Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / The Story Behind the Story: Jennifer and Cam

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The Story Behind the Story: Jennifer and Cam · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

• 0:16
  Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the ABA Coffee In The Park.
• 0:20
  My name is Cam Milliken, and I am here with my co-host extraordinaire, Jennifer Herrick, the Executive Director of the Acheson Business Association.
• 0:29
  Hi, Jennifer.
• 0:31
  Well, hello, Cam.
• 0:32
  How are you today?
• 0:33
  I'm cold, Jennifer.
• 0:34
  It's like minus, actually.
• 0:36
  Let me look at my phone right now.
• 0:37
  You know how I knew it was really cold?
• 0:39
  Besides going outside, Cam, you're wearing a puffy coat today.
• 0:41
  I know.
• 0:42
  It's minus right now.
• 0:43
  My phone says minus 25 and tonight it's going to go down to minus 31.
• 0:47
  Okay, for our listeners, it is rare that Cam walks into the office with a jacket.
• 0:52
  It is so cold outside.
• 0:55
  It is unbelievable.
• 0:56
  Do you know what it reminds me of a little bit?
• 0:58
  No.
• 0:58
  Don't get mad at me.
• 0:59
  What's that?
• 1:02
  The Seinfeld episode where George is wearing the puffy coat and he's like knocking over all the liquor in the liquor store.
• 1:07
  Oh, I know.
• 1:08
  It did remind me of that.
• 1:08
  Yeah, sorry.
• 1:10
  It's like so cold outside.
• 1:12
  It's just freezing anyways.
• 1:14
  But hey, everybody, we are coming to you from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson.
• 1:23
  That's right.
• 1:23
  So if you hear any noises in the background, some people talking or kids screaming or machines whirring, it's because we actually are live right now at the Wall Coffee Shop here in Acheson, where it's minus 25.
• 1:39
  Anyways, Jennifer, tell us about some very important people.
• 1:43
  We would like to thank our gold corporate sponsors, which include the Myshak group of companies, Myshak, Genics, Genics, Parkland County, Parkland County and our new gold corporate sponsor this year, Bow Valley Credit Union, Bow Valley.
• 1:55
  Who have a branch here in Acheson, in the industrial park.
• 2:00
  Right next to our office.
• 2:01
  Matter of fact, they kicked you and I out of our original office.
• 2:05
  There's a story.
• 2:05
  Yeah, there's a story.
• 2:06
  And now we're next door.
• 2:07
  But we're happy the bank is here.
• 2:09
  No, we're glad the bank is here.
• 2:10
  They're awesome.
• 2:11
  They are awesome people.
• 2:11
  And so yeah, you should check out the Bow Valley Credit Union with branches all across southern Alberta and now Edmonton.
• 2:17
  So kind of cool.
• 2:18
  Anyways.
• 2:20
  Don't tune us off.
• 2:21
  We don't have a guest.
• 2:23
  No guest today.
• 2:24
  But I think you will really be entertained.
• 2:26
  I don't know.
• 2:28
  I'm very scared of this podcast.
• 2:32
  Cam and I are going to share a little bit of our story behind the story.
• 2:36
  And we are going to ask each other some questions.
• 2:44
  Okay.
• 2:44
  Well, I guess.
• 2:45
  I'm starting.
• 2:46
  You're starting.
• 2:48
  I'm going to ask the question.
• 2:50
  Okay.
• 2:51
  All right.
• 2:51
  Are you ready?
• 2:52
  Yeah, I'm ready.
• 2:53
  Cam, tell us a little bit about yourself and where you grew up.
• 2:57
  Okay.
• 2:58
  I was born in the city of, well, I don't think at that time it was a city, but I was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
• 3:05
  You were?
• 3:06
  Yep.
• 3:07
  Really?
• 3:07
  Yep.
• 3:08
  And I lived there till I was the age of two, and I moved to Edmonton.
• 3:13
  My dad passed away.
• 3:14
  So my mom moved us back to Edmonton, and I grew up in Edmonton.
• 3:20
  And today reminds me of those days that I grew up in Edmonton because I had to walk to school every day.
• 3:28
  Okay, there was no such thing as canceling school because of the cold weather.
• 3:31
  What's this?
• 3:32
  Oh, school's canceled.
• 3:33
  I know.
• 3:34
  Not in my day. Mine either.
• 3:35
  Not in your day.
• 3:36
  I had to walk to school.
• 3:37
  It was only two blocks, but minus 30.
• 3:40
  And by the time I got to school, I was like frozen.
• 3:43
  Like everything was frozen.
• 3:46
  And yeah, so that's what I remember about growing up in Edmonton.
• 3:50
  And the summers and all that were great too.
• 3:52
  But man, I don't know.
• 3:54
  I think it was colder back then than it is now.
• 3:56
  Oh, I agree.
• 3:57
  I think we have no idea now.
• 3:58
  No, no.
• 3:59
  Okay, but where in the city of Edmonton did you live?
• 4:02
  So I grew up at that time in what was called sort of central Edmonton, 124th Street area.
• 4:08
  And yeah, I lived there with my mom for a while.
• 4:11
  And then we moved to another place, more central Edmonton.
• 4:15
  But that's where I lived for a long time.
• 4:17
  All my friends were there, went to elementary school, went to junior high school.
