Penticton, July 2004 to June 2005

June 12, 2009 by nlhills

(pictures at end)

Summer 2004 started with a big event: A huge family reunion, with lots of extra guests, for Marj and Bill Wright’s 50th wedding anniversary! While the actual anniversary was of course August 14th, the family took advantage of the July 1st long weekend to host the big celebration at the Baptist Church in Summerland. Folks came from far and wide! Norma, being close by, was in charge of getting the food together and set up. Of course the Hill kids came from far and wide for the big event. Oddly enough, Norma only has two pictures in her album of that time, and it isn’t even the actual anniversary, but instead of picture of Marj, Norma, and Sarah, Taryn and Tony visiting at Marj and Bill’s apartment, and a picture of Tony with his Great Grandpa Bill. So Norma needs to scrounge around and find some snapshots of the actual events. Maybe cousin Jamie Wright might be the person to contact, since she took endless photos and put together a wonderful album of the entire event! Uncle Graham Wright made up a great slide show of Marj and Bill’s lives, and gave all the family video copies of it!

And then July 15th brought Wendy’s 17th birthday. Her buddy Tyler came over to help the family celebrate. Lionel and Norma were delighted to have their kids home for the anniversary and for awhile after, and so of course they got pictures of themselves and their babies! And a week or so later was Norma’s 49th birthday – of course always slightly less than one year behind her mom and dad’s anniversary number (11 months after the wedding). One of Norma’s birthday gifts was her favorite softdrink – good strong ginger beer! Yummmm!

In September, Taryn, Andrew and Tony went to Victoria on the ferry – to see the King Tutankhamen display at the museum there, as I recall. Taryn took a snapshot of Andrew and Tony on the ferry. Looks like Tony really enjoyed that ride! Also on that trip they toured other touristy places, and took a snapshot of Taryn and Tony in front of a display.

Bill had been fortunate to get Marj into an experimental drug program for a new treatment for Altzheimers, and as she took the drugs, she actually began to feel better, and went through a time when she and Bill could again enjoy life together more like the old days. Bill was of course delighted. The family realized that while this drug brought a reprieve in the short term, it was not a cure, so as often as possible they went to visit Bill and Marj at their apartment home at Angus Place in Summerland, and one of those times, Norma took a snapshot of their building.

September was off-to-school at BCIT for Robyn, in the Architectural and Building Engineering program. Of course, she still had her scholarship money from high school, and working at Excel as a phone operator (as well as selling AVON products; she had also worked as a page at the Keremeos library in 2002-2003, as well as in the SESS office as a student assistant), she had saved, even while living on her own, enough money to buy the top-of-the-line laptop she needed for her auto-cad and other classes! She had also applied to the Old Massett Band for education funding, and was told they were very proud of her great record from high school, and that they would be happy to fund her full program (she intended to take the 2 year program, work for a year or two in the field, and then ladder into the Bachelor’s program). They would pay for her tuition, books and fees, and living expenses. So she worked through the summer at Excel, and finally resigned less than two weeks before her classes at BCIT were to start. She had accomodation reserved on-campus in the student dorms. She was busy packing to leave for school, when a day or two before she was to go, she received a call from BCIT that they had not yet received her funding from the Band (though they did have her scholarship money, and her first month’s rent for the student residence). She called the Band and they said, “Oh sorry, the Band is in debt by several million dollars, and so we’re using the education funds for the next few years to pay off the debt. We’ll only be funding a few of the students who are already part way through their programs.” What to do? Lionel and Norma told her, “You go anyway. We’ll work this out.” Lionel was getting his holiday pay in September, about $3000, so he gave it to Robyn, and it was enough, being very careful, for Robyn to make it through the first semester. Poor girl, not only did she have what was widely considered one of the most difficult programs at BCIT, she was now also under the shock and pressure of this financial situation. So she also had to apply for student loans for the rest of the program. Although she put in her application in plenty of time, she was still waiting at New Year’s to hear if she had been approved. Finally, the day before she was to return to classes at the beginning of January 2005, she received word that the funding had gone through. If it had been a day or two later, she would not have been able to register for her new semester classes! Norma was praying constantly about this situation – and God did keep answering – at the “last moment,” as it always seemed! Norma was still learning some hard lessons in trusting God… seems she was a pretty slow learner! Anyway, back to the end of summer, Lionel and Norma drove Robyn down to BCIT and got her settled in her residence, which turned out to be called “Haida House!” (Each of the residences had the name of a different BC First Nation). The residence had 6 rooms for girls on the upper floor, kitchen and living room spaces on the middle floor, and 6 rooms for boys on the lower floor.

