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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Direct Co-op said goodbye to one of its bakers on Saturday with a party in the staff room.

Loretta Osmond retired from the Yellowknife Co-op on Saturday. She will be heading home to Newfoundland on Thursday with her husband Hughie.

Loretta Osmond came to Yellowknife 12-and-a-half years ago. She initially came for a three-week vacation to see her husband and ended up staying. Originally from Port aux Basques, Nfld., Osmond was working in a grocery store before she made the move here.

"Co-op is a wonderful store to work," said Osmond. "It's very clean. They have supplies of everything that you would want. Everything is perfect there. The staff and the customers are unreal. The manager (Ben Walker) was just wonderful. I don't have one complaint from the 10-and-a-half years I was there."

Gert Smith, who also works in the Co-op bakery enjoyed working with Osmond.

"She was a wonderful worker and a wonderful friend," said Smith.

Osmond and her husband Hughie are planning to return to Newfoundland on Thursday. They own a house there and plan to relax. The hardest thing about going home will be the distance from their children.

"We will come back to visit and they will come home to visit. We have a son and daughter here and a daughter in Fort McMurray."

The Osmonds have enjoyed their time in Yellowknife.

"It is going to be hard to leave," said Osmond. "Yellowknife has become our home."

"We're going to miss the 24-hour daylight," said her husband Hughie.

Loretta enjoys travelling and watching television.

"I love to go to different places," she said. "All across the country. That was how we spend our holidays".

She has no regrets about her time here. "Each and everyone in that store treated me with respect," said Osmond. "It's a wonderful place to work. I have no regrets whatsoever."

Hughie is on disability and can no longer work so the Osmonds felt it was a good time to head home to Newfoundland. They said it is too expensive to retire here and the cold winters were becoming more difficult as they are getting older.

"It's going to be hard to go," said Hughie. "We've got more friends here than you could shake a stick at. I've never been in a place that was as friendly as it was here."

The Co-op also held a send off barbecue at Fred Henne Park. Osmond received a carving and bouquet of flowers.