A Brief Spark
On October first, 1980, our son Steven was born. He was our third child, but the first boy, so his birth was a joyous occasion for my husband Ted and me. When Steven was just nineteen days old, I began attending classes at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) to complete the fourth and final phase of my apprenticeship as a machinist. I had been the first woman to enroll in the Machinist Apprenticeship Program at NAIT. Another woman, Elsie, had started a year after me and was registered in that class. I did not want to lose the distinction of being the first woman to complete the program, so it seemed important to attend that term. I found a babysitter living near us who was willing to look after Steven while I attended classes for eight weeks. Our daughters, Tammy and Terri, in grades six and five, ate lunch at school and could handle being alone for an hour every day. I planned to take some time off to be with my new son after I achieved journeyman standing.