Mary Parker's mischievous smile is contagious, as is the hint of her East Coast accent as she begins to tell a story.
And there are lots of stories.
Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, she became a ward of the Children's Aid Society as a girl, living on a farm outside of Antigonish helping the lady of the farm who was then in her late 70s. "I can do anything you ask me too," Mary says. "I can scrub floors, I can cook, I can wash, I can paint: hard work? I live for it."
She eventually lived with another family who were fond of the Friday night dances in Antigonish where soldiers returning from the war in Europe would often converge. That's where Mary met her future husband, Jack, the father of her nine children.
She never shied away from hard work and raising a family that size was a task she is proud to have lived up to. "We had a good tim," she says, "and I'm very proud of my children."
They made their way to the Guelph area where the family grew, and they even managed to find time for a bit of travel, for Mary always wanted to see the world.
"I'm a Parker," she jokes, "so I'm nosey." The time she and Jack visited three Hawaiian Islands is a favourite memory as she talks of travel, but her heart was really in the home.
Whether in small town Nova Scotia or the rural region around Guelph, her bright smile and her kind nature always put people at ease.
Today she calls The Village of Riverside Glen home, and she's a fixture in our small community with her contagious smile and friendly conversations.