Thursday, December 3, 2009

Happy Birthday Mary Ellen

On New Year's Day 1979, according to our established custom, we sat down as a family of 7 with kids aged 6, 5, 3, 2 and 9 months, and made our plans and goals for the coming year. Each child was asked what they'd like to have happen or to do in 1979. When it was 6-year old Rob's turn, he sat there holding 9-month old Mike and said, "I think we need a new baby this year". So, always willing to do our best to make our kid's wishes and dreams come true, Lloyd and I got right to work to give the family a new baby in 1979. Consequently, on December 4, 1979 our 4th daughter, Mary Ellen, was born in Prince George, BC.

She was a sweet, good-natured little baby and was doted on by her parents and older siblings. Right from the start she has been a pleasure and a joy to us.

A little bit of a showman - she loved to dress up and look glamorous.


Her third birthday cake was made to look like one of her dolls.

At 3-years of age she showed promise of the beauty she grew up to be, and her sweet personality easily shined through.


We moved east when Mary was three so we could be closer to my parents and extended family in Nova Scotia. On the way we stopped at Niagara Falls where this picture was taken. We had the kids on a buddy system whenever we were out of the car. Mary's buddy was Jenny. Not able to pronounce 'buddy' very well, Mary called Jenny her 'bunny', a term that stayed part of our family language for a long time.
In Nova Scotia Mary finally met the person she was named after, her great-grandmother Mary Ellen Logan...shown here with Mary and her cousin Meredith. Grammie was thrilled to have one of her 50+ grandchildren named after her. Grammie called Mary Nell after the name that she was called for all her 95 years.


Finally, when Mary was 6 years old, she became a big sister. She didn't seem to mind being removed from the position as youngest child and has always been close to her baby sister, Emily.

True to the promise of her childhood, Mary grew to be a beautiful young lady, pictured here in her high school grad picture. She was very popular in high school. She was very athletic and played basketball and volleyball. She still is very active and fit, hiking and running on a regular basis.




She met and fell in love with Greg Bourne when she was 18, and got engaged when she was 19.


They were married when they were 20 and will be celebrating their 10th anniversary in May of 2010...a fun couple who are very much devoted to each other.

Mary and her daughter, Layla, travelled to Nova Scotia from Edmonton with me two years ago to visit my mother. Here we all are at Peggy's Cove, NS. Mary was very kind to Mum and enjoyed revisiting the place that was her home from ages 3 - 9.




She's a very devoted and caring mother to her children, balancing a career as a medical lab technician with loving and caring for her family.

Mary has lived up to our expectations of her. We love her and Greg and their sweet children, Layla and Baron. She continues to be a joy to our family. Our only regret is that she lives 1000 miles from us so we don't get to see her/them as much as we'd like to.
Happy Birthday Mary.