Tom Willey was born in Newcastle, England in 1908 and came to Canada with his family when he was three years old. Tom's Dad was a blacksmith in Meota, Saskatchewan. Charlotte Willey (nee Dufresne) was born in 1912 in Pontiex, Saskatchewan and her Dad ran the bakery in Meota.

Tom worked at the Bank of Commerce and got to know Charlotte when she brought the daily deposits from bakery to the bank. Tom and Charlotte were married in 1937 and ran a store in Laventure, Saskatchewan. The depression wasn't kind to entrepreneurs and Tom and Charlotte moved to Flin Flon in search of work in 1940. Tom found work with Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting and jumped at the chance to move his family to Island Falls when the opportunity to run the store there presented itself.

And the rest, Betty, Judy, Hazel and Brenda, is history. Submitted by Hazel Willey Young of Ottawa.

14 January, 2003