that scar brought up a whole bunch of bad memories about my childhood. Chris took my hand and looked at me compassionately. We lived through our war at home with all the abuse we got.
I love my brother but sometimes being clash as we both have bad tempers and we would do not see each other for awhile until we settle our differences. This is one such time at present and we are not talking to each other. Eventually we will resolve our differences. My brother Chris has a kind and good heart, he is a gentle soul.
I skipped a grade when I was in Quebec. The school system in Quebec at that time was more advanced. Chris and I were in the same grade for years as he was one year younger.
It was fun taking the big yellow school bus to the small little English school on the school property that sat a big French public school run by nuns. Some boys would bully and taunt my brothers but Chris was never afraid because the Bertrand twins liked Chris and always protected him. You could say the Bertrand twins were kind of wild. Mary Ellen Foley and her younger sister Marion came in my school bus from Cantely as did Ann and Pasty Burke. Brian Lauber an his sister Cindy and Michael Murphy got on the same school bus as we did. One of the French students in Limbour, a young girl got on and she was an amputee. Her lower arm was missing. It was fun riding in the school bus along the narrow and winding roads in Quebec near the water.
Some of the French kids did not like us, there was a growing resentment amongst them and us. One day in the winter, the English us built a small snow fort and we and the French kids were throwing snowballs at each other not in a very playful way. One French got hit in the eye with snowball that had a stone. We never had any more snowball fights on the school property again. Donna and her sister Debbie were our school mates too. Debbie was obese and we all made fun of her and called her "Debbie Beaufart". We were not very nice to her and I regret doing that. Kids can be real mean.
I learned to penmanship. The kids did not print but wrote out their exercises with writing. I can write beautifully.
The Bertrand twins were always up to some mischief for sure. I had long pigtails almost down to the my waist and one day the twins got their blotter of ink and dipped my the lower part of my pigtails in the ink. One day they got behind my desk and tried to unscrew the bolts and one leg of the desk became wobbly.
There was a forest behind the school and the boys would love to get garter snakes and chase all the girls during recess time.
At the Limbour school the kids would sing the latest songs by the new group from England called the Beatles. I liked Paul the best, I had a small crush on him and was devastated to learn later on he got married.
The Monkees came out with their music and I liked to watch their show. My favorite Martian was on TV as was Bonanaza and Lost in Space. Ed Sullivan was a great show. The Momma and the Papas came upon the music scene. The 60s had lots of good music and I was there to see it all happening.
In the Riviera project we kids roamed all around the streets and into the forest and our parents never worried about us kids. It was really safe in those days for kids to be alone.
No one ever bothered us. We had loads of fun.
One day I came from school and saw my mom crying in the livingroom. She was sitting in her bathrobe. I asked her what was wrong. The livingroom drapes were closed. Mom got up and took off her bathrobe and she was naked. She turned around and said "Look at my back" She had big bruises and welts on her back. I asked my mother if the boogey man came in a did that to her. "No" she said "your dad did this to me". I was quite shocked as I adored my dad and waited for him outside our house waiting his car to pull into the driveway.
We had a black poodle named Pierre and he did messes all over the floor, he was not trained properly. Mom would abuse Pierre and take him downstairs and beat him, I can recall hearing the poor dog wimpering in pain.
Carmen Couturier did catering and fell in love with Norman a fellow employee. She told her husband Renee who she was still living with. Norman would call mom and mom would send one of us kids to get Carmen so she could talk to Carmen. One day Renee was home and heard me telling Carmen to come to my house as she had a phone call from somone. I called Norman "Bozo" after the clown on daytime tv. Renee ran after Carmen and pulled out of her hand and yelled "who are you speaking too". Carmen and all of never said anything to Renee.
