One of the fondest memories and stories I have of my Mom and Dad [Edith Macdonald and Bernie Coady] is their Big Trip.

In 1972 Ford Motors of Canada ad a contest; the prize was a trip Chicago, to see the Black Hawks play. Bobby Hull was playing for the Hawks then, so were Phil Esposito and Doug Jarrett. 250 contest winners would be chosen.

Who would ever have guessed my parents would be one of I believe it was 250 people in Canada that would win?

Now Momma had two sisters living in the States that she had not seen for 25 years. Greet lived in Detroit and Billie lived in Boston. Somehow or the other contact was made and a reunion was set up. My mom did not know a thing about it.

She would tell the story of how she was standing in line at customs, and the lady behind her said, “Oh my stars, there are some people over there who have not seen someone for a long time. Look at them smiling and waving.”

Momma looked and said to the lady, “Oh my God, they are my sisters! I haven’t seen them in 25 years.�

The woman said “Why are you standing here? Go see them.�

The trip was fantastic; Momma got to visit with her sisters and their husbands. (Uncle Hughie really liked the round bed.) They got to see great hockey, and if I am not mistaken, Hughie and Greet and Billie and Scottie all got to take part in some of the events.

Bobby Hull told my mother that he thought she was probably more famous than he was that weekend.

The weekend produced many pictures and stories that Mom and Dad brought back from Chicago. We actually saw pictures in “real time� of what Greet and Hughie and Billie and Scottie looked like. Prior to that week end we only had pictures in black and white. Everyone was etched forever in our minds as 20-year-olds.

In 1990, I was living in Regina for the first time. It was just after Momma had passed away. [My son] Coady was in elementary school.

Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe were in the city doing an oldtimers game. They were on the radio and were taking calls from fans. I called the radio station and told this story to Bobby Hull, and thanked him because that was one of the highlights of Momma and Dad’s life.

Later that afternoon after standing in line at a shopping center for four hours with Coady, Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe autographed a hockey stick for Coady.

I told Bobby Hull who I was and that I had spoken to him in the morning. He told me he remembered that particular promotion from Ford, and although he could not remember all the names of the people, he remembered the reunion of the sisters.

Bernie Coady: Julene’s father
Edith Macdonald: Julene’s mother
Greet Macdonald, Billie Macdonald: Edith’s sisters
Hughie Ferguson: Greet’s husband
Scottie MacLellan: Billie’s husband

My name is Marion (Coady) Soroka. I am Edith and Bernie Coady’s youngest daughter. I am married to my husband Jeff, and we have two boys: Barton is 15 and Jonathon is 13.

I do have a quick story to tell about Uncle Hughie and Aunt Greet when they came to Canmore, Alberta, in the 1970′s to visit. I was 18 years old and the last place I wanted to be was at home with a bunch of “old people.”

So I was getting ready to go out the local bar. I was dressed in jeans, men’s grey work socks, hiking boots and a plaid shirt. I came into the kitchen where the “old people” were sitting around the kitchen table.

They were laughing and telling stories (which of course I was not the least bit interested in) and I could not figure out what these “old people” had done in their lives to be laughing so hard about.

Uncle Hughie looked at me and said “Jesus, Jesus, Bernie, look at the dungarees of that one, and she’s going out like that…I can’t imagine taking out anyone dressed like that.” Every one laughed, and I was not sure how to take Uncle Hughie…

Dad said “Ya, Hughie, this one is like Jesse James.”

I had five friends coming over to pick me up to go to the bar, and when they came they also were wondering what all the laughter was about.

Uncle Hughie and Dad got telling a story and the next thing I knew all of my friends were sitting on the counter tops, any available chairs, and on the floor of the kitchen mesmerized by the stories and the Cape Breton music.

(We listened to the Stones, Deep Purple…not fiddle music.)

Everyone at the table was of course drinking tea and eating homemade biscuits, not a drop of alcohol. Dad offered the guys that were there a beer out of the fridge if they wanted one, and the girls could share one he thought. They declined and asked if they could have tea.

We thought we would be there for an hour or so or head to the bar.

All of my friends decided to leave at 2:00 am, and I decided to go to bed. The “old people” stayed up telling stories and belly laughing until 4:00am.

It is now about 30 years later and when I see the same group of people, they all still say it was the best time ever. I even had friends wanting to just come to our place for tea and listen to the “cool old people” tell stories instead of going to the bar.

I must admit this is one of my best memories of my Mom and Dad having such a good time. I am still thankful for Uncle Hughie and Aunt Greet making that trip.

After his retirement from the Canadian National Railway (CNR) Jack D. went on a trip around the continent. He had a railway pass for the CNR and at that time railway companies in both the United States and Canada honoured the brotherhood of railroad men so the pass meant travelling free in the US as well as Canada.

I’m sure that on his way across Canada he probably stopped at Drumheller in Alberta where I believe Bernie and Edith Coady were living at the time, Edith being his daughter. Then he journied on to California to visit a cousin in Hollywood. (I have no idea who this cousin was but it was clearly someone from the Mira River side of the family).

One afternoon he walked into a drugstore in Hollywood and was rotating a rack of postcards for something to send home when this woman reached across and pulled one from the rack.

“If you’ll send this one I’ll sign it,” she said. The postcard was of Betty Grable, the woman with the million dollar legs for whom whole Second World War armies lusted in their trenches overseas. She was wearing sunglasses and a kerchief and they had coffee together. Afterwards, Jack D. mailed the card home.

When his trip ended and he did come home, Billie wanted to know if he really did meet Betty Grable to which Jack D. replied, “Yes. Who was that woman?”

The postcard with Jack D.’s message and Betty Grable’s autograph was around the house for a long time but became lost sometime around when Billie moved to Boston, I believe.

And what is easier to believe is that Jack D. wouldn’t have had a clue who he was having a tea or coffee with. But I wonder what her thoughts were about this stern man who seemed utterly unmoved by her fame and stardom? Probably found it refreshing.

Received February 10, 2006