Paul grew up in Minnesota, Jean in Texas. We first met in the Geology Department at the University of Texas in the early 1940’s before Paul started bouncing around the oil fields from Texas to Venezuela, to Wyoming, to Alberta and back to Texas, where in 1951, we met again, fell in love, and got married.
After four years in graduate school at the University of Oklahoma, we moved to Calgary and have been in Alberta ever since. We became Canadian citizens in 1967. Our four children, three girls and a boy, grew up in Calgary but have now moved across the continent – two in Ontario, one in Houston, and one in Salt Lake City. We can’t understand why they aren’t homesick for Alberta, but they don’t seem to be.
In 1981, after twenty-six years in Calgary, we decided we’d like to live in a smaller place and found Canmore. We had passed by countless times on our way to hike or cross-country ski in Banff National Park but had never even driven into town. What a wonderful place we found! The population was then 3,000 friendly souls, and we soon felt very much at home. The subsequent mad growth in the valley has brought in countless interesting and vibrant people, many of whom have become good friends, but we must confess that we really miss the small town that got lost. However, we don’t know another place we’d rather live, so here we’ll stay.
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p. 109.
