By Jessica – Grade 5
Nola was born on December 6th 1927 in Bolton, England. She lived with her parents and 4 older siblings. The family loved living in Bolton, but when she was 2 years old she moved away from her childhood home. The family of seven settled in France and Nola would soon realize this would be the first move of many.
After living in France for 3 years, the family moved to Dover for seven years. After Dover they all moved to London. During their time in London World War 2 broke out and the family had to stay. It was too dangerous to leave in the middle of the war.
After the war, Nola’s family moved back to Bolton. During their time in Bolton, Nola got married to a man named Norman and she became a Partington. Seven years later, Nola’s father traveled over to Canada to see if he liked it and could find a job and a house. Nola’s father liked Canada right away. By 1953 everyone from Nola’s family was living in Canada. After two years of living in Toronto, Nola and Norman seem to have a perfect life – until one ordinary day that turned out to be not so ordinary.
Norman was driving his bus like usual, not knowing two teenageers were planning to rob him that day. The two boys paid to get on the bus that Norman was driving. About five minutes later, one of the boys tried to rob Norman as he was driving, but Norman hit him and kept driving. The boys realized that their plan did not work, so at the next stop one of the boys hopped off, found a knife and got back on the bus! Norman however did not notice the boy with the knife. After Norman closed the doors the boy with the knife started stabbing him! Norman got stabbed about 20 times, but at the end of the fight Norman did survive this cruel attack!
After Norman healed, Nola and Norman moved out of their apartment to a small house where they had a wonderful family. Nola and her family have never regretted moving to Canada, although they still feel connected to England. Nola always considered Canada to be her home. Nola believes that home is where her family is, and that they are stronger together than they are apart.
