Player Profile
Player Profile
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MARY
&
LYN JONES
by Linda Patton
LP: Lyn, I know that you and your family arrived in Victoria in 1985, but from which province did you come?
LJ: I was born in Timmins, Ontario, where my father was employed at Hollinger Mines as an office worker. While in Timmins, my father and his coworkers were recruited to work as labourers for the construction of a new plant for Polymer, a rubber manufacturer, in Sarnia. My father accepted the offer and eventually became plant foreman.
LP: Do you have siblings?
LJ: Yes, I have two sisters and four brothers. They all live in Ontario – mostly in Sarnia – and most have come to Victoria for a visit.
LP: How did you meet Mary?
LJ: I hung around with Mary’s brother and he told me he had a sister that was in the convent. I said, “That’s one I wouldn’t want to meet!” It was a life-time commitment on her part but after three and a half years, she knew it was not what she wanted to do. When she came home, I saw her and thought she was a cute little thing and I asked her out. We were good friends for two years before marrying. (I tell everyone that I climbed the vine and went into the convent and rescued her from a life of boredom).
LP: Where were you raised, Mary?
MJ: I was born in Strathroy, Ontario, and grew up in the farmhouse my father was born in. I have seven brothers and four sisters. I went to a one-room schoolhouse for grades one to three and then grades four to eleven in Strathroy. For grades twelve and thirteen I attended an all-girls boarding school, ‘The Pines’, in Chatham, Ontario. After that, I entered the convent.
LP: Where did you go to school, Lyn?
LJ: I went to school in Sarnia, and following graduation I worked for Polymer for one year as a labourer. My official classification was ‘gardener’ but I mostly pulled weeds.
LP: While in school, did you participate in sports?
LJ: Yes, with five boys in the family, we played football, baseball, hockey and basketball. My two younger brothers were proficient at lacrosse and considered the best athletes in our family. There was always someone around the house throwing a baseball or football. It was a lot of fun. I seem to like contact sports, although I have also tried skydiving and scuba diving.
LP: Following your employment with Polymer, Lyn, where did you work?
LJ: I worked for Union Gas, a public utility. I read meters for a couple of years, got tired of being cold, and decided I wanted to repair appliances. Union Gas provided free service and maintenance to their customers, regardless of whether or not their appliance had been purchased from Union Gas. After 3½ years I was promoted to dispatch supervisor; I was responsible for dispatching 30 servicemen. This lasted about 1½ years when the company sent me to Chatham, where the service department was not being run very efficiently. I determined what the areas of improvement should be and submitted my written report. The company asked if I would move to Chatham and fix the problem, and I said yes.
LP: How long were you employed at Union Gas in Chatham?
LJ: I worked there for 13½ years. After the servicemen knew what was expected of them, they gave a good days’ work. It was difficult to leave my job as the money was good and the workload light. The servicemen turned out to be a good bunch of men and didn’t need much supervision.
LP: I know that you have three daughters; Mary, did you work during the child-rearing years?
MJ: Yes, I attended teachers’ college after the convent and received a teaching certificate. In London, Ontario, I taught all subjects, mostly for grades four, five and six. I left this job and moved to Chatham, Ontario, after Lyn and I got married. I taught school for three years prior to starting a family, and worked for a total of ten years, some of that part-time.
LP: Lyn, how did you go from supervisor to roller skating rink owner?
LJ: While at Union Gas I had thought about purchasing a McDonald’s franchise or some other business. A friend owned a KOA campground and thought about building a roller rink on the grounds. He and I went to look at several roller rinks and both got excited about them. The modern roller rink is a lot different from what I had known as a child. The first rink we visited was in Sudbury, complete with disco music, mirrored ball, and lights in the ceiling. My friend went ahead and built a roller rink in Sarnia and he asked if I was interested in investing in a second rink? He and I built one in Brampton, Ontario, in 1980. The rink was very successful and we subsequently built another in Scarborough. My friend wanted to build the biggest skating floor in Canada, so off we went to Montreal to view one that was 360’ long by 180’ wide, the biggest in Canada at that time. After returning home, we built a rink with a skating floor 1000 square feet bigger than the biggest one in Ontario.
LP: Was roller skating that popular?
