Our Story:
Charles and Maria Jamont immigrated to Saskatchewan from France in 1911. This is the story of their journey to a new land, where they faced hardships, success, joy and sorrow with courage and determination.
Charles Georges Jamont was born in Paris, France June 10, 1877, one of three children born to Joseph Ismael Jamont and Madeleine Adelaide Rouger. His sister, Marie, died as an infant before Charles’ birth, but by all accounts Charles and his younger brother, Georges, had a happy and comfortable early childhood, as their father, who was a bank employee, was well able to provide for his family. Unfortunately, this would not last. Shortly before Charles’ ninth birthday, his father passed away and then the following year his mother died as well. Thus, 10-year-old Charles and his brother, six-year-old Georges, were left orphans. They were taken in by a recently widowed uncle who looked after them for a year and a half, but then inexplicably abandoned them. One can only imagine the sorrow, despair and loneliness of two little boys deprived of their parents, abandoned by their uncle, and finally taken by the police to the child welfare authorities who sent them to the Auvergne region of central France, where they were placed in separate foster homes and then at age 14 sent to work on farms. Apparently, there were no other relatives able to care for them.
Until he came of age, most of what Charles earned as farm help was held back by the farmer to pay for room, board, clothing and other necessities, but it was compulsory that a certain amount be placed in a savings account to serve as a nest egg for him once he was old enough to set out on his own. He continued his farm work and at the age of 21 married 17-year-old Maria Plazenet, the daughter of Gilbert Plazenet and Marie Pretre, established landowners. Charles and Maria had four daughters born in France: Albertine in 1898, Marie in 1904, Felicie in 1907 and Irma in 1911.
The Jamont Family just prior to departure for Canada
Year: 1911
Place Name: France
L – R: Marie, Albertine, Charles, Maria and Felicie
In the early 1900’s, Charles discussed with Louis Joseph Mosnier, who farmed near Chaux, the possibilities of emigrating to Canada, no doubt as a result of the glowing publicity circulated by the Canadian government in its attempts to recruit homesteaders to Western Canada. One such brochure published in 1895 by the Agricultural Society in Duck Lake and circulated in France extolled the beauty of the Duck Lake area. More direct enticements were made by Canadian recruiting agents who offered land in Western Canada on the basis that anyone over the age of twenty-one could own 160 acres by merely living on the land for three years and cultivating it. This must have appeared utopian to a man who, as an orphan, would never inherit land and had virtually no chance of acquiring it in any other fashion. So it was that Charles, with $125.00 in his pocket, and his friend Louis Joseph set sail for Canada March 3, 1911 aboard the S.S. Sardinian, leaving behind his pregnant wife and three daughters and arriving in Saint John N.B. two weeks later. He subsequently made his way to the Duck Lake area where, on April 15, 1911, he applied to the recently formed government of Saskatchewan for a homestead on the South-East quarter-section of Section 1 in Township 46, Range 3, West of the third meridian, a homestead that had been previously owned, but abandoned by Victor Kirk. He was quickly granted access.
For the next several months, Charles stayed with and worked for the Pierre and Elise Fiolleau family who lived in nearby St-Jean-Baptiste (now Titanic) and who were already established, having arrived from France in 1894. While working at the Fiolleau’s, Charles began the construction of a small 18 by 22 foot log house on this homestead. Meanwhile, in France, Maria who was living with her parents in Saint-Agoulin in the department of Puy-de-Dome, gave birth to their fourth daughter, Irma Jeanne. She left France July 25, 1911, arriving in Quebec August 7 with 13 year old Albertine, 7 year old Marie, 4 year old Felicie and three and a half month old Irma. She made her way to Duck Lake with the children, but since the house on the homestead was not yet completed, she and the children stayed with Charles at the Fiolleau’s, in housing conditions reported as being less than adequate. Thirteen-year-old Albertine soon found work as a household helper for a family in Duck Lake.
