We met in 1981 at Shirley’s best friend’s wedding; this best friend also happens to be Fred’s cousin! There was an instant connection between us, and in spite of the age difference (one is 5 years older than the other…guess who’s older?), physical distance (yes, folks, this was before the days of e-mail, cell phones, and low/no cost long distance phone plans), and international barriers, our connection grew stronger. We married in 1983 and Shirley, originally from Rochester, NY, moved to Fred’s hometown of Sarnia, ON.
For the past 29 years, Fred has had a great career which has been good to us. Shirley has an MSW (Masters of Social Work) degree, but we made the decision 20 years ago that she would stay home, at first to be with our children and later to look after our various businesses. We are passionate about our Family and Truth. Our early years were filled with struggles, challenges, and heartache (including losing our sons at birth, in 1988 and 1992). We have two now-grown daughters, Kaitlynn (who recently wed Aaron Bonin) and Sara (who is in her third year of university and spending her second semester in Denmark at the University of Copenhagen).
We moved to a 100-acre farm near Sarnia in 1991 and raised our family here. We recently completed the four-year certification process of changing over our farm to organic methods. Our crop farm produces either soybeans, corn, or winter wheat. Our only animals are two rather large dogs and two rather fat cats.