• 4:21
  Then we moved, and then I went to Ross Sheppard Composite at high school.
• 4:25
  People have heard you talk about Ross Sheppard.
• 4:27
  That's right.
• 4:27
  So Ross Sheppard was a pretty big deal in those days.
• 4:30
  It's where, I gotta be honest, it's where a lot of the rich kids went.
• 4:33
  I wasn't rich because I'm a single family, single mom, all that kind of stuff.
• 4:37
  But all my friends had a lot of money, and they drove like their cars, and I didn't have a car.
• 4:41
  Did you take the bus?
• 4:42
  I took the bus.
• 4:43
  Yeah, I took the bus.
• 4:44
  City bus?
• 4:45
  City bus.
• 4:45
  Oh yeah, hopped on the bus and away you went and all that kind of stuff.
• 4:49
  Got my bus pass.
• 4:51
  Yes, it was important.
• 4:53
  I always lost my bus pass, so I always had to tell the driver I lost it.
• 4:56
  And he'd say, you can't get on.
• 4:58
  And so I'd say, please.
• 4:59
  And he'd say, okay.
• 5:00
  And that was I got to ride the bus.
• 5:03
  Convincing even back then.
• 5:05
  Yeah.
• 5:05
  Then when I was 16, I got my driver's license.
• 5:09
  Because in those days, do you still get driver's license?
• 5:10
  Yeah, 16.
• 5:11
  Yeah.
• 5:11
  You can get your learners at 14.
• 5:13
  No, I think I did at 14.
• 5:16
  Yeah.
• 5:16
  But I got my driver's license when I was 16.
• 5:18
  And then my mom, she worked every day, and she would let me drive her to work, and then I get to take the car to school.
• 5:25
  And then.
• 5:25
  Did your mom let you do that?
• 5:26
  Yeah, yeah.
• 5:27
  But it wasn't the...
• 5:29
  It was an okay car.
• 5:30
  It was for a while.
• 5:30
  It was a Nova, I think a 1976 two-door Nova.
• 5:34
  And all my friends, because I went to the rich high school, they drove their parents like Mercedes and BMWs and everything like that.
• 5:43
  So yeah, so I parked my car at the far end of the parking lot, and they all parked close to the door.
• 5:49
  And then, yeah, so then I go pick up my mom, and then, yeah, go home.
• 5:52
  Okay, what did you do?
• 5:53
  What did you do in school?
• 5:54
  Did you play sports?
• 5:56
  Well, I did.
• 5:58
  Obviously, most of you have probably never seen us.
• 6:01
  We'll change that.
• 6:02
  We'll put us out so you know, but I'm not that tall.
• 6:05
  I'm a little bit vertically challenged.
• 6:08
  I was quite small.
• 6:10
  I was still in junior high, late junior high, grade nine.
• 6:14
  I could still buy my clothes in the children's department of the store, which was a deal.
• 6:21
  I could get into... in high school.
• 6:24
  I could get into the movies for a child, which was kind of good that way, but not other ways.
• 6:30
  So and the problem was to be totally transparent, totally honest, is I was a little bit lippy.
• 6:37
  This shocks me.
• 6:38
  No, I know it does, because I wouldn't.
• 6:45
  But here's the thing, is I was really like I was skinny.
• 6:50
  Like now you look at me and go, what happened?
• 6:52
  Like, no doubt.
• 6:53
  But I was really light, like I was really. So you could run really fast?
• 6:55
  And I could run like the wind.
• 6:57
  Oh, yeah.
• 6:58
  Matter of fact, I ran track and field in high school and stuff, and I did really, really well.
• 7:02
  But I could run.
• 7:03
  So the problem was, is I would like I would lip people off and then I'd run, thinking, ha ha, you'll never catch me.
• 7:10
  But I forgot that I had to go to school the next day and they'd be waiting.
• 7:14
  So there was some issues that way.
• 7:15
  But nonetheless, we made it.
• 7:18
  No pain, no gain.
• 7:20
  You're alive.
• 7:21
  You're here today.
• 7:21
  So obviously, you made it out of high school.
• 7:23
  So I played basketball.
• 7:26
  I was a guard, point guard.
• 7:29
  I played in high school.
• 7:31
  I was on the swim team.
• 7:33
  I loved swimming.
• 7:34
  So I would get up at 6 every morning in minus 30, like this.
• 7:38
  And I would get on the bus, and I would go to the pool.
• 7:41
  And I'd swim.
• 7:42
  I'd train.
• 7:43
  And then I'd walk from the pools right next to the high school.
• 7:45
  I'd walk from the pool over to the high school.
• 7:48
  And when it was minus 30, you know how your hair would freeze?
• 7:51
  Just freeze.
• 7:52
  It was kind of weird.
• 7:53
  Anyway, that's what I did.
• 7:54
  I played.
• 7:55
  I ran track.
• 7:56
  I ran 100 meter and 200 meter.
• 7:58
  I did very well in the province.
• 7:59
  Even though I was short, I was fast.
• 8:01
  Fast.
• 8:02
  And then I ran in the relay.
• 8:05
  And then one day, in like grade 12, my swim coach said to me, Cam, you're really good at what you do, but you're never going to go any further.
• 8:14
  Because to be good in competitive swimming, he said you're too short and your hands are too little.
• 8:20
  How did you feel about that?