The following year, Charles and his family moved to his homestead, breaking 30 acres with three oxen, but was not able to sow any crop. In 1913, he broke a further 20 acres and was able to crop 30. During that year as well, his family increased with the birth of a fifth daughter, Madeleine, in Duck Lake on March 27. And then in 1914, Charles broke a further 10 acres and was able to crop 50. He thus became eligible for full ownership and in September applied for the title to the homestead, which he was granted on November 17. At the time, he owned five horses and one cow, the 18 x 22 foot house he had built, valued at $300.00, $100.00 worth of fencing, two log stables, one 21 x 28 was worth $200.00 and the other 18 x 12 $100.00. The well was valued at $25.00. Louis Charles, the last child and only boy in the family, was born in Duck Lake on September 20, 1915. By this time, Charles had added more rooms to the original log house to accommodate his larger family. It is reported that this house was quite comfortable.
First House
Year: circa 1917
Place Name: Lac Cheval
Children: Irma, Madeleine and Louis
Charles became prominent in municipal and school affairs. He served as councillor for Division 4 in Duck Lake Rural Municipality #462 for over twenty years. He also organized the Lac Cheval School District #4219 and was its first Secretary-Treasurer. In 1918 Charles Jamont, as Secretary-Treasurer of a newly organized school district initially called Jamontville, was instrumental in making arrangements for the construction of a school to serve ten school aged children in the district, all of whom resided at least ten miles away from the nearest school. His efforts bore fruit in 1919. The Saskatchewan Department of Education approved his application for a new school district, which was renamed Lac Cheval, and a new school opened in January of 1920 on two acres of land purchased by the district for the sum of $1.00. Some of the first students were Marie, Felicie, Irma, Madeleine and Louis Jamont.
By 1922, Charles was working three quarters of land at Carlton, which he rented from Gustave Mandin. At this time, the family moved from Lac Cheval to Carlton and was well accommodated in the large two-storey home located on the rental land. Meanwhile, Charles continued to farm his own Lac Cheval homestead, which by now had an additional 160 acres. The quarter section next to Charles’ had been homesteaded by Denis Gaudry, known as William Denny, also a trustee on the Lac Cheval School Board. Denis became very ill, and Charles and Maria took him into their home and nursed him as best they could. Unfortunately, Denis passed away and Charles made arrangements for his internment in Saskatoon. In his will, Denis left his 160-acre homestead to Charles.
Charles and Maria
Year: circa 1919
Place Name: Lac Cheval
Tragedy in the form of a violent electrical storm struck the Carlton farmstead in the summer of 1925. A large barn housing numerous horses, a cow, chickens, a cat, oats and all the hay Charles had was struck by lightning and set on fire. Charles was able to free nine horses, but six or seven others along with the cow, the cat and the chickens perished. As well, all the harnesses he had for the horses were destroyed.
By the end of 1928, Charles and Maria decided to return to their original homestead at Lac Cheval since the two eldest daughters were now married. Charles, in the interim, had built a new two-storey log house on his homestead and this provided very comfortable accommodation for his smaller family. He also rented a quarter-section of pasture land from a Mr. Williams adjacent to his half-section to accommodate his cattle. Charles and Maria continued to farm at Lac Cheval until August of 1940, at which time they decided to move to Pas Trail, near Carrot River, with their now married children: Felicie and Fernand Paul, Madeleine and Edouard Charles and Louis and Josie Jamont. Pas Trail was the name given to a logging trail near Carrot River. The four families settled on homesteads along this road, within a short distance of each other, and in houses they built together. A short time later, Charles was able to sell his two-quarter sections in Lac Cheval
In 1946, Charles and Maria retired from farming and left Pas Trail to reside in Carrot River, then in 1952 moved to Langley, BC, where they lived next door to their son Louis, in a house he built for them. Charles passed away on his 83rd birthday on June 10, 1960. Maria passed away on August 11, 1967 in the Carrot River Hospital while on a visit to Madeleine and Edouard Charles. Both are interred in the St-Pierre Cemetery in New Westminister, British Columbia.