Carmen would drive all of us to the Gatineau Park where there were nice lakes and picnic areas to eat at. Carmen and Normal would sneak off into the woods by themselves to have some private time together. We would eat hot dogs and sandwiches and would burn charcoal bricks to start a fire to roast the meat we brought with us. One day Chris walked on top of a hot charcoal brick someone has thrown nearby and I could still remember hearing Chris scream and we all yelled, get into the water and he did. Chris had a big blister on his foot for awhile. I felt bad for Chris.
All the English kids left the Limbour school and then went to the newly built Riviera School. We had one class that was English and the rest was for French kids.
I used to walk down the hallways with a heavy foot and my teacher Lola Lafontaine would say "You walk like an elephant, Suzanne" and the kids would laugh.
Lola Lafontaine was my teacher from Grade 1 to 7. She was very nice person who laughed alot. She was married but did not have kids for quite a while. I believe that Mrs. Lafontaine keep up my spirits during the day, it gave me a reprieve from my mothers abuse and I looked forward to going to school everyday.
I had an excellent memory and I was second in my grade for many years until Mary Ellen Foster was sick. Mary Ellen was always got the best grades but this time I outbeat and
got the highest marks for a few months.
We were in a Roman Catholic school system and we had to learn cathecism everyday. We would have to kneel down on our desks and take turns says the prayers "Our Father" and "Hail Mary". Brian in the class stuttered badly. When it was his turn to say the prayer, he did and the kids did not laugh. We accepted his speech impediment.
Carmen left her husband and took off with her lover Norman to another city with her two kids.
I missed Andre and Ann Marie. After a few months Carmen came back home with two kids in tow. The affair with Norman her lover had fizzled out.
One day, Michael and I were sitting on his porch steps when we saw a thin black labrador stray dog going past us. I said to Micheal "that dog looks awfully hungry, I think we should feed it". So Michael went to the dog and guided it to his house and gave it some food.
We both liked the dog. Michael asked him mom when she came back to work if he could keep the dog and she said yes. I told Michael he should name the dog "Cindy" and he did. Cindy did lots of meses. Ernie Foster took a rubber hose and beat the dog and she soon was well behaved. Claire Foster would give us homemade popsicles. She was real nice. She always had a ready smile for everyone.
One day my dad told me I had crooked legs so I went over to Ernie Foster to ask what he thought of my legs and told him what my dad had said to me. Ernie laughed his head off and said my legs were perfectly fine.
The local English priest came over to our classroom one day and asked our teacher Mrs.
Lafontaine "who has the loudest voices in the class". Our teacher pointed to me and to boy in our class. The priest wanted us to say the prayer at the front of the Cantley church when we would be making our first holy communion. He would drive some of around and teach me the prayers to read. He was really nice to us all. My mom bought our outfits for our holy communion event. I got a white lace dress with a white weil and with white gloves and leotards and white shoes. Chris got grey pants with a black blazer and a white ribbon to wear on one of his upper arms. I looked like a miniature bride when I was all dressed up. There were about
15 girls dressed in white and about the same number of boys dressed up in the grey pants and black blazers. My brother had a stye in his eye.
My grandparents Yvette and Albert Legare came to our first holy communion. I was squirming ans wiggling in my pew and I was talking during the service and my mom motioned for me to stop and I did. My name was called out and I had to go up the front of the church and kneel down and read a long prayer. My voice was loud as memorized the prayers and said it.
After the ceremony, Bishop Window stood outside the church and shook everyone's hand.
He gave me a silver dollar for my efforts that day. A few years later I spent the silver dollar and I regret doing that to this day.
Mom made a big birthday party for her mother Grandma Mary Ann Sage who was turning
60 years old on March 25th. Mom invited all of her siblings, only one did not show up.
Grandma got lots of gifts and a nice cake. It was nice to see all of mom's siblings and their
families. The house had lots of people in it that day.
Mom wanted to make some money for Christmas and decided to go to the little shopping center a few blocks away and apply for a waitress job at the local restaurant and she did.