• 8:21
  Not good.
• 8:22
  No.
• 8:23
  Self-esteem crusher.
• 8:24
  It was a bit, but I got over it.
• 8:29
  I got over it.
• 8:32
  I don't even know how I got over it.
• 8:33
  I don't know.
• 8:34
  I got over it.
• 8:35
  Anyway, so yeah, that's what I did.
• 8:38
  So and but I was really, really into drama.
• 8:42
  Yeah.
• 8:42
  So who was your favorite teacher?
• 8:44
  My favorite high school teacher was Mrs.
• 8:47
  Whalen, my drama teacher, and she was the wife of Ed Whalen.
• 8:51
  Okay.
• 8:51
  Tell people, tell our listeners who Ed Whalen was.
• 8:54
  Ed Whalen was the announcer on Saturday Stampede Wrestling.
• 8:59
  Ring a ding dong dandy.
• 9:01
  Yes sir.
• 9:03
  And like him and his wife were like opposites.
• 9:07
  Like she was this drama, like this Cam, you must do this and do this.
• 9:12
  And he's like, and it was like unbelievable.
• 9:15
  So like, yeah.
• 9:16
  So but she was a real encouragement to me, and I was good in drama and I really liked it.
• 9:21
  So I thought, well, I really enjoyed that.
• 9:24
  So the swimming thing was done and over and gone, but the drama thing was good.
• 9:27
  That's cool.
• 9:28
  Yeah.
• 9:28
  Yeah.
• 9:29
  So drama.
• 9:31
  Yeah.
• 9:32
  Did you have that as a career path after high school?
• 9:35
  I thought for a while.
• 9:36
  Did you want to be an actor?
• 9:37
  Yeah, she had recommended for me to go to UCLA to do their theater and movie program.
• 9:45
  And but I, you know what?
• 9:47
  I never did.
• 9:48
  But I should have because I'm like the same height as Michael J.
• 9:52
  Fox.
• 9:53
  Like that just that gives you sort of perspective as to where I am in life.
• 9:56
  And like I thought I could do that.
• 9:58
  Well, he wasn't big at that time.
• 9:59
  But now later on, I looked at him, I could do that.
• 10:03
  And so I thought I could do that.
• 10:04
  But no, I didn't.
• 10:06
  So your dreams of drama were crushed.
• 10:08
  Yeah.
• 10:08
  What did you do?
• 10:09
  Well, I was a good, faithful churchgoer boy.
• 10:14
  And I decided to go to Bible College and become a pastor.
• 10:17
  And that's what I did.
• 10:18
  How did that work out for you?
• 10:19
  Well, 33 years of it.
• 10:21
  That was a long time.
• 10:23
  Worked out pretty good.
• 10:24
  Did a lot of, we don't even have enough time to talk about all the things I did.
• 10:28
  No, but you did some really cool stuff.
• 10:29
  I did.
• 10:31
  A lot of it was working with marginalized peoples and hurting peoples.
• 10:37
  I worked in a lot of ghettos and slums and that kind of stuff.
• 10:41
  I spent years in Vancouver, working in the downtown east side areas and with marginalized peoples.
• 10:48
  And that's what I did.
• 10:49
  And that's really what I enjoyed doing is I, I wasn't your sort of conventional type pastor.
• 10:54
  I was, I liked working in those areas.
• 10:57
  I did a lot of things.
• 11:00
  I worked, I was at, when 9-11 happened, I had a good friend who was a chaplain in New York City.
• 11:06
  He phoned me, said, do you want to come help?
• 11:08
  So two weeks after the towers came down, I was there working on the pile, doing some things there, working with different groups there.
• 11:16
  I spent a couple of weeks in New Orleans, right after Katrina, with a whole team of people helping to clean up and do all that kind of stuff.
• 11:24
  I spent time, a lot of time in New York City, working in the ghettos, Hell's Kitchen area, that kind of stuff, the Bronx, that sort of thing, working with very marginalized kids, drug addicts, all that kind of stuff.
• 11:36
  So I spent a lot of my career doing that.
• 11:39
  Spent some time in Africa, helping with a school there, and all those kinds of different things.
• 11:45
  So yeah, that's sort of what it comprised of.
• 11:48
  And I was all over the place.
• 11:49
  I was lucky I got to travel all over the world, places like Russia and Asia and Africa and Central South America and all over the place.
• 12:00
  But Cam, I think that's one of the things that I really admire about you.
• 12:03
  And I see that so much in what you do is that support for marginalized people and giving back and working in that not-for-profit sector.
• 12:12
  And you and I have talked about it.
• 12:14
  We've both done it.
• 12:14
  Yeah.
• 12:15
  And how I think it's true to your core.
• 12:18
  And I think that reflects so much as you as a person.
• 12:20
  Well, you know, I mean, we've all been given so much.
• 12:24
  And we don't have to do a lot to give, excuse me, to give back to marginalized people.
• 12:30
  But I just, I found my niche in that.
• 12:31
  And I just, I love people in those settings because they're just so real and down to earth.
• 12:37
  They're not playing any games with you.
• 12:40
  And it's great.
• 12:41
  And so, yeah, it was a big part of my life.
• 12:43
  It's still, I wish it was like, yeah, I wish I was doing more now, but it really was such a huge part of my life.