THE MOSNIER’S – ALBERTINE AND LOUIS JOSEPH (JOE)
With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Louis Joseph (Joe) Mosnier, who had emigrated to Canada with Charles Jamont in 1914, returned to France and rejoined the regiment with which he had done his compulsory service from 1906 to 1908. He served during the war, was wounded and awarded the Croix de Guerre. He returned to Canada in 1918 and on June 6 of that year he married Albertine Jamont, the eldest daughter of Charles and Maria. They had three children, all born in Carlton: Henri Charles, born on October 22, 1919; Louis Andre on December 17, 1922, and Marie Henriette born on October 20, 1925.
Joe and Albertine returned to France with their young family in 1926, where Joe set up a fur import business in Paris. Two years later they returned to Canada and settled in Cranberry Portage, Manitoba, where they operated a hardware store. On April 26, 1935 tragedy struck when 49-year-old Joe and nine year old Marie drowned when the snowplane on which they were crossing a lake broke through the ice. Both were buried in The Pas. Albertine later married Firth Brittain and moved with her new husband to Surrey, British Columbia, where they resided until Albertine passed away on December 25, 1959. Her husband Firth passed away a few years later.
Albertine and Joe’s eldest son, Henri, served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. After returning from the war, he married Thelma Eileen Wilson of Montreal in 1950. They had six children: Richard Marc, born in Vancouver in 1951; Kim Lorraine in 2F Wing Grostenquin, France in 1956; Marie Renee in Weston, Ontario in 1957; Raymond Paul in Weston in 1961; Robert Charles in Comox BC in 1964 and Loree Lynn in Brampton, Ontario in 1967. After a 30-year career with the military, Henri worked as a civil servant for the Government of Canada and after retiring from the civil service moved to Alfred, Ontario where Thelma still resides. During his retirement years, Henri became passionate about searching for his roots. He made several trips to France in search of relatives and established a close relationship with many, thereby setting the stage for visits by other family members. Because of his initial efforts, there now exists a very comprehensive family tree of the Plazenet family. Henri passed away July 12, 2003 at the hospital in Hawkesbury, Ontario. At his request, his ashes have been taken to France to be interred next to the remains of his paternal grandfather in Saint-Gal.
Louis Andre Mosnier, Albertine’s and Joe’s second son, returned from Cranberry Portage in 1936 to complete his high school education in Duck Lake. He subsequently joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 and served both in Canada an overseas until 1946. He then studied Dentistry at the University of Alberta, graduating in 1952 and subsequently in medicine in 1958. In 1955, Louis married Genevieve Meyer of Irma, Alberta. They moved to California in 1959 where Louis did a medical residency. He then started a career with the California Youth Authority, becoming its Chief of Medical Services. From 1980 to 1983, he spent three years as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, then retired in 1984. Louis and Genevieve presently reside in Fair Oaks, California. They have four children: Michelle, a teacher, born in 1957; Marguerite, an attorney, born in 1958; Anne, an architect, born in 1959; and Joseph, a university administrator, born in 1962. All live in the United States. Since retirement, Louis has engaged in a very interesting hobby, panning for gold in the nearby mountains. His wife and daughters have been the recipients of lovely jewelry made with the nuggets of gold he has found.
THE LECLERC’S – MARIE AND LEON
Marie Jamont, Charles and Maria’s second daughter, met her future husband, Joseph Leon Leclerc, when she was a student at the Lac Cheval School where Leon was her teacher. This was the school her father had helped build. Leon, born in 1896 in Trois Saumons, Quebec, moved to Saskatchewan in 1917 after completing his studies at Brebeuf College in Montreal and Laval Normal School in Quebec City. He taught briefly at Muskeg Lake before spending a year in the army. After the war, he returned to teaching and in 1920 was at the Lac Cheval School where he met Marie. They were married in 1928. Leon’s teaching career took the family to many parts of the province including La Plaine, Debden, Pre-Ste-Marie, Hoey, Gravelbourg, Turtleford, Vawn, Bresaylor and Leoville. The family moved to Saskatoon in 1951. It was while Leon was teaching at Pre-Ste-Marie (1930-1934) that their first child, Conrad Georges, was born in Tisdale in 1932. Their second child, Huguette Eliane was born in Prince Albert in 1936 while the family was living in Hoey (1934-1937).
