Continued…. April came and went with exams and a few dates. I had a May practicum for nursing so that allowed us to get to know each other a little better before I had to leave and find work for the summer. I worked at the “Do Drop Inn” truck stop as a waitress. There was a summer trip from Nick down to Vauxhall to see me. Then back to University for my 3rd year. I no sooner got in the door than my roommates were reporting, “Nick called!”. Fall semester was a busy one between courses and assignments, but we still seemed to look forward to squeezing in time together on weekends and we even splurged on Big Mac’s for dinners now and then. By November our relationship was getting pretty serious.
It was around that time that Nick heard on the radio about a contest by Ben Moss Jewelers for a 750 dollar diamond ring through 630 CHED radio. All you had to do was list the top songs of the last 20 years of Rock and Roll. I’m not quite sure why Nick was so intent on winning this ring at the time, but as I was now learning, If Nick set his mind to something; he was determined and made it happen. Maybe that was why he was so persistent with me. He liked challenges.
He thought by listening to the radio while studying he would manage to hear all the top songs and enter the contest. However, University got in the way and Nick was giving up on the contest, as he wasn’t able to get a song for every year. To his surprise “Lady Luck “would assist him. As he was walking by Woodwards department store in downtown Edmonton, he spied a Music Book with the title
Twenty Years of Rock and Roll with the top songs from each year in it. Nick deduced that they would be playing the top songs and bought the book in order to complete his entry form. You have to realize that 750 dollars was a lot of money to a university student in those days. Nick carefully listed the songs and went down to the computer lab at the university and made 300 copies of the list. Then he bought envelopes and informed his roommate Martin and I that we would each address 100 of those entries in addition to him doing 100 for himself. The deal was that if our name were pulled, the prize would still be his.
Every night that week Nick went down to the radio station and stuffed a few dozen of the entries in the door slot. Finally the day came for the prize draw. Wouldn’t you know! Martin’s name was pulled to win the Diamond Ring. The announcer said to Martin off air, “ You put more than one entry in didn’t you?” Martin laughed and said, “Maybe a few”. It was funny… after that future contests had requirements for no more than one entry.
So Nick now was the proud owner of a beautiful 750-dollar Ben Moss Diamond ring. He thought that this would allow him to purchase some pretty nice Christmas presents. He wanted to buy me a promise ring, and some diamond studs for his mom and sister. When he arrived at the store and shared his plan, he was told in no uncertain terms that this could not be done. He would have to take the ring with that value as one item. Nick, a bit annoyed at the inflexibility of the jeweler, decided at that point that he would not take the ring for now and left.
Christmas was fast approaching. We decided to keep it simple for Christmas. We would both go home to our families with small gifts for each other.
I was surprised to get a phone call stating that Nick’s parents had purchased an airplane ticket to fly me up to Dawson Creek for New Year’s.
Nick is a very logical person. He tells the story of me arriving in the Fort St. John airport and when he saw me his legs turned to jelly. He had to sit down.

He said he knew at this point that he wanted to marry me.

The proposal came in the end of January. It was pretty low key by today’s standards. We had been to a cabaret with friends. When we got into the car to leave the Nisku Hotel,

Nick said, “I have a question I have been waiting forever to ask you.” I was caught off guard, as he was so serious. What did he want to ask me? Did he want to break it off? It was a simple, “Will you marry me”. To which I replied. “Is that all? Sure!”

On February 14th 1978 we went shopping for a ring. Nick didn’t want to use the one at Ben Moss because he didn’t feel it was right to give me an engagement ring he won in a radio contest. We couldn’t find the right one. The last store we went to was Ben Moss. It was there I found the engagement ring I loved. And of course… the price was 750 dollars. We were married July 1st, 1978. Two young people very much in love looking to spend a lifetime together. It’s 40 years ago now. I believe if I was asked again I would still say, “Is that all? Sure!”

Wishing you all love on Valentine’s Day as you listen to the song Love Grows!