• 12:50
  And I loved every minute of it.
• 12:51
  And what great experiences that you got to see and do.
• 12:55
  Well, I mean, yeah, time just doesn't, it just doesn't permit.
• 12:59
  I mean, so many great things.
• 13:00
  I mean, some of them were harrowing experiences.
• 13:03
  When we worked in, when I was in New York, we were, I remember there were times, because we, in those days, the ghettos of New York were really like, like they were like- You just didn't go there.
• 13:15
  You didn't go there, especially as a white person.
• 13:18
  And we would take teams of white middle class kids in there to help do feeding programs and all kinds of things.
• 13:25
  And sometimes we got ourselves, and I got myself into some little unique situations.
• 13:30
  And some of them were a bit life-threatening and that sort of thing.
• 13:35
  You know, some of the experiences we had in working with especially disaster relief was pretty amazing.
• 13:43
  And the devastation we saw and just able to help.
• 13:48
  Sometimes we were just- I remember one time we were in New York.
• 13:53
  I was in New York with a whole team of kids when the Rodney King- most people will remember the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles and how it set riots off around the US, especially in the ghettos.
• 14:06
  And we were there, I was there with a group of kids when the verdict came down and they had to lock us in a room for three days.
• 14:14
  We couldn't go out, we couldn't go anywhere because the streets were rioting and especially a bunch of white kids.
• 14:20
  So finally they had to get us out and we came home.
• 14:22
  But lots of little experiences, well, major experiences like that.
• 14:27
  Yeah, so yeah, lots of things.
• 14:30
  And yeah, just I could probably write a short book about some of those experiences.
• 14:37
  But they were I don't I don't regret anything I had.
• 14:40
  It's been great.
• 14:41
  It's been absolutely great.
• 14:43
  We lived in California for a while.
• 14:45
  And I remember we lived there in 1991.
• 14:49
  And I remember we were driving from San Francisco.
• 14:53
  We lived in Sacramento and we were driving from San Francisco to Sacramento at about 5 p.m.
• 15:00
  And that was the year people who are baseball fans will remember.
• 15:05
  It was called the Battle of the Bay.
• 15:07
  It was the World Series between Oakland and San Francisco.
• 15:11
  And we were driving from San Francisco back to back home to to Sacramento.
• 15:18
  And we crossed the Bay Bridge and the car, every traffic stopped, dead stop.
• 15:24
  And my car started, my little truck started bouncing off the pavement.
• 15:29
  And I just bought the truck so I didn't have a radio in it or anything like that.
• 15:32
  I was going to add one later.
• 15:33
  And we got home to Sacramento and our answering machine was full of people asking if we were OK.
• 15:39
  We thought, wow, that was weird.
• 15:41
  It turned on the television.
• 15:42
  And that was the year that they had the Bay, the Bay earthquake.
• 15:46
  And we timed ourselves back.
• 15:48
  We crossed the Bay Bridge five minutes before it collapsed.
• 15:52
  Otherwise, we would have been on the Bay Bridge.
• 15:55
  And we would have actually, we were thinking of taking the Embarcadero Freeway, which collapsed on top of each other, killed scores of people.
• 16:03
  And we could have potentially been under there as well.
• 16:07
  So, yeah, yeah.
• 16:08
  So we moved back to Canada because we don't have earthquakes.
• 16:14
  Well, not yet.
• 16:15
  I mean, the coast could very well have one, but generally, out here in the prairies, it's...
• 16:21
  Yeah, we lived in Vancouver for 30 some years, and I remember feeling the tremors there, and it brought back a lot of really weird feelings.
• 16:29
  So, so yeah, I've had some pretty unique experiences in my life, but so far turned out pretty good and I'm still here to talk about them.
• 16:36
  So I think out of all of that, which is absolutely amazing, something that people do not know about my wonderful co-host, he was a rodeo clown.
• 16:49
  Yeah, yeah, for a couple years.
• 16:51
  Yep, did amateur rodeo and did some rodeos and hung out, mostly amateur, all amateur and with a friend of mine.
• 17:03
  And yep, did that for a while.
• 17:05
  And just to be very clear, I was not the bullfighter, what they call today a bullfighter.
• 17:10
  He's not the bull, right, no.
• 17:11
  I was the entertainer.
• 17:13
  I was the funny man.
• 17:14
  And I had a friend, Cody, he did steer and bull and stuff like that.
• 17:19
  And so, but it's not to say we didn't have some precarious situations.
• 17:24
  Nonetheless, that's what I did.
• 17:25
  And so my job was to make everybody in the arena laugh, and especially the kids.
• 17:29
  And I tried to do my best at that.
• 17:34
  So there's some stories revolved around that.
• 17:36
  At one ranch, and I had a donkey named Milli.
• 17:40
  Milli was my donkey.
• 17:42
  And Milli, I would ride in backwards on Milli and stuff like that.
• 17:46
  Kids would laugh.
• 17:46
  I think it's hilarious.
• 17:47
  Yeah.
• 17:48
  Taught Milli to count a little bit.
• 17:49
  Fed him potato chips, and he thought that was really cool.
• 17:52
  He loved potato chips.
• 17:54
  And yeah, so that was really awesome.
• 17:56
  And then, yeah, so I did that for a while and really enjoyed that.
• 18:00
  And but, yeah, that wasn't going to be a career.
