It was the day after the inauguration of a pedestrian street section on Park Stanley Avenue that I met Nicole and her friend Gisèle. These two retired ladies are both condo owners in Les Jardins Millen. Nicole told me that she was the first person to acquire a unit of this project when it was launched. Her choice was already made. She appreciated the concept, the vicinity to the metro and the neighborhood, having been a resident of Ahuntsic in the 60s with her parents on Séguin Street.
See how times change: as young girl, she followed the philo 1 and 2 program at Collège Marie-Anne, a normal school for girls. At the time, the Sisters of St. Anne who taught there considered that Nicole had the talent required to undertake advanced studies in piano. She chose instead the path of social work and had a long career in this field. Today part of the CSDM, this same school welcomes a regional clientele of students determined to resume their studies or continue them in a context more favorable to their success. You have to see the crowd who gets off at the bus # 121 stop: it includes representatives from around the world!
Another sign of significant change, Nicole experienced the last days of the Hôpital St-Jean-de-Dieu, who was overcrowded with patients, many of whom did not belong there at all. In the 70s, at a time when the institution was renamed Hôpital Louis-Hyppolite-Lafontaine, or more familiarly Louis-H, the turn to ambulatory care was just beginning.
Nicole lived until recently in Outremont. She has a daughter, who now lives in Switzerland. Having kept her love for music, she made friends with Gisèle, a retired piano teacher, upon her arrival to Les Jardins Millen. You can learn more about their common musical projects by reading the text on Gisèle.
These two ladies are as friendly as dynamic.