She got the job. Mom did not tell dad right away. The first night she was supposed to
start her job, mom told dad she had to go to work. Dad got furious and threw mom out
of the house in the middle of winter with no shoes or coat on, she had on her slippers.
Mom walked in the snow to the Fosters house across the street and called her sister
Olive who lived in Ottawa to come pick her up. Dad went over the Foster's a few minutes later and told mom to come home, that it was ok. Her sister Olive did not pick up my mom.
My dad had a dry sense of humour that I picked up from him. I can still recall his laugh as he told of his funny stories. One day my dad the family at the supper table "We adopted you,
Suzanne, you were an ugly baby and we felt sorry for you". I got upset and my dad told me he was only teasing me and he told me I was a beautiful little girl.
One day Chris and I were late for supper and he told us to come into the kitchen and we had to line up next to each other. Dad kicked us hard in our lower spine with pointed patent leather shoes.
Mom asked May Bertrand's older son to babysit my brother and I one evening. My parents
left their car at home as some of their friends would be picking them up. We had fun with
May's son. He was a nice guy and he was lively. I went to bed as I was tired and he asked that Chris stay up and not go to bed. I heard drawers in my parents
My dad had a dry sense of humour that I picked up from him. I can still recall his laugh as he told of his funny stories. One day my dad the family at the supper table "We adopted you,
Suzanne, you were an ugly baby and we felt sorry for you". I got upset and my dad told me he was only teasing me and he told me I was a beautiful little girl.
One day Chris and I were late for supper and he told us to come into the kitchen and we had to line up next to each other. Dad kicked us hard in our lower spine with pointed patent leather shoes.
Mom asked May Bertrand's older son to babysit my brother and I one evening. My parents
left their car at home as some of their friends would be picking them up. We had fun with
May's son. He was a nice guy and he was lively. I went to bed as I was tired and he asked that Chris stay up and not go to bed. I heard the drawers in my parents' bedroom being opened and closed. The babysitter was looking through my parents things.
The babysitter asked me if he wanted to go for a ride with me and Chris in our parents car and I said no. Chris went out the door with May's son. I was worried and I called my Aunt Olive in Ottawa and told her what happened. She told me to tell the babysitter no to do out again with the car when he came back with Chris. I told my parents when they came home and they
told off the young man.
A few years later the same young man was walking with girlfriend along the highway leading to Touraine when a car hit them both. May's boy died but his girlfirend survived. I was so sad at his funeral. May was devastated. Everytime I go onto this highway I remember this tragic
incident.
Touraine was a great place to grow up in. It had a huge forest where we all the kids went to play. I remember my brother covering me up with autumn leaves as I lay on the ground.
My dad had a friend who lived in Touraine. His friend was married and his wife's name
was Theresa Cyr. She was a great person. Her house was a mess but she had a carefree
attitude and she was good to her two boys. I liked her alot. I wished she was my mother.
She is in politics on the Quebec side.
The English kids went to the Jean-Etiennes School in the project. We had two English classes in this Roman Catholic School. One of the boys was Porutugese, new to Canada.
One day in the winter of 1967, my brother Chris got pushed into the snow by Eduardo.
Chris told my mom at lunch time when he went home what Eduardo did to him. Later that
afternoon, my mother showed up in the school yard during recess and came up to my brother
and asked him to point to Eduardo and he did. My mother went up to Eduardo and grabbed him by the throat, cursed at him, and then dragged him to principal Mr. Prud'homme's office.
Chris remembers his classmates telling him that mom was nuts; they told him what he
didn't recognize in mom's behaviour.
My father was into Karate and I recall seeing him break red bricks with his hands. He would line up two or three bricks and then one hand would go down hard on them and the bricks would break, a part of Karate training.
One day and I were practicing some Karate moves and my dad punched me in the stomach hard and I told my dad that hurt and he grabbed me and hugged me, something he did very rarely. My dad never hardly any attention to me and never hugged me much at all. I craved for my dad's approval and I never got it. Mom never showed my brother and I any affection at all too. My parents were cold towards us. We got feed good food, had a clean house and clothes but were never given any type of affection, warm, love, nor affection. We were treated as though we were part of the furniture, that is how I felt when I was growing up as a child.