• 18:05
  Not a career? Not a career forever?
• 18:06
  No, I moved on from that.
• 18:09
  But it was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it.
• 18:11
  I enjoyed putting on it.
• 18:13
  They're very rodeo clowns.
• 18:15
  They don't even call them that anymore.
• 18:17
  They call them bullfighters.
• 18:18
  They're very different today than they were back then.
• 18:21
  And but I just was there to have a lot of fun.
• 18:24
  And I had a lot of fun.
• 18:26
  So it was good.
• 18:29
  I rode some steer a little bit and rode a little bareback, but it hurt too much when I fell off.
• 18:34
  Safety first.
• 18:35
  Yeah, safety first.
• 18:38
  It's funny how quickly the earth comes up to you when you're on the back of a moving animal.
• 18:43
  But anyway, yeah, so that's what I did.
• 18:46
  So that's it right there.
• 18:47
  So yeah, now I work for Genics.
• 18:51
  Now you work for Genics.
• 18:52
  And I sit on the ABA board and I get to co-host this show with you.
• 18:56
  With me.
• 18:57
  Okay, enough of me.
• 18:58
  Enough.
• 18:59
  Now we get to talk about you.
• 19:01
  Oh boy. Okay.
• 19:02
  Okay.
• 19:03
  All right.
• 19:04
  Jennifer.
• 19:07
  Where were you born?
• 19:08
  I was born in a small rural town in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan.
• 19:13
  Wow.
• 19:14
  How many people lived in Shaunavon?
• 19:16
  I don't even know how many people lived there back then.
• 19:19
  When you were born?
• 19:20
  Like 10, 12?
• 19:21
  No, more than that.
• 19:23
  Okay.
• 19:23
  No, like at least over 2000.
• 19:25
  Okay.
• 19:25
  Over 2000.
• 19:26
  And your mom and dad lived on the farm?
• 19:28
  We lived in se... Yeah We lived in rural Saskatchewan on my parents' farm.
• 19:33
  Yeah.
• 19:34
  So we had the farm.
• 19:36
  Grew up, went to Christ the King Elementary, which was kindergarten to grade 7.
• 19:43
  Oh, okay.
• 19:44
  And then there was no junior high in the small town.
• 19:48
  So then the Catholic and the public school merged, and we all went to SHS, good old Shaunavon High School.
• 19:54
  Okay.
• 19:54
  So grade 8 to grade 12.
• 19:55
  To grade 12.
• 19:56
  Yes.
• 19:56
  All right.
• 19:58
  So tell us about the elementary, junior high years.
• 20:01
  Were those good years?
• 20:04
  I'm trying to remember elementary.
• 20:06
  Elementary.
• 20:07
  You can't even remember elementary.
• 20:08
  I know.
• 20:08
  I don't even remember.
• 20:09
  Yeah.
• 20:10
  No, elementary was great.
• 20:11
  It was very obviously a very small school growing up.
• 20:14
  Right.
• 20:14
  Right.
• 20:15
  You don't go to school with a lot of kids.
• 20:16
  No.
• 20:17
  And then it's like the big shift when you go to high school, because oh, grade 8 to 12.
• 20:21
  And then, like I said, the schools merge and there's a lot more kids.
• 20:24
  What was your favorite class in high school?
• 20:26
  My favorite class in high school.
• 20:28
  And it wasn't the class.
• 20:30
  It was the teacher.
• 20:31
  OK.
• 20:32
  And so his name was his name was Mr.
• 20:35
  Ed Maloney.
• 20:36
  Ed Maloney.
• 20:36
  Ed Maloney.
• 20:37
  Ed, if you're listening.
• 20:38
  No, he passed away.
• 20:39
  Sorry, Ed.
• 20:39
  That's OK.
• 20:40
  OK.
• 20:40
  But everybody loved him.
• 20:43
  Yeah.
• 20:43
  He taught me grade nine social.
• 20:46
  Yeah.
• 20:46
  He taught me actually, I think he taught me he taught social all the way through.
• 20:53
  He taught me language arts or English.
• 20:56
  I guess it was called LA LA LA.
• 20:59
  You know what?
• 20:59
  I will always remember.
• 21:02
  I can remember him reading out loud The Outsider to this day.
• 21:06
  I could probably quote that book.
• 21:08
  But he was just one of those really, really memorable teachers.
• 21:12
  Right.
• 21:12
  He was one of those great teachers.
• 21:13
  Yeah.
• 21:14
  Yeah.
• 21:14
  OK.
• 21:14
  Now here's I have a question for you.
• 21:16
  Were you, I, you were like miss popular in school?
• 21:20
  No.
• 21:20
  No.
• 21:21
  Come on.
• 21:21
  No.
• 21:22
  I was like middle of the, I just kind of hung out with everybody.
• 21:25
  I wasn't.
• 21:25
  I wasn't.
• 21:26
  Yeah.
• 21:27
  Were you like the prom queen?
• 21:28
  No, there was no prom.
• 21:31
  Oh, I know.
• 21:32
  We didn't either.
• 21:33
  I graduated with 32 people.
• 21:34
  32.
• 21:35
  Big graduating class.
• 21:37
  Yeah.
• 21:38
  Yeah.
• 21:38
  All right.
• 21:39
  And what, but you didn't really say what your favorite subject was.