After Leon’s retirement, both he and Marie spent many hours doing volunteer work for the Liberal Party. As well, Marie devoted much time to her favorite activity, gardening and always provided family, friends and neighbors with as many vegetables as they could eat. Leon was an avid reader and worked part time at the front desk of a local hotel. After his death in 1981, Marie continued to live in her own house until 1987, when a heart attack forced her to move into a senior’s apartment at St. Ann Place. She passed away in 1991. Both Marie and Leon are interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in Saskatoon.
After completing his last year of high school at Campion College in Regina in 1951, while the family was living in Leoville, Conrad studied Arts and Commerce at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Following graduation, he commenced a 30-year career with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a career that took him to several Canadian cities. Starting as a Branch Appraiser in Saskatoon, he then became Regional Information Officer in Winnipeg, Chief Information Officer at the National Office in Ottawa, Assistant Manager of the Sudbury Branch, Coordinator of the Urban Housing and Public Housing Programs in Ottawa, Assistant Manager of the Ottawa Branch, Branch Manager of the Fredericton Office, then finally after a 16 year absence back to Saskatoon as Regional Coordinator of Programs for the Prairie Regional Office until his retirement in 1985.
Shortly after beginning his career with CMHC, Conrad married Alma Teresa Bley, a graduate of St. Paul’s School of Nursing in Saskatoon. She too carried on with her career, first as a nurse and then as head nurse in sanitariums in Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Ottawa and then as a public health nurse in the field of TB nursing with the Ontario Ministry of Health in Ottawa and the Sudbury and District Health Unit. In Fredericton she became the first Program director with the New Brunswick Lung Association and finally, the first Coordinator of Public Education Programs for the Saskatchewan Lung Association. She retired in 1989.
Since his retirement, Conrad set up his own financial consulting business, and in 1987 he was appointed to the Investment Contract Holders’ committee overseeing the activities of the court appointed Manager of the two Principal Group Companies which were placed in receivership. In 1990 he was appointed to the board of the St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan for a three-year term and then to that College’s Corporation as well as to several committees. Conrad and Alma still reside in Saskatoon.
After graduating from Leoville High School, Huguette obtained degrees in Arts and Science and Education from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. She subsequently taught French for three years at high schools in Kindersley and Jasper, Alberta before taking a year off to travel in Europe. She returned to teaching in 1960 at Canadian Forces Base, Cold Lake. It was there that she met Frank Schweiger, also a teacher, who was a graduate of Goodsoil High School, and had obtained a degree in geology and physics from the University of Saskatchewan and a degree in Education, specializing in mathematics, from the University of Alberta. Huguette and Frank were married in Saskatoon in 1962 and continued teaching at the Cold Lake Air Force Base for the next two years. Their first child James (Jim), now accounting manager for Petro-Canada in Calgary, was born in Cold Lake in 1963. In 1964, Frank changed careers, accepting a position as geophysicist for Geophysical Services Inc., a division of Texan Instruments. The family moved to Dallas, Texas for six months, then to Calgary in 1965. Their son Robert, an airline pilot with Air Canada was born in Calgary in 1965 and their daughter Catherine, an attorney, in 1967.
In 1969, Frank was appointed Manager of his company’s Far East operations and the family moved to Singapore for two years, returning to Calgary in 1971 but moving once more to Dallas when Frank became a Geophysical Services Inc. Vice President. They returned to Calgary in 1976 where they have lived ever since. Frank resigned from Geophysical Services Inc., in 1978 to set up his own geophysical company. Huguette resumed her teaching career in 1973, retiring in 1991. Frank is now also retired. Since retirement, Huguette has especially enjoyed doing extensive genealogical research, traveling and learning foreign languages, while Frank enjoys spending time at his ranch near Calgary.
THE PAUL’S – FELICIE AND FERNAND
On June 10, 1930, Felicie Adrienne Jamont, the third daughter of Charles and Maria, married Fernand Paul in Duck Lake. Fernand was born in St-Etienne-de-Cuines in the Savoie region of France in 1898. He emigrated to Canada as a baby with his parents, Charles and Marie Stephanie Paul, who purchased a half-section of land north of Duck Lake. Felicie and Fernand’s only child, Denise, was born in Saskatoon on January 15, 1935. The family continued to reside on the homestead near Duck Lake until 1940, the year they moved to the Pas Trail district near Carrot River.