I did not realize how bad my childhood was until I meet some of classmates parents and they
were so nice, loving and caring. I realized one day that my parents had lots of problems,
and that they were disturbed. I had a very unstable upbringing. I never knew when my mom
would belt me or beat me or yell at me and that made me into a very nervous and hyper child.
I have been in therapy since I was l7 years old. I left psychiatry l7 years ago and found
alternative therapists which I still talk to and see. I am still a very nervous and hyper person.
You never forget the abuse but you learn to heal slowly. Some memories are too painful and I believe will never heal...
My husband Steven is nearby as I write this book. Some of the memories are so painful I am crying as I am writing this. Chris and I suffered greatly in our childhood. I am writing this book
because it very therapeutic for me and I am getting out of some of the painful stuff bottled up inside of me for years. Child abuse happens in all economic societies.
Our family went to see my mom's sister Olive and her family in Vancouver. My dad's brother Gerry and his family went along too. He had a long trailer on the end of his car. We had fun having lots of picnic along the way. It was nice to play with my cousins Marcel, Diane and
Louise Legare. My dad used to show a slide to everyone of Chris peeing at a picnic and I thought this was very insensitive of my dad to do that. My dad could be insensitive and cruel too like my mom.
Mom sold Tupperware and she sold lots of it. She also sold Stanley products too. Mom was an extrovert and liked to have fun and she did.
Mom had friends she would invite over for a big supper, a social gathering. Helen Cherry of Ottawa would show up along with Betty and then some of her well to do friends from Montreal would come to see her. Mom would make gourmet food, she sure could cook. They would bring a hostess
gift for Mom and sometimes they gave us kids some gifts too. We would wash all the dishes up afterwards and give mom a needed break as it took her lots of time to plan and prepare her parties. Pictures would be taken of the dinners. We all enjoyed ourselves.
One day Theresa Cyr brought me and Chris to a mini golf putt place near Touraine. I won my very first game in mini golf. Theresa then brought me and my brother to a restaurant attached to a gasoline station. I orderd french fries my favourite food. After the small snack, Theresa drove us home. We found that a few days later the garage and restaurant blew up because of a gas leak. We were just plain lucky nothing happened to us a few days before. I counted my lucky stars. I may not be rich but I sure am lucky.
I remember my dad going to see my uncle Lyman about a loan. Lyman was loaded. He worked at the Rockcliffe base in Ottawa in the canteen section. He never travelled and only stayed at home. He bought a new car every few years. Dad gave some lie about why
he need the $200 or so. The real reason was to pay for the bail to get his father Albert
Legare out of Pointe Gatineau jail as he had been arrested for beating up his wife Blanche at their home.
Our family went to the old Ottawa General Hospital to visit my grandma Blanche who was beat up real bad by grandpa. My dad told me and Chris to stay in the waiting room. My parents
visited Blanche for awhile and then we left.
Blanche was beaten up by grandpa Albert because he got angry that she was giving money to her daughter and his son, Aunt Theresa and Uncle Gerry. Blanche was supposed to
save the money for their vacation.
Blanche never returned to Albert, they split up. She lived on her after that. They had a beautiful home in Pointe-Gatineau, Quebec near the woods and near grandpa's job as paper
inspector.
My parents got a dog a white siberian husky which they named Kimoo. We got Kimoo as a pup. He sure was cute. My parents did not know how to train him and he made messes all over the floor. Finally, my mom gave her dog to the neighbours next door to the Couturiers.
The Courturiers could not train the dog either and they had the same problems and soon gave the dog away.
