The next twenty-five years as seen through LOLA-BELL's eyes

(written by Lori and read at her 25th. Anniversary in Banff, AB)

Now over one hundred and eight years old, Lola-Bell has been sitting on the dresser for the past twenty-five years, observing the family. On of the earliest was at the beginning of the marriage and many of the cooking disasters. There was the incident with the pie and the potato salad and the lack of knowledge Lori had about the purpose of the string around the roast.

Well, despite this minor set-back hubby managed to gain thirty pounds in the first three years of marriage.

Afte the newlyweds survived the cooking ordeals, there was new excitement with the arrival of the first born child. The rush trip to the hospital with friend Mick being worried about having a mess in his new nineteen sixty-four Malibu.

The newborn baby boy weighed in at only five pounds and two ounces. He was so small that his Dad had to bath him in a mixing bowl.

Nana was concerned for her new grandson as Loretta had no experience around babies. Papa had faith and expressed his confidence in the young couple.

There was the question of upbringing. Good friends Bob and Lois expressed their concern for the firmness the parent seemed to have while the young child was growing up. Lori and Chuck had a laugh when later this same couple discovered it was not that easy to be a parent.

After moving to Calgary, Lori observed with great pride as her husband graduated from the Police Academy. The young boy would always be so excited when his dad worked traffic and he would come home on the big "Harley Davidson" motorcycle.

Along with the happiness and pride the little family had, they were touched by sadness when Nana passed away so soon after the baby's birth.

Sadness would later be replaced with joy and soon an addition to the family came with the arrival of a beautiful baby girl. Many of the other new mothers in the Calgary General Hospital were wondering if there must be someone from the jail who had a new baby as one room seemed to have a steady stream of policeman coming and going. Of course Lori chuckled and replied that her hubby was an officer and these were friends stopping in to say hello.

As the years went by on there were more surprises in store for this family. Lori's expertise in her culinary skills improved drastically. In May of nineteen seventy she won an International Cooking Contest that had one-hundred and fifty thousand entries.

Lori was successful in winning first place in one of the catergories and took her and hubby for two weeks all-expenses paid vacation in the Bahamas.

Many of Lori's former home economics classmates called up in shock after seeing her picture in the Calgary paper. This just could not be the same person who nearly flunked home ec.

After returning home from the trip the family all moved further West to British Columbia. Lori was not sure about what to expect living near the ocean, but for Charles it was "coming home"

to be continued