Another event in September 2004 was that Norma started her new job as French teacher at Penticton Christian School, a grade K to 8 school. As there had been a succession of teachers in that position over the past few years, there was no organized program in place, and Norma could find very few materials in the school, so she had to be very creative! It was probably a good thing, as her French was extremely rusty, and if she’d actually located the materials at that point, she’d have probably bailed out, being overwhelmed! Fortunately, the vast majority of the students knew less French than she did, so she did her best to keep learning, and stay a step ahead. That year, she taught grades 3,4,5 and 6,7,8 – two classes, just 3 or 4 hours of teaching a week, but with almost no materials, and no lesson plans or curriculum guidelines left by former teachers, she spent many more hours preparing lessons from scratch. Norma also took on the responsibility of school librarian (volunteer). At the end of that year, the school decided to join with Penticton Christian Secondary School, and become a K to 12 school. This meant that the library would have to also be the secondary classroom and computer lab (the secondary program included a lot of computer-based learning), and the storage room was also converted into an art room and science lab. This meant weeding of the library collection so it would fit into less space, and major sorting in the storage room, as well as in storage closets in other rooms. And in the midst of all this weeding and sorting, French materials began to appear from every nook and cranny – meaning, of course, that Norma would have much better resources the next year, but would have to spend the summer revamping her whole program – and adding grade 9 French. She would also be having different classroom grade combinations, but with 2 or 3 grades in each classroom, she also had to provide new programs for each class, as the students in the lower grade(s) that year would again be in the same class. These situations turned out to be an ongoing challenge year after year!

Taryn, Andrew, and Anthony were still living in the trailer in Keremeos at this time. Taryn displayed some of her amazing artistic talent that Hallowe’en by creating an amazing Ninja turtle costume for Tony, sewing, drawing, and even using paper mache to create the “shell”!

Fall flew by and Christmas arrived. And the family all gathered in. The traditional Christmas stocking picture showed some rather tired-so-early-in-the-morning girls, and Peter being silly! There doesn’t seem to be a stocking picture for Taryn, Andrew, and Tony, but they must have arrived and opened their stockings at some point, because they definitely do turn up in the Christmas dinner pictures. There was quite a crowd for Christmas dinner that day, as Linnet and Ellis Edgars, and Joanna and David came (they were now living in Kelowna, and the Hills and Edgars often visited back and forth), as well as Terry Matlock (a friend from Abundant Life church) and Grandpa and Grandma (Bill and Marj Wright!). It was pretty cozy in Lionel and Norma’s little house, with a grand total of 16 people for Christmas dinner.

And then a big change for the family: Taryn, Andrew and Tony moved out to Alberta. The first town they moved to was Warburg, though they didn’t stay there for long. Within a few months they moved to Telfordville, south of Edmonton. Telfordville consisted of a half dozen or so homes at a crossroads with a set of mailboxes, and a defunct general store and gas pump. It was about a 10 minute drive from Thorsby, the office headquarters of WesTower, the company Andrew worked for. Telfordville was the location of the company workshop and equipment storage, and the property included a house owned by long-time WesTower workers, ____________. They lived in the ground floor of the house, and rented the upper floor to Taryn and Andrew. It was a pretty sweet deal, with very inexpensive rent (which included all utilities), a large yard with a swing set, a side patio for barbequing, and a beautiful back porch with a hot tub and swimming pool! Of course the water in the taps was a different story, smelling extremely sulphurous, with an equally interesting taste – and coming out of the taps in bursts: one had to stand back when filling the kitchen sink to do dishes, or could end up soaked! So Tony celebrated his 4th birthday in Alberta.

