Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Jun 07/99) - Marjory Lalonde certainly has the right idea about living and celebrating life.

The 70-something fireball said she still loves to flirt with good-looking men and that if there's one lesson she's learned over the years, it's "If you ain't worth a laugh, you ain't worth nothing."

News/North: Why don't we start by you giving me a little background. How long have you been in town?

Marjory Lalonde: I came up in 1967 to Norman Wells on the Mackenzie and I came over here on March 1, 1973.

News/North: Why did you move North?

ML: Obviously the money was good and I was alone to support my son. I didn't think I'd like it and thought I'd be gone in six months to a year. I've never looked back. I just fell in love in the North.

I went up as a payroll clerk for Imperial Oil and I found out that cooks were getting better money and didn't have to pay rent or food. Our background was all in hotel and commercial sales, my husband and I. We used to own a couple of hotels and we owned a pub in England at one time.

News/North: That's a pretty brave move for a single woman with a child -- to move to Norman Wells 32 years ago. You must have been quite a rarity.

ML: We were well investigated. They went through your background at that time. They were very fussy who they hired and your background had to have no dark corners or skeletons.

News/North: And you had no skeletons?

ML: No.

News/North: I understand that you've also had quite an extensive military career.

ML: I was in the Canadian Women's Army Corps in the Second World War. They started in 1941 and I took demob in 1945. Demobilization means the war is over and you had a choice of staying in the military or leaving. I left. To me, the war was over and it was behind you.

News/North: What did you do in the army?

ML: I was part of what was known as the Signal Corps, which was all decoding and secrecy and top secret stuff. At the time, I had a working knowledge of German and I was fluent in French and English, which was a rarity in those days.

It was different for the women in the military in those days. We didn't go into combat and all this nonsense.

News/North: Were you treated with respect as a woman in the army?

ML: Oh yes, and we had to be ladylike and, no matter where you were, your curfew was at 10 p.m. whether you liked it or not.

News/North: Did you ever break curfew?

ML: Oh yes. It was for different reasons, but it was always for a handsome guy. I had a beautiful voice and I sang in the army shows and lots of time you'd get singing somewhere and the piano was going. Lots of times that went past 10 p.m. There was an awful lot of good music that came out in the Second World War and an awful lot of love for each other. Better than today. If I were a young person today, the last thing I'd do would be to join a female unit. I think it's disgusting the way they dress and the way they act, going around with guns and so on. It's not necessary for a woman. Equal pay is fine, but I don't admire them at all. I have no respect for them because they're all slovenly. They're not like our nice RCMP girls or our city police girls.

News/North: So you don't think women have a role in combat?

ML: My personal opinion is I don't think so. You can't bring children into the world and then go and shoot somebody else's son.

News/North: How do you feel about the controversy surrounding gay men and lesbians in the military?

ML: I don't feel that any person's sex life has anything to do with their job or with their respect for other people. There are gay people and lesbians and it doesn't have anything to do with their capacity for knowledge or for caring for other people. The fact that I prefer to go to bed with my husband doesn't mean to say that I'm better than the gay fellow that prefers to go with his pal. I don't see what happens in the bedroom has anything to do with my brain.

News/North: Did you meet your husband in the military?

ML: We met in the military hospital in Montreal. We got married in 1947. We were married for 20 years and we separated in 1967.

News/North: What is it you love the most about living in the North?

ML: I think it's the pace. You get off a plane down south and the first thing you're doing is running like everything else and what is it you're running for? You're only going to the next corner. And the way of life is much better. But the North is not for everybody.

News/North: What sort of extra-curricular activities do you indulge in now?

ML: Whatever I can do for the community. I like youth work and right now I'm highly involved in the ladies auxiliary. I keep busy.

News/North: Do you date?

ML: Not anymore.

News/North: What about flirting?

ML: Oh I flirt a lot. I flirt with them all, but they can stay home and leave me alone. I enjoy men's company, but that doesn't necessarily mean I need a lover in any way. I'm very busy with my own family. I'm not interested in a love affair, but I enjoy men's company more than women's company.

News/North: Why is that?

ML: I don't know. Even as a little girl I was always with my brothers and my father and my uncles and my cousins whereas my sister was more into frills and dolls. I was fishing and hiking and doing all sorts of things women weren't supposed to do in my day. But I was doing it.

News/North: When you look back on your life and see that you moved North alone when other women weren't doing that and back on your career in the military and your views about life in general, do you look at yourself as a feminist?

ML: Oh no. I'm not a feminist. I enjoy being female, but I like a female to be female. I don't see anything wrong with a girl being a girl and a boy being a boy.

News/North: What's the best part about being a woman?

ML: You get away with a hell of a lot more than if you're a man. I get a lot of fun out of life. If you don't see the funny side, it's a long, sad road.

News/North: Is that a lesson you've had to learn or is that something you've always known?

ML: My Indian grandmother was a Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia and she used to say, "If you ain't worth a laugh, you ain't worth nothing." It's true because you've got to be able to laugh at life. It carries you through sometimes if you see the funny side of it. You can make one heck of a mistake and be totally embarrassed, but if you don't laugh at yourself, the mistake hasn't taught you anything.