The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon MLA Gerard Jennissen used his final member's statement in the legislature Tuesday to honour one of northern Manitoba's most enduring couples. * * * Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that my last member's statement should be dedicated to a wonderful couple whose warmth, generosity and positive traditional values symbolize all that is good about the people of Northern Manitoba. That couple is Ben and Juliana Foord from Snow Lake. Not that long ago, my wife and I were delighted to attend Juliana's 80th birthday at the Northern Lights Manor in Flin Flon. Ben, an active 91, still lives in Snow Lake. Ben visits Juliana regularly and makes a particular effort to celebrate February 14th with her, Valentine's Day, the day he proposed. Ben and Juliana were married in 1949. He had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and in 1945 took part in the last European battles before victory was claimed by the Allies. Ben worked diligently for Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting for many years. He was an early member of the Canadian Commonwealth Federation. Two sons Ben and Juliana raised two sons, Greg and James. Greg and Val have two girls and one grandchild. James and Gwen have three children and one grandchild. Ben has been a Legion member for over 55 years. He is an avid curler. He has a green thumb and gives away vegetables from his garden to friends and family. He loves to hunt and fish and take the grandkids to their trapper's cabin on Tramping Lake. Ben has been a master angler many times. Ben, the family patriarch, was almost 90 when he shot his last moose. He is a community volunteer par excellence. Juliana is equally kind and generous. Her background is Hungarian and she was known for her Hungarian dishes and her baking. She loves singing and was active in the glee club and the knitting club. The Foords were renowned for their generosity and kindness. I feel privileged to call the Foord family my friends. I always felt welcome in their homes. Ben and Juliana are people of faith and faithfulness. They have been faithful to their God, each other, their family, their friends, their community. They have remained faithful to social democracy. They have remained faithful to Northern Manitoba. On behalf of all their many friends, of all northerners, of all members of this Legislature, and indeed of all Manitobans, I pay tribute to this great couple, a true gentleman of the North and his loving wife, Ben and Juliana Foord.