• 21:45
  No, I didn't.
• 21:45
  Did I?
• 21:46
  What was it?
• 21:47
  Was it typing class?
• 21:48
  Typing.
• 21:50
  Typing class.
• 21:52
  Now, this was before computers.
• 21:53
  You should see her type now.
• 21:55
  I know.
• 21:56
  Man.
• 21:56
  Well, maybe not with the injured finger.
• 21:58
  No, that's true. Not with my crooked finger.
• 21:58
  That's a whole other podcast.
• 21:59
  Maybe we'll get to that story in a sec.
• 22:00
  But yeah.
• 22:01
  So yeah.
• 22:02
  Okay.
• 22:02
  So then you were done high school.
• 22:04
  You had 32 people.
• 22:06
  Yeah.
• 22:06
  You graduated.
• 22:07
  You did.
• 22:07
  You got honors in typing and you...
• 22:12
  Seriously.
• 22:14
  And the typing award goes to Jennifer Herrick Yay! Anyway, so then you went, you left high school.
• 22:21
  And where did you go?
• 22:22
  Well, you know what?
• 22:22
  That was the big kind of controversy because at the time.
• 22:26
  Yeah.
• 22:27
  So small town.
• 22:28
  Either kids stayed in the small town.
• 22:30
  Yeah.
• 22:31
  Right.
• 22:31
  Yeah.
• 22:31
  They didn't leave.
• 22:32
  No.
• 22:33
  Or everybody went to the University of Saskatchewan.
• 22:37
  Okay.
• 22:37
  Or the University of Regina.
• 22:39
  Right.
• 22:40
  But people didn't really venture outside the province.
• 22:42
  So here I was, a rebel.
• 22:44
  Right.
• 22:45
  I came to Alberta.
• 22:46
  What?
• 22:46
  I did.
• 22:47
  Where did you go?
• 22:48
  Well, for my first two years, and people would have heard Brett Oland talk about this, I went to Medicine Hat College.
• 22:55
  You went to Medicine Hat College?
• 22:56
  I wonder if Brett and I were there at the same time.
• 22:58
  Maybe you were.
• 22:59
  Maybe we were.
• 23:01
  Deja, wow.
• 23:02
  I know.
• 23:03
  That's incredible.
• 23:03
  Maybe we hung out at Ezzy's at the bar together.
• 23:05
  We didn't know.
• 23:08
  I don't think I want to talk about Ezzy's at the bar.
• 23:13
  Sorry.
• 23:14
  That's not even a whole other podcast.
• 23:16
  No.
• 23:16
  Anyway, okay.
• 23:18
  But we got to go back.
• 23:21
  You were in the summertime in Shonovan.
• 23:24
  Yeah.
• 23:24
  Where did you work?
• 23:25
  Well, this was during the summers when I would go back when I was in college.
• 23:29
  So where did you work?
• 23:31
  I worked, it's still called the Grand Coteau Cultural and Heritage Centre in Shaunavon, which is the museum.
• 23:39
  It's got the museum on one side and the library on the other side.
• 23:42
  Okay.
• 23:43
  Yeah.
• 23:43
  So you worked in a museum.
• 23:44
  I did.
• 23:45
  Night in the museum.
• 23:46
  Night at the museum.
• 23:47
  Yeah.
• 23:47
  Okay.
• 23:48
  This actually sparked my passion for history.
• 23:51
  So that's my first degree, Cam, was in history.
• 23:55
  That's right.
• 23:56
  Yeah.
• 23:56
  I know.
• 23:57
  See, nobody knows that about you.
• 23:58
  And then I thought, what in the name?
• 23:59
  And then, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
• 24:00
  Yeah.
• 24:01
  When you worked in the museum, what was one of your jobs that you told that this is amazing?
• 24:05
  I know.
• 24:06
  So we had a natural history area in the museum of animals from Southern Saskatchewan.
• 24:14
  Don't laugh at those.
• 24:15
  I know.
• 24:17
  This is so funny.
• 24:18
  Cam.
• 24:19
  Yeah.
• 24:20
  One of my jobs.
• 24:23
  I can't even say it. was...
• 24:33
  Was to vacuum the buffalo.
• 24:35
  Vacuum the buffalo! The stuffed buffalo! Well, he would get dusty! Oh my goodness! You have to keep him clean! It's just, it's a mental picture, folks.
• 24:51
  Jennifer with the vacuum, vacuuming a stuffed buffalo.
• 24:55
  Yes! That was your job! And I was always a little worried he might fall apart, because he'd been there for a really long time.
• 25:05
  Okay, folks, there's a lot of jobs out there that are unique, but who, how many of you, show of hands, have ever vacuumed a buffalo?
• 25:16
  Like, seriously, unbelievable! Unique! How often did you have to vacuum?
• 25:23
  Oh, I vacuumed him once a week.
• 25:27
  Okay.
• 25:29
  I did more than that, but, you know, it was a highlight of the job.
• 25:33
  I wish, sometimes I wish we did video things, because there are tears running down my face.
• 25:40
  I just, oh, that's great.
• 25:42
  Anyways, so if you're, if you're, anybody out there, if you're needing a buffalo vacuumer, Jennifer has experience.
• 25:50
  Okay.
• 25:50
  I moved on from that, Cam.
• 25:51
  Right, okay.
