Lois Hole
|
The Honourable Lois Hole CM, AOE |
|
|---|---|
| 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta | |
|
In office 10 February 2000 – 6 January 2005 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor General | Adrienne Clarkson |
| Premier | Ralph Klein |
| Preceded by | Bud Olson |
| Succeeded by | Norman Kwong |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Lois Elsa Veregin 30 January 1929 Buchanan, Saskatchewan |
| Died | 6 January 2005 (aged 75) Edmonton, Alberta |
| Spouse(s) | Ted Hole 1952–2003 (his death) |
| Profession | Author Businesswoman Horticulturalist Educator |
Lois Elsa Hole, CM, AOE (née Veregin; 30 January 1929 – 6 January 2005) was a Canadian politician, businesswoman, academician, professional gardener and best-selling author. She was the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 10 February 2000 until her death. She was known as the "Queen of Hugs" for breaking with protocol and hugging almost everyone she met, including journalists, diplomats and other politicians.
Hole was born in Buchanan, Saskatchewan to Michael M. Veregin and Elsa Viktoria Norsten on 30 January 1929. Her family moved to Edmonton, Alberta in 1948, where she completed her education at Strathcona Composite High School.
In 1950, she met Ted Hole, a young University of Alberta agriculture student. Several years later they married and moved to a 200-acre (0.81 km2) farm near St. Albert, Alberta. Lois and Ted Hole ran a successful market garden business from their farm which they, along with their sons Bill and Jim, incorporated as Hole's Greenhouses & Gardens Ltd. in 1979. It remained one of Western Canada's largest retail greenhouse stores until it closed in early 2011 when the Hole family moved the operation to their new site on the edge of Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park, and opened the Enjoy Centre.
In 1993 Lois Hole wrote her first book, Vegetable Favourites, and went on to write five more in the "Favourites" series. There are currently more than 1,000,000 copies of the various books in this series in print. The series won the Educational Media Award from the Professional Plant Growers Association in 1996. In 1998, Hole's Greenhouse began publishing their own books starting with Hole's autobiographical I'll Never Marry a Farmer. She also wrote several books with her son, Jim. Hole's Greenhouse has continued to publish gardening books along with a successful annual magazine, Lois' Spring Gardening.
She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999 and a Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 2000. In 1995, she was named Edmonton Business and Professional Woman of the Year and St. Albert's Citizen of the Year. In 2003 she was awarded the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Humanitarian Award. She was made an "Honorary Patricia" by the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
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