Honoured by Sandra Lloyd
High school sweethearts Bill Lloyd and Janet Grant were married in Collingwood Ontario on August 8, 1953 at the age of nineteen. Bill was born on Manitoulin Island and Janet emigrated from Scotland to Canada as a teenager with her parents and younger brother James.
The first year of their marriage was spent in Ottawa, where Bill was a mechanic in the Canadian Air Force. After the birth of their first son, Grant (in June of 1954) the couple returned to Collingwood where Bill worked as an auto mechanic at Don Wright Motors. Their daughter Sandra was born in Collingwood in May of 1956, followed by a second son, Glenn, in January of 1958 and another daughter, Brennain, in March of 1959. Janet was busy at home with four children under the age of five years! Bill opened his own garage in Nottawa, Ontario and the family moved to the village (just outside Collingwood) in the fall of 1963. In December of 1964, Lloyd’s Auto Repair burned to the ground. Bill joined the fledgling Mister Transmission company soon after, commuting to Barrie until opening his own shop in North Bay in the spring of 1968. The family followed at the end of the school year.
In North Bay, Janet managed a household with four teenagers but still found time to volunteer with the AMR (now North Bay Association for Community Living) and take DSW courses, later working as a supply EA in the school system. The family enjoyed HASC (Historical Automobile Society of Canada) activities, camping and travelling regularly to Florida for winter vacations. In 1978 Bill and his son Glenn built the stock car track Sunnydale Speedway in North Bay. Although not a fan, Janet also worked hard in the family efforts to make the endeavour succeed against the odds of weather-dependence and expenses that frequently exceeded revenues.
By the end of the 80’s, Grant and his wife Tricia had three children (Simon, Andrew and Ashley) and Glenn and his wife Monique had two children (Kristen and Darren), all living in Barrie area. Bill and Janet moved back to Simcoe County in the early 90’s to be closer to their five grandchildren. In 2003-2004 Brennain and her partner Phillip blessed the couple with two grandchildren in North Bay, a chosen teenaged son (Antonio) and a baby daughter (Beatrice), followed by a great-grandchild in 2009. Grant and his wife Tricia, and Sandra and her partner James are also each proud grandparents of two, giving Bill and Janet a total of five great-grandchildren. Bill and Janet are active members of the resident-owned retirement community at Big Cedar Estates on Bass Lake near Orillia, and still love to travel together in their motorhome to Florida in the winter and to bluegrass and other music festivals in Ontario in the summer.
Written (2012 08 08) for your 60th wedding anniversary on August 8 2013 with love to Bill and Janet from your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.