Our family went to see my mom's sister Olive and her family in Vancouver. My dad's brother Gerry and his family went along too. He had a long trailer on the end of his car. We had fun having lots of picnic along the way. It was nice to play with my cousins Marcel, Diane and
Louise Legare. My dad used to show a slide to everyone of Chris peeing at a picnic and I thought this was very insensitive of my dad to do that. My dad could be insensitive and cruel too like my mom.
We slept in our cars. One night Gerry wrapped on the one of the car windows and he looked very frantic and upset. My dad rolled the window and asked what was wrong. Gerry said the
trailer on the back of his car was falling slowly off the side of the mountain where he parked his car for the night. My father rushed over to his brother's car and they both managed to pull
the trailer back up onto the road. Everything turned out ok.
Dad was driving and looked into his rearview mirror in his car and car a small volkswagon flip into the air and roll over several times into a ditch. Dad pulled over to see if he could assist
the people in the car. Dad had first aid training. There was a man driving and his mom was
his passenger. He told dad when the car was starting to flip he shoved his mothers car down towards the car floor boards and told her to cover her eyes and she did. The lady had glass in her eyes and few cuts an bruises but all in all she had no serious injuries. The man had a few bruises and glass as well on his clothes and in his hair. They thanked my dad for his help.
What caused the accident was that a truck loaded up with wood had dropped some wood and the piece of wood got caught between one of the wheels making the car flip out of control.
My aunt Theresa Legare was a very nice lady. I could tell she was not been treated very well by Gerry.
Gerry very unstable and could not keep a job and the family was always on the go as Gerry could not pay the bills and they moved from place to place constantly.
My aunt Olive pulled out a red carpet as we went up the stairs to her house. Her kids Patsy and Dow and her husband Johnny Burns all greeted us. Olive made a nice supper for us all.
I can remember seeing the mountains from my aunt's house. My dream is to one day
move out to Vancouver with my husband Steven, his sister Lynn lives out there with her three
kids and husband and all the her grandkids.
I just met Lynn my sister-in-law yesterday. She came to Ottawa from Vancouver where she live with her husband and son. She came to Otawa to visit my husband Steven, and her sister Donna Carr in Stittsville and her father Donald Wittenberg who lives in the retirement home called Stillwaters in Bells Corners, near Ottawa.
Lynn took me and Steven out to Tucker's Restaurant in the market area of downtown Ottawa
on Friday, August 27th. She paid for the meal and she was very cordial. I like her, she is a descent and nice person. Steven does not see his sister Donna nor his dad Donald. That story will come later in my book....
Lynn has a husband Doug, and son Stephan and two daughters named Rachel and Lucie.
Both daughters have kids. Rachael is married with two kids and Lucie has two kids also.
Rachael has a cute baby named Charlotte. She has blond hair and big rosy cheeks, a beautiful baby for sure.
Lynn's son Stefan Thordarson and Cary Campbell: Cary and Stefan have been playing music together for the past 3 years but both of these musicians have been honing their skills for many years. They are both part of the rock band Voodoo Buddha that played at the Vancouver Fringe Festival in 2005. Stefan is the violinist in the gypsy-jazz band Stringfever that has toured BC schools, and played at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Cary has studied guitar for 4 years and is a member of the Britannia Secondary School Band. He recently played saxophone on the funk band Paint's latest CD. Cary and Stefan performed at the Dragon Boat Festival and the Unleashed and Unashamed Youth Festival in 2004. This duo has gypsy-jazz, rock, and folk influences. They explore the work of legends such as Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.
I have never met my nephew Stephan but I wish him all the best of luck with his band. Lynn took violin lessons from Doug and then fell in love. Doug is Stephan's father.
My cousin Dow got his name as his father named his after the Dow Ale. Dow later changed his name to George and now he is called George Burns.. we all know about the other person with this name the famous comedian who lived to be 100, God bless his soul.
In 1967, it was Canada's centennial year. I went to Expo 67 twice that year. Once with my family and again with the school. Expo 67 was very exciting to me. I was 12 years old and my brother Chris was 11 years old.
