John Gary Parker & Maureen Hutchinson-Parker
We started working in Hospitality in Ontario when we were teens. John – a dishwasher at 14 years old – Annandale Golf Course, Ajax. I was 17 when I moved from Sault Ste Marie & got my first waitressing job in Brampton – Perks Restaurant. We both moved to Alberta during “The Boom” and met while employed at Edmonton’s Convention Inn Hotel. Owned by the Ghermezian’s that built West Edmonton Mall – 1st Grand Opening of the Mall was Sept 15, 1981. We worked all 3 Grand Opening Phases… Oh the stories we can tell!
Our 80's Uniforms ~
Our 90's Uniforms ~ Mo & Executive Chef, John Parker
(We are so tanned! We just returned from our Honeymoon on Margarita Island, Venezuela.)
Convention Inn – Top of the Inn Dining Room. That’s me – 1984. The view doesn’t look like that now! (And neither do I! lol)
1995 – Executive Chef John Parker (That’s where I’m sitting in the above photo.)
The Spectacular Top of the Inn Dining Room. The photo was taken during the Prime Rib Lunch Buffet.
Executive Chef John Parker, Murray Sharpe, Me, Li Woo and Chef Chris.
I also worked evenings at the Stage West Dinner Theatre at the Mayfield Inn for 15 years 1980-1995. Here I am with my Boss, Khalil Debs
In 1999 we moved back to Northern Ontario, to be closer to family. We purchased Wawa’s Northern Lights Motel & Restaurant. (Photo taken by Bob Diotte)
13 Years ago, Shirley Mills wrote about our first of many, Tripadvisor Awards ~
Shirley also wrote about Chica and the Canadian Snow Gauge in 2014
What a crazy fun adventure! 40 Years of Collecting Casino Chips, and many years of "Surviving Disasters".
Decades worth of photos are on Facebook -
Special thanks to my Mom, Helen, my Dad, Bob, my Aunt Wanda and Uncle George Hutchinson for saving us in the early years when we were open year round 1999-2005. They would come up and run the motel for us and John and I would travel all over, collecting Casino chips and meeting up with friends. (We couldn’t have survived without them.)
Thank you Everyone, for your support over the decades. 
We have RETIRED from the Motel Business.
Maureen & John xxoo