In 1945, the family moved to Lethbridge, Alberta, where Fernand worked for the Alberta Department of Public Works, and for some time, carried on with farming in Pas Trail. He later sold his land to make way for the Codette Lake Reservoir. After Fernand’s retirement, he and Felicie continued to live in Lethbridge. Felicie passed away on December 23, 1980 and Fernand on September 5, 1982. Both are interred in Mountain View Cemetery in Lethbridge.
After moving to Lethbridge with her parents in 1945 Denise took the rest of her schooling at Karamarin Convent in Pincher Creek. Since that order of nuns who operated the convent also operated a hospital in Lewistown Montana, Denise decided to enter that hospital’s nursing program, graduating as a registered nurse. While in Lewistown she met Thomas Clark Powell, a member of the local police force. They were married on January 9 1954 in Lewistown. Denise and Paul have three children Cherlynn Marie, a legal Secretary, born in 1954, Thomas Fernand an electronics graduate born in 1956 and Michelle Denise a registered nurse born in 1958
THE WOLD’S – IRMA AND ARNOLD
Irma Jamont, Charles and Maria’s fourth daughter, married Arnold Wold in Prince Albert in 1932. Arnold, who was born in North Dakota in 1907, came to Saskatchewan in 1911 when his parents obtained a homestead in the Swift Current area. During the depression, Arnold left Swift Current in search of work, and by 1929 was in Duck Lake working as a member of a threshing crew who did work for Charles Jamont. In his spare time, he supplemented his income by playing in bands in the Duck Lake area. Their daughter, Loretta, was born in 1933. That same year, Arnold went to Vancouver where he found work as a machinist and an apartment in which to live. Irma left Duck Lake and joined him in 1935. Later, during World War II, Arnold worked in the shipyards. Their second child, Roy was born in May of 1945.
Arnold’s love of music endured, so that during his working years and in retirement he continued playing in numerous bands in the Vancouver area. Irma and Arnold lived in the same house in Vancouver for nearly 50 years until Arnold passed away in 1992. Irma stayed in her home until her death in 1996.
Loretta and Roy both pursued careers in music. Loretta became a music teacher. She married Lee Fletcher and they had two children, Lee born in 1952 and Lorne in 1954.
Roy obtained a masters degree in music and is employed as a full time music instructor at Capailano College in Vancouver as well as performing professionally.
THE CHARLES’ – MADELEINE AND EDOUARD
Madeleine Jamont, Charles and Maria’s fifth daughter, married Edouard Charles October 28, 1935 in Titanic. Edouard Charles, who was born in the Haute Savoie region of France, came to Canada in 1912 with his parents. His father, Jerome, homesteaded in Duck Lake near Charles Jamont. In addition to developing his homestead, he also worked for Gustave Mandin in Carlton, on the property that was later rented by Charles. However, at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the family returned to France, where Jerome fought with French forces until he was wounded in 1917. They returned to Duck Lake the following year, but because the land had not been worked for three consecutive years, it was lost to them. Jerome then purchased two quarter-sections north of Duck Lake and there the family settled.
A few years after their marriage, Madeleine and Edouard moved to Pas Trail where they homesteaded. Their only child, France Marie, was born on July 12, 1942 in Nipawin. Much later, they sold their land to make way for the Codette Lake reservoir on the Saskatchewan River They bought land six miles north of Carrot River and continued to farm until 1985 when they retired to Penticton, BC. They later moved to Victoria to be near their daughter. Edouard passed away in 2001. Madeleine moved to a seniors’ residence in Victoria.