LJ: Yes, it started in California and spread to the east coast and then up to Canada. Skating and disco music were the craze in the early eighties. In 1982 the bottom fell out of the economy, and parents opted to send their children to public rinks, which were cheaper. In addition, disco music seemed to die along with the economy. I now had two big white elephants. We hadn’t built the ceilings high enough to turn them into racquetball or squash courts, or warehouses. We turned the one in Brampton into a bingo hall and it became very successful (we sold it in 1985). We sold the Scarborough rink to a family from Hong Kong, who turned it into a 36-lane bowling alley.
LP: When did you arrive in Victoria?
LJ: We first bought a motor home and traveled to Florida with the idea of building a home on a waterfront lot that we had purchased (we were trying to escape the snow that is part of an Ontario winter). I had always liked the West and hadn’t been out here since 1968. I remember liking Victoria and knowing that Canada is one of the best countries in the world to live in, and Victoria is the best place in Canada. I don’t know how it gets any better than this!
When I mentioned a possible move to Vancouver or Victoria, Mary thought it would be too far away from her family. We decided to put our home up for rent for one year and see what a trip out west would bring.
MJ: I did not like Vancouver after getting lost a few times and going back and forth over several bridges. I immediately breathed a sigh of relief once we embarked on the ferry to Victoria, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride over to Swartz Bay. During our stay in Victoria we drove to Parksville to check out the real estate scene. I ran into a lady from Florida who thought we were nuts for even thinking of moving to Florida, rather than Victoria. We put our Ontario home on the market, bought one in Dean Park, near Sidney, and never looked back. The children never even got to say goodbye to their friends. We also wanted the children settled in before high school age.
LJ: I asked Mary if she wanted to rent for a year just to be sure. She said that this was where she wanted to be – Paradise! So we bought the house in the summer of 1985 and Mary’s gift shop in Sidney in October of the same year.
LP: Do you enjoy the Lilaberry Home Décor shop, Mary?
MJ: Yes, I love it. I have had it for 19 years now and our daughters have been very helpful.
LP: Did you work after moving to Victoria, Lyn?
LJ: Yes, I took the real estate exam and received my license. I soon discovered that I was more interested in socializing with the clients then selling. I think I sold three homes in ten months. That was the extent of my real estate career.
LP: When was the onset of your health issues, Lyn?
LJ: Well, in 1987 I was riding a bicycle when I crashed and broke my collar bones and fractured my skull. A few days later, I was diagnosed with diabetes and now must take insulin injections each day. In 2000 Mary and I took a trip to Australia. Seven days after arriving, we were booked the next day for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef, something I had always wanted to see. That night I had a stroke and was in the hospital for three days. Mary and I decided to finish our trip, so we spent the next three weeks traveling about Australia with Mary doing all the driving, and on the ‘wrong side of the road’!!!
Eight months later I had a second, more severe, stroke at home. After some time at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital, I spent two months at the Gorge Hospital in physiotherapy. I recovered my speech and the use of my arms, but I must use a wheelchair to get around.
LP: I know you both enjoy your bridge. When did you get started?
MJ: We played ‘party bridge’ after we were married and took up duplicate about 8 years ago. We both received our Life Master after playing 2¾ years. We read the bridge lessons in the newspaper and took a few lessons from Matt Smith, an excellent teacher. We both have about 770 master points and play about three times a week now.
LJ: We are very fortunate in Victoria to have such good teachers and such a strong bridge community. The unit board members do an excellent job, as do the directors.
LP: Have you any amusing anecdotes from your bridge experiences?
LJ: Yes, one time I made a bid that was insufficient. When Phil, a jovial, well-liked Director from Vancouver, arrived at our table, he took me aside and asked me what happened. I told him and he said, “So, you went brain dead?” I said, “Yes.” He said he believed me, but he wouldn’t tell the opposition so that they would not have an unfair advantage! He insulted me about four more times, but in a nice way. I was laughing so hard I almost wanted to mess up again so he would come back to our table and give some more one-liners. I still got a penalty, but it was done in a pleasant way.
MJ: While Lyn was still in the hospital, we took part in a Sectional. I had to return Lyn to his ward each night, and we still managed to finish near the top in our class. And that was following a head injury and a stroke!
LJ: Mary figured I played better when I was brain dead. She said the more brain cells I lost, the better I played!
LP: What part of bridge do you like the best?
LJ: The people. Enjoy the game, but don’t take it too seriously.
MJ: In 3½ weeks we will be first-time grandparents (smile). We must keep everything in perspective.
LP: Thank you, Lyn and Mary. Enjoy your grandchild.
Copyright:
ACBLUnit 431
James K. Foster,
January, 2005