I was born in Fort St. John, British Columbia, in 1949. I was the third child in a family of nine. At the age of nine, my family moved to a homestead on the Blueberry River, north of Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada. I attended the Buick Creek School until I was sixteen. I then quit school to join the workforce. My first job was working in a small country store, where I worked very hard from daylight until dark. While growing up, one of my jobs was to help the ladies in the community when they brought home a new baby. At home I learned how to milk cows, get wood, and carry water from a creek that ran through our property. As a child and young adult, our main mode of transportation was by horse, either by a team of horses or by a saddle horse. One of my favorite things about my childhood was driving the younger kids to school every day with a team of horses. At the age of eighteen I went cooking in a rig camp and there found my love for cooking. Throughout the years, I periodically cooked in restaurants. However, at nineteen, I married a longtime friend and began to raise our two daughters and a niece. While I stayed home with our girls, my husband worked the rigs. Once my children were in school, I attended the Northern Lights College in Fort St. John and completed my grade twelve education. I have volunteered at schools teaching cooking as well as helping with reading programs. While looking after our sheep ranch and raising our children, I lead local Outdoor Living, Cooking and Lamb 4-H Clubs. Now forty-five years married, my husband and I are retired and enjoying life with our grandkids.
