FAMILY WEB PAGE

Eileen’s first memory is of when she was 2 ½ years old and was the flower girl at Patsy Ruth’s wedding.  They told her not to eat the confetti.  She had on little white gloves so she couldn’t pick up the ‘fafetti’.  She wanted to eat it because it was such pretty colors.  It was a really hot day and she had on a fluffy lace dress and carried a pink or white basket.  Her next memory is of the Carnation Bowling Alley.  It would have been before Grade 1 and she remembers her mom taking her to the Bowling Alley and that there was a pattern of pins and stripes on the carpet and that they would roll on the carpet pretending that they were bowling balls striking the pins.

 

She hated her first day of school.  She needed glasses to see but they didn’t know that until she started school.  She despised school from the first moment and wasn’t going anywhere without her mom.  Her mom had told her it was only half a day and when she found out it was a full day she was mad at her mom.   She always disliked school.  She did however meet her friend Lawrey at school, with whom she has been friends for 42 years (2006) and who her daughter Lawrey is named after.  She remembers that Lawrey had a fence with bees flying all around it and they would knock on the fence and call for ‘Mr. Bee’.  In grade five she had Mr. Kazina who was her favorite teacher.  She remembers him trying to explain to her some mathematical question and he was standing behind her and all of a sudden two big tears hit the page and he said it was OK they could figure it out later.  She was able to tell him several years later that he was her favorite teacher.

 

She remembers the family going to Laclu (near Kenora, Ontario) for years, her, her sister, and her brother, all kids in the back seat.  They would spend three weeks at the cottage, which had an old wood stove.  They rented a Cabin #6 there for years.  There was always lots of company that came to visit.  In the summer of 1971 she met Debbie Metcalf (another life long friend) at Whytewold Beach.  They became best of buddies and eventually she would go every weekend to the beach.

 

She was then working for her dad as a Security Guard at the Jewish Synagogue on Wellington Crescent and Academy Road, in Winnipeg. Her job was to tell all the rich ladies not to smoke on the Sabbath in the Synagogue.  She remembers they had the most magnificent food there and she would work from 8:00 until 1:00 and then go to the Lake.  She had to protect all their mink coats!!

 

She also did some 'private investigation' work following men who were cheating on their wives.  Her ‘biggest case’ she remembers was that she would have to be there before he came to work and watch to see if he made contact with the ‘other woman’.  After two weeks she was getting bored and wanted to wrap it up so she followed him and when he went into the building of his supposed lady friend she followed him into the lobby and when he got into the elevator she actually got into the elevator with him, which was against the rules to be seen by your suspect, then she watched him go to the apartment and then phoned her dad to tell him he was actually with the other woman.  She said it was really fun, she would have to change disguises as she followed people and she made great money.  Her Dad owned Lightfoot Security.  On another job she went to Dominion Stores with marked money to catch employees that were cheating on the tills.  She also would take a group of friends somewhere to eat and then pass the marked money.  She would also ‘mystery shop’ places like Dominion Stores, take things back, etc. to see how customers were being treated. 

 

She taught gymnastics at the YMCA in St. Vital and volunteered Fridays and Saturdays at the Winter Club teaching gymnastics, which is where she met her husband Keith.  He was her hero, he was an amazing gymnast.  They dated off and on for six years and were married in 1979.  In 1976 he was in the Montreal Olympics and they all went, friends and family.  They also went to Yugoslavia the year before. 

 

When they got married she got pregnant right away.  She wasn’t ready to be pregnant and wasn’t happy about it.  She had done four years of university, one year of teaching and just gotten married and having a baby was not in her immediate plans.  As a consolation Keith took her to England but the weather was cold, they saw lots of relatives, the food was strange and they stayed in a rickety home that was straight out of the Psycho Movie so it wasn’t the best of holidays.  Their son Robert was born in February of 1980, and they bought their first home, Jennifer was born in August of 1981, Jonathon in June of 1983 and Lawrey in December of 1984.  Her sister Donna died on September 28th of that same year and her mom, Verna died on December 18th so it was a very difficult year for her.  She was able to spend tons of time with her sister Donna before she died and Auntie Viv (Knochak) also came to help look after Donna’s two young girls, as Verna just couldn’t bring herself to be there.

 

The family had wonderful ski holidays and spent Easter vacation in Whitefish, Montana, and always went to the Lake for Christmas.  They took their kids to Disneyland in Florida and stayed at the Ritz.  They had a ball.  They used to go to the zoo at Assiniboine Park very often and take a picnic dinner and they would feed the ducks. They had a lovely home on the river, fabulous neighbors, and a cottage at the lake, which was like a paradise.  The family had wonderful summers out there and actually went often in the winter also. Their kids attended a good school, they had great friends, belonged to the Winter Club, played badminton, soccer, and the kids took diving lessons.  When she would take them to the Pan Am Pool for lessons she would stop in and see her grandmother, Mom Campbell, who lived near by. 

 

The family moved to Calgary, in 1996, her husband Keith’s business changed necessitating the move and it was a big adjustment for all of them.  New friends, new schools, new neighborhood.  It was hard to leave the old life behind but the kids have adjusted well and they all still keep in touch with old friends in Winnipeg.

 

Eileen's favorite memories are of our big family dinners around the ping-pong table in the basement of her family home on Lawndale.  She remembers she and Heather (her cousin) always had to eat in the bedroom when the dinners were at Mom’s place as Mom’s apartment was so small.  She remembers going there to watch the Santa Claus Parade and she remembers the iron bulldog that sat at the top of the stairs, which she would talk to, as her parents wouldn’t allow pets. There was always tons of great food and unbelievable laughing.  Both her mom Verna and step-grandfather Pop Campbell were great storytellers, and then (Auntie) Isabel was also funny so the whole family always had great laughs at the family gatherings. She also remembers the kids running through the Alverstone Street home of Uncle Denny and Auntie Viv as there was a circuit you could go through the living room and kitchen then down the stairs to the basement, across the basement and up the front hall stairs and do it again.  The kids loved it.

 

She is happy to be a mom and loves having her home filled with her family and the friends of her children.  She occasionally works part-time and particularly loves working for an accounting firm.  They have her back each tax season.  She has lots of animals and she is never quite sure what pet they will adopt next.