Frances completed her education in Zenon Park and Prince Albert and went on to Secretarial School in Saskatoon In 1967, she married Harry Rens and their son Tyler was born in 1972. When in Regina Harry was the manager of the Co-op Service stations and Frances was secretary to several members of the Legislative Assembly and studied Business Administration. The family moved to Victoria where Frances worked as an administrator in the office of the Dean of Engineering at the University of Victoria
THE JAMONT’S – LOUIS AND JOSIE
Louis Charles Jamont, the youngest child and only son of Charles and Maria, grew up and attended school in the Duck Lake area. On December 12, 1936, he married Josie Rodman Wright, a schoolteacher and the third of ten children born to Frank and Agnes Wright who farmed in the Duck Lake/Rosthern area. Their first son Kenneth Charles was born in Rosthern in 1937 and their second, Louis Laurent, in 1938. The following year the family moved to the Pas Trail region and settled in a log house that Louis build on a homestead near the homesteads of his parents and sisters Felicie and Madeleine. In 1939, he was called to serve in the French army, but before he could report for duty, France had fallen. Life on a homestead in the early 1940’s was difficult, and Louis had to spend a least one winter working in a logging camp near The Pas, Manitoba.
Louis – Lac Cheval Farm
Year: circa 1933
Place Name: Lac Cheval
In 1942, the family moved to an area known as “The Ridge” just outside the town of Carrot River. There, Louis worked at Relland’s sawmill, which supplied material for the war effort. In 1944, there were enough children in the area to open a one-room school. Louis made the tables and benches that served as desks, while Josie was the first and only teacher that “Ptarmigan School” ever had. It closed at the end of the 1945/46 school year and the family moved into the town of Carrot River. Two daughters were born during their stay at “The Ridge”, Agnes Marie in 1943 and Irma Jean in 1944.
Josie continued to teach in Carrot River and Louis realized his ambition of becoming a carpenter. Among his early accomplishments was a bowling alley he built for Louis Chabot. In the spring of 1948, Louis left for Vancouver to work on a variety of construction jobs, which were part of a building boom that followed the war. After the birth of Margaret Josie in July, Josie sold the family home and the family moved to an acreage four miles south of Langley, BC. Louis, who continued to follow construction jobs wherever they took him, was now skilled at wiring and plumbing as well as carpentry. Two more children were born during this period: Lorraine Yvonne in 1950 and Norman Roger in 1952. Josie kept very busy raising her large family and occasionally doing substitute teaching.
In 1957, Louis was hired as the Maintenance Superintendent of the Langley School District. This meant the long hours of commuting to work were over. In 1965, the family moved to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, where Louis again worked as Maintenance Supervisor for the school board and then operated the local arena for several years. By 1974, all the children had moved away from home, so Louis and Josie decided to move back to the mainland, settling in White Rock, where Louis worked in a cabinet shop. In 1978, Louis’ work in carpentry came to an end when he was hit by a car while walking along the highway. He recovered, but was no longer able to do construction work, so he worked as a guard in the RCMP detachment in White Rock. After retirement, Louis dedicated himself to his hobbies, growing roses and building wooden toys, while Jo spent innumerable hours knitting, Their children and grandchildren were the proud recipients of their handiwork. Both Louis and Josie passed away in 1992.
Ken, the oldest of Louis and Josie’s children, graduated from high school in 1955. He joined the RCMP in January 1958 and was sent to Regina for training. He was then posted in Yorkton,. In 1959, nine months were spent on the Musical Ride, touring the Eastern USA and Canada. He then returned to Yorkton where he spent nine years on a variety of duties, which ranged from plain-clothes work to supervising racetrack pari-mutual betting. In 1963, he married Myrna Ruth Sherwin. in Yorkton. Their first three children were born in Yorkton: Robert in 1963, Teresa in 1965 and Michael in 1967. In 1968, the family moved to Vonda for four years and then to Balcarres for a year. Their fourth child, Brian, was born in Cudworth in 1970. In 1973, Ken was transferred to the RCMP’s provincial headquarters in Regina where he spent the next nine years.
The next move was to North Battleford in 1982 for a three-year stay, after which Ken retired from the RCMP after 27 years of service He moved to Saskatoon and worked for the Saskatchewan Horse Racing Commission for two years. He was then appointed Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, a position he held for six years. He then spent five years as a consultant for the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and is now retired. Myrna is a registered nurse, and continues working in that profession.