Thank goodness for the kids leaving their old resumes on Norma’s computer! It seems that Sarah started working at Real Canadian Wholesale as a “General Merchandiser” (stocking shelves!) in October 2003. Then in March 2004 she moved over to Canadian Tire where she worked as a cashier for some time. Then she finally decided to go to school and get her hairdressing license, so she signed up at Penticton School of Hairdressing, and took her course, which she completed with very high marks! Norma really enjoyed going over there for very inexpensive cuts, coloring, and perms, under the talented hand of her daughter and the careful eye of Sarah’s instructors. Finally, Sarah graduated, and began to work at a hairstyling shop in Cherry Lane Mall. Meanwhile, Sarah had moved out of the Hill house, and into an apartment with a couple of other girls from Abundant Life Christian Fellowship. She stayed there for quite awhile, and went through a series of roommates! She had the master bedroom suite, and decorated it in elegant Sarah style! Now Norma is not sure about all the dates of these auspicious events, as Sarah’s resume on her computer only goes to the time she was working at Canadian Tire, so it would be most helpful if Sarah would be kind enough to post dates and other interesting facts in the comments section below. Go Sarah!

March 2005 brought Peter’s 15th birthday – and Stevie Hunka’s too. As was their custom, Peter’s Keremeos buddies got together for a birthday sleepover, Brett Gibb coming from Langley, Stevie from his home in Penticton, and Dalton Dupuis and Jack Walker from Keremeos. They had an excellent time playing video games. They also went to the downtown dollar store, and bought out its entire stock of cap guns and caps, then spent hours in the middle of the night running all over the local neighborhood, up hill and down, playing war games with their cap guns. For weeks afterwards, Norma (who had a paper route in addition to her teaching job) found used caps along the roadsides in the area!

May brought the 50th birthday party of Norma’s cousin, Marion Plester, at her home in Summerland. This was a bit of a mini-reunion, with Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and friends of Marion’s from throughout the Okanagan Valley. It was a lot of fun. Norma had a great time visiting and reminiscing with family members. Lionel also had a good time visiting with the guys. Some of the guests included Brian (Marion’s hubby, of course!), her parents, Emily and Cecil Holden, her aunts and uncles, Marj and Bill Wright, and Preston and Kerry Mott, cousins Norma and Lionel, John and April Mott, brother John Holden, and friends from Kelowna Free Methodist Church.

As was already mentioned, Lionel’s sister Linnet Edgars, her hubby Ellis, and the kids, David and Joanna were living in Kelowna, and the Hills and Edgar families visited back and forth. Around May or June, the Edgars family came down to visit the Hills in Penticton, and everybody went over to Angus Place to visit with Bill and Marj Wright.

June brought Robyn’s 20th birthday, and to celebrate such an auspicious occasion, Norma made a birthday cake and picnic lunch, and Lionel and Norma, Sarah and Peter, piled into the car, drove from Penticton to Robyn’s place at BCIT in Vancouver, and took her to Stanley Park to celebrate. At this time, Robyn, having completed her first year of studies, opted to take some extra courses during the summer, so she stayed in residence (one of the other residences, just for the summer) and also got a summer job working at Sixth Line Solutions in downtown Vancouver, as a Focus Group Host. Anyway, it was a beautiful sunny day, and the picnic was a great success. The family ate the picnic lunch, and then checked out some of the touristy spots in the park, like the display of totem poles. It was a wonderful day together!

Meanwhile, over in Albertaland, the family had moved over to Telfordville, the long, cold Alberta winter was finally over, and the backyard pool was filled with water, and Tony and his cousin Ashe were having a wonderful time together playing in the pool!