• 25:55
  Okay, so then you went to...
• 25:57
  Well, first, I went to Medicine Hat College for the first two years, because it was a big leap going from a small town, and graduating with 32 people, to all of a sudden going to the big city.
• 26:08
  This was your first time away from home.
• 26:09
  Yeah, of course, right?
• 26:10
  You leave home.
• 26:11
  So had relatives in Medicine Hat, so did my first two years there before going to the University of Calgary.
• 26:17
  Right.
• 26:19
  And sorry, Buffalo flashbacks.
• 26:23
  So what did you take in University of Calgary?
• 26:26
  You took?
• 26:27
  So I finished my history degree.
• 26:29
  It was kind of a Museum and Heritage Studies degree.
• 26:32
  Because that's initially the field I went into.
• 26:35
  But then went back and did my business and my Masters of Business, my MBA at U of C.
• 26:40
  Yeah, she's got an MBA folks.
• 26:41
  She has an MBA.
• 26:43
  She is one of the smartest people I know.
• 26:44
  I'm not even kidding you.
• 26:46
  I'm not even kidding you.
• 26:46
  Well, I vacuumed a buffalo.
• 26:47
  Well, listen, it's our life experiences that make who we are today.
• 26:52
  Agreed.
• 26:52
  So anyway, okay.
• 26:54
  So then you got your degree and then you worked at, you had an amazing job.
• 27:00
  Tell us about- I really did.
• 27:02
  You loved this job.
• 27:03
  I did.
• 27:03
  So out of University, I got a job at the time it was called the Aerospace Museum.
• 27:09
  It's not called that anymore in Calgary.
• 27:11
  I think it's called the Hangar now.
• 27:13
  And that was my first job.
• 27:14
  And it was really, I was called the curator.
• 27:17
  So for people that don't know what that role is, in the museum world, that's a person that puts together the exhibits.
• 27:24
  So you walk into a museum and you see all these things put together and placed together.
• 27:28
  That's what you did.
• 27:29
  You did that.
• 27:30
  You put that together.
• 27:30
  I did.
• 27:31
  Yeah, okay.
• 27:32
  And from there, I did that for a number of years.
• 27:36
  And then I was asked to be the Executive Director.
• 27:39
  Yeah.
• 27:39
  Oh, boy.
• 27:40
  I was young, Cam.
• 27:41
  You were the first female Executive Director.
• 27:44
  I sure was.
• 27:45
  And I was in my late 20s.
• 27:47
  Yeah.
• 27:47
  So in a world of very, and it was, the aviation world was very male-dominated.
• 27:53
  Yeah, for sure.
• 27:54
  Yeah.
• 27:54
  So that was a huge honor for me to be asked to do that.
• 27:57
  And you got to do some cool stuff.
• 27:58
  I did.
• 27:59
  I so did.
• 28:00
  You, you, tell us.
• 28:01
  Yeah.
• 28:02
  You got to do cool stuff.
• 28:03
  I did.
• 28:03
  We had something called Aviation Days, where we would bring in World War II planes.
• 28:10
  We would bring in the CF-18s from Cold Lake, the Snowbirds.
• 28:13
  So I got to do a ride along with the Snowbirds.
• 28:16
  Wow.
• 28:16
  That is awesome.
• 28:17
  It was amazing.
• 28:18
  That is incredible.
• 28:19
  I thought I was going to throw up.
• 28:20
  Yeah.
• 28:21
  Yeah.
• 28:21
  Did you, though?
• 28:22
  Close.
• 28:22
  You did?
• 28:23
  No.
• 28:23
  No.
• 28:23
  But I almost did.
• 28:24
  Good for you.
• 28:24
  Well, yeah.
• 28:25
  No, you didn't.
• 28:26
  That's awesome.
• 28:26
  I know.
• 28:27
  Because I probably would have.
• 28:28
  We got to bring in some of Canada's astronauts.
• 28:31
  Yeah.
• 28:31
  So I got to meet Chris Hatfield, Roberta Bondar, Julie Payette.
• 28:35
  Oh, amazing.
• 28:36
  That's unbelievable.
• 28:37
  It really was so cool.
• 28:39
  Wow.
• 28:40
  And I think for me, the best part was at the museum, we restored aircraft.
• 28:45
  Yeah.
• 28:45
  And all of these people were volunteers and all were World War II veterans.
• 28:51
  Yeah.
• 28:51
  I just love those gentlemen.
• 28:54
  Wow.
• 28:55
  They were so amazing.
• 28:56
  And the stories and, you know, I wish somebody would have captured.
• 29:00
  No kidding, because we're at the point now where we've lost most of them.
• 29:04
  Yeah.
• 29:04
  Like we, they're gone.
• 29:06
  We really have.
• 29:06
  Yeah.
• 29:06
  And we, you know.
• 29:07
  But just phenomenal.
• 29:08
  Yeah.
• 29:09
  Yeah.
• 29:09
  Wow.
• 29:10
  Unbelievable.
• 29:11
  Yeah.
• 29:12
  And then let's just fast forward to now.
• 29:15
  Because, but there's more in there.
• 29:16
  There's tons more in there.
• 29:17
  Oh, yeah.
• 29:17
  But that's all.
• 29:18
  Okay.
• 29:18
  Let's fast forward to now.
• 29:19
  Okay.
