The Courier

This Valentine’s Day, The Courier asked readers to share their tales of finding love at CFB Cold Lake. This is one such story:

For Sergeant Lyn O’Brien, the story begins in 1990.

“My husband, Chris, was posted to Cold Lake in July of 1990 to 410 Squadron for his first posting after joining the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as an Airframe Technician.”

Five years later, she met the man she would call the one.

“We met in March 1995 in a little pub called the Crown and Derby, in the neighbouring town of Bonnyville.”

“ [It was] a random Tuesday night, my friend asked me to tag along on her date, and her date had done the same with Chris.”

“We were together since March ’95, and we got married in May 2001 in Moose Jaw, SK. Seems like a long time between, but we had both our girls, moved twice, there was always something when trying to plan a wedding,  so we eloped on May long weekend of 2001.”

Lyn was born in Comox, B.C. Chris hails from Lauretteville, QC. She describes them both as “base brats, so we have moved around a lot.” Like many stories of military life, “home” would change a few more times.

“We have had five moves in the last 27 years. Comox, BC from 1996-2000, Moose Jaw, SK from 2000-2008, Trenton, ON from 2008-2012, Gagetown, NB from 2012-2021 and then back to Cold Lake this past summer.”

In 2001, Chris decided to leave the CAF. Eight years later, he rejoined and by 2009 Lyn had also joined as a Clerk.  

In that time, their family also grew.

“We have two daughters, Autumn, 25 and Reece, 23 whom were both born in Comox, BC.”

As for which area of the country they enjoyed the most during their time in the CAF, Lyn says it’s hard to pick.

“We have been lucky to have lived and seen most of Canada. Comox is beautiful and is where our girls were born, the prairies is where I have spent half my life, Trenton was nice but we weren’t there long enough to really enjoy everything that ON has to offer. NB was our longest posting, we travelled a lot throughout the Maritimes, our youngest daughter is now in university in NS.”

 “A posting is only as good as you make it.”

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