Laurie, the second of Louis and Josie’s children, was the first to leave home when he joined the RCMP in 1957. After his training in Regina, he was briefly stationed in Swift Current and then Willow Bunch before being posted to the Musical Ride. This was followed by a return to Swift Current, then postings to Gull Lake and Maple Creek in Saskatchewan, Fort Smith, Aklavik, Inuvik and Arctic Red River in the North West Territories, then back to Regina and Kindersley. In 1965, Laurie married Valarie Sharpe in Yorkton and spent a year working with Identification Services in Ottawa before starting a three-year stint in New Brunswick. In 1969 the family moved to Thompson, Manitoba, where their daughter Ilene was born in 1972. Later that year, they moved to Brandon and two years later to Prince George, BC where they spent the next 14 years. It was there that their son Donald was born in 1977. In 1988, they moved to Nanimo where Laurie retired in 1992 after serving 35 years with the force.
It was difficult for Valarie, a registered nurse who graduated from Regina General Hospital in 1971, to pursue her career in psychiatric nursing because of the frequent moves. While in Prince George, she made a career change and worked as a secretary.
Agnes, eldest of Louis and Josie’s four daughters graduated from Langley High School in 1961 and in 1965, from the University of BC with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. She married Gordon Papke in 1965 and worked in the R&D unit of Columbia Cellulose, New Westminster, BC. Gordon worked in horticultural sales, and was transferred to Calgary AB, London and Burlington ON. They have two children, Stewart Gordon born in Calgary in 1970 and Jennifer Marie born in London Ontario in 1973, Gordon was offered a new job with a wholesale nursery in Aldergrove BC and they were back in BC, where they have lived to date (2004). They have lived in Ladner since 1981.
Irma, the second daughter, married Kenneth Macdonald in 1963 and lived on Vancouver Island and Prince Rupert where Irma worked in the airlines industry and BC Tel. They had two children, Byron Kenneth born in Nanimo in 1964 and Aylene Kirsten born in Prince Ruper in 1966. After her divorce from Kenneth, Irma and her husband Frank Shore spent from 1977 ‑1994 in the fishing industry on the West Coast, finally retiring to Half Mood Bay on the Sunshine Coast of BC. Winters are spent on their coffee plantation in Costa Rica
Margaret, the third daughter, was the fifth and last of seven children to graduate from Langley High School. She studied at the British Columbia Vocational Institute, then entered the banking industry in Port Hardy, eventually moving to Edmonton, where she met her husband Edward Moriarty. After their wedding in 1969, they moved to Toronto where they both continued their careers in banking. After the birth of twin daughters Allison Jay and Colleen Lara in 1973, they moved to Burlington, ON where they still live today. Their son, Sean Patrick was born in 1975. Ed, a VP with the Bank of Nova Scotia retired in 2003, and enjoys traveling and his woodworking hobby. Margaret has worked in the financial industry and part time for an MP in Halton riding.
Yvonne, the fourth daughter, graduated from Port Hardy High School and attended BCIT, certificate program in Bookkeeping. In Port Hardy she married Doug Scott. They have two children, Jan Nicole born in 1971 in Prince Rupert B.C. and Paul Douglas born in 1973 in Port Hardy B.C. Yvonne and Doug divorced in 1975, and subsequently Yvonne married Gerald Jackson, from Kent UK in 1986. Yvonne worked for a number of Vancouver firms in the accounting departments and was with the Shaugnessy Golf and Country Club when Gerry was offered a position in Ottawa with the Canadian Red Cross. They live in Kanata, where Yvonne has developed a successful career in real estate.
Norman graduated from Port Hardy High School in 1970, and entered the apprenticeship program in carpentry at BCIT. He met and married Patricia Karen Syverston, a teacher, in 1976. They moved to Prince George where their children were born, Rochelle Marie in 1978, Cherylynn Nicole in 1980 and Kimberly Margaret In 1982. The family next moved to Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island where Mathew Louis and Ian Andrew were born in Victoria in 1983 and 1985 respectively. In 1985 the family moved to Ontario, settling in Brantford, where Norman works in the construction industry. Karen home schooled their family and with the children through school has returned to the classroom.