• 29:20
  Here you are.
• 29:21
  You're the?
• 29:22
  Executive Director of?
• 29:23
  The Acheson Business Association.
• 29:25
  Yes.
• 29:26
  Co-host of the ABA Coffee In The Park.
• 29:30
  Yeah.
• 29:30
  That's right.
• 29:31
  And so I can see where all of those life experiences... vacuuming a buffalo.
• 29:40
  You know, there's probably so many things you do now that stem back to that experience.
• 29:46
  But anyway, and you do an amazing job.
• 29:50
  Thank you.
• 29:50
  You're amazing.
• 29:51
  Absolutely.
• 29:52
  And so that's quite a thing.
• 29:53
  That's you, man.
• 29:55
  Come a long way.
• 29:55
  You come a long way.
• 29:57
  But Cam, I've always worked in the not for profit sector.
• 30:00
  We've talked about this.
• 30:01
  And I could have gone corporate.
• 30:02
  Yeah.
• 30:03
  But it wasn't my passion.
• 30:05
  It wasn't in my heart.
• 30:06
  And you'll never get rich working in not for profit.
• 30:09
  But that's not why you do it.
• 30:10
  Ain't that the truth?
• 30:14
  That's for sure.
• 30:15
  You're trying to win the lotto.
• 30:16
  And that's not happening either.
• 30:16
  That's right.
• 30:17
  All you can do is put your 10 bucks down and hope you win.
• 30:19
  But no, that's true.
• 30:20
  But you know, and I'm not going to deny that I wouldn't like to win.
• 30:24
  That's not what I'm saying.
• 30:26
  But I know for me anyway, working in that sector, for most of my life, that the rewards are huge.
• 30:32
  And that's it.
• 30:33
  That's why you do it.
• 30:34
  Do you actually get to see a difference being made?
• 30:36
  Yeah.
• 30:37
  And that's massive to me.
• 30:39
  And so, yeah, I think you and I are on the same wavelength there and pretty incredible.
• 30:45
  Well, you know what?
• 30:47
  I mean, jeez, we could go on for a very long time on both sides here.
• 30:51
  We've left out a lot of in-between, a lot.
• 30:55
  But that's it right there.
• 30:57
  And that's the story behind the story for your ABA Coffee In The Park hosts.
• 31:03
  That's right.
• 31:03
  That's us.
• 31:04
  But can I just add one more thing?
• 31:05
  Sure.
• 31:06
  Add anything.
• 31:07
  You're the co-host.
• 31:08
  You know that I went back home recently.
• 31:10
  Yeah.
• 31:13
  And why didn't they have these things when I was growing up?
• 31:16
  Because there was nothing.
• 31:17
  And when you're growing up in a small town, you want to get out.
• 31:19
  Now they've got a great coffee shop.
• 31:21
  I know.
• 31:22
  They've got bakeries.
• 31:23
  They've got restaurants.
• 31:24
  I know.
• 31:25
  But when you're growing up, they didn't have that.
• 31:27
  Well, it's the same here.
• 31:28
  Even in Edmonton, growing up, I remember we didn't have.
• 31:31
  I mean, we had the stuff.
• 31:33
  But there was no Chick-fil-A.
• 31:34
  Oh, no Chick-fil-A.
• 31:35
  No Chick-fil-A.
• 31:37
  These first world problems.
• 31:39
  I remember when McDonald's came to town.
• 31:41
  That was a huge thing.
• 31:42
  Oh, we waited.
• 31:43
  My mom and I waited in the line up for a long time for like a 35 cent cheeseburger.
• 31:47
  It was unbelievable.
• 31:48
  35 cents.
• 31:48
  Yeah, I know.
• 31:49
  It was incredible.
• 31:50
  But you're right.
• 31:51
  And so, you know what?
• 31:52
  I think there's a bit of an allure for small towns again, to go back to them.
• 31:55
  You know what?
• 31:55
  I think so, too.
• 31:56
  When you, again, when you're growing up, you can't wait to get that heck out of there.
• 32:00
  But the older I get, yeah, I know.
• 32:02
  I hear you.
• 32:04
  Well, folks, that's about it right there for this week's version of the ABA Coffee In The Park podcast.
• 32:11
  We hope you tuned in and didn't tune us out.
• 32:13
  Yeah, if you did tune us out, you're not hearing us say, we hope you didn't tune us out.
• 32:17
  You're already gone.
• 32:19
  But I'm going to say this.
• 32:21
  I couldn't have a better co-host in the whole wide world. Ditto! We laugh more off the air than we do on the air.
• 32:30
  But it's just a lot of fun.
• 32:33
  And hey, listen, who's our guest next week?
• 32:38
  Our guest is Mr.
• 32:39
  Tim Shipton with the Edmonton Oilers Group.
• 32:42
  I'm excited.
• 32:43
  Yeah, that's really exciting.
• 32:44
  So, folks, it'll be a bit more.
• 32:47
  It'll be back to normal.
• 32:50
  So, hey, tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell your work associates, tell your enemies.
• 32:55
  If you don't have any friends, make a friend so you can tell them about the ABA Coffee In The Park.
• 32:59
  Wherever you get your podcasts, or you can go to www.Achesonbusiness.com and you can download it from there.
• 33:07
  So, hey, thank you everybody for listening.