Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host Elliot Pierre, and we're going to start the show off the same way we start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. And the fact that you spend with us does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner, hidden with the intro.
Speaker 3 00:00:25 Welcome to the max
Speaker 5 00:00:32 Hey everybody, Keith Simpson here from neural Toyota. Uh, just quick chat about, uh, the wonderful community we live in here. As you guys know, we support the El Behrens. We've joined the drive-in movie theater. We're involved in the marathon here in Fort McMurray and make sure we're taking care of the kids and all the local businesses, all the local charities and all the local foundations guys. That's what makes this community such an amazing place to live.
Speaker 0 00:00:59 I got out to neural Toyota, Keith Nehmer fat, all the boys and girls down there for being the title sponsor of the Mac city morning show. Thank you so much for your support. We do appreciate it. It keeps the lights on and Tanner sitting comfy in his hair, his chair behind the camera. So big shout out from Tanner, from neuralgia. So on that note, as you know, I don't introduce my guests. I let them do that themselves. So can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 6 00:01:24 First of all, I wanted to say, thank you so much for allowing me to be on this show. I'm here in Fort McMurray. So my name is Gail Marie Bebo. I am a mother. I am a friend. I'm a community volunteer. This is my 44th winter here in Fort McMurray. So I've been here since 1977. Um, yeah, and I sell real estate as well.
Speaker 0 00:01:47 Cool. Okay. Let's rewind on that one 44th winter. What you weren't born here. I thought you were born here. Where do you come from originally? You must've been like, yeah. What'd you call from?
Speaker 6 00:01:59 So I was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and we moved to Thompson, Manitoba, and then being in a mining community in a mining town, my parents were offered amazing jobs here out at Syncrude Canada. And so we traveled across the country to come here and I'm very grateful that they did that for all the amazing opportunities for me and my brothers and also for my children.
Speaker 0 00:02:21 Yeah, no doubt. So what, I'm horrible at math? What year is that?
Speaker 6 00:02:27 It's going to be in? Someone says, Gail, where were you in Elvis died? I was sitting in our bus. We had a bus converted into a camper. We just got to Fort McMurray August, um, 1977. So I was parked over here on almond Crescent when we first moved here. So I was sitting in there listening to the radio, trying to figure out what my life was going to be like in a new city. As a teenager. I was 14 when I moved here. And um, yeah, so that's where I was.
Speaker 0 00:02:53 Okay. You came to Fort McMurray the same year. My parents came to worth that's when they came here, 70, 76, 77. Okay. Uh, Guyana, south America.
Speaker 6 00:03:05 Oh, exciting.
Speaker 0 00:03:06 Yeah. So they'd lived in Toronto for a few Mo my dad a few months, my mom, like a year, and then the, uh, heard about this place called Syncrude. And so my dad came out first and then he got a job at Syncrude and my mom followed a few months later and then she also started working out at Syncrude. So let's rewind and talk about this bus though. It's kind of my dream, although I, I would have to hire a chauffeur to drive it, but so you had like a converted like school.
Speaker 6 00:03:31 It was a school bus. Yeah. So, you know, it was amazing. It was actually painted like the Partridge family and every different color. You could imagine four brothers and me and my mom and dad and our dog Queenie. And we've had some amazing adventures, um, in Thompson, across the scalp Swan, every place you can imagine, my dad was a road warrior. He could drive anywhere at any given time and stay awake forever. And so, yeah, it was our camper until they bought a little motor home. And then we went from there for adventures with the family.
Speaker 0 00:04:05 So they converted the inside. Like it just wasn't like school bus seating or what did it look like on your side?
Speaker 6 00:04:10 Verdad? When we got it out, my grandfather had found it in a little town in Saskatchewan. And um, so yeah, you come through the front door, it had still the old school bus style door, and then it had a bank at cupboards in the kitchen sink and the table and it moved down into a bed and then a couple of bunk beds in the back and then porta-potty to the far back. And, uh, yeah, it was super cool.
Speaker 0 00:04:32 That is cool. You had some pretty, like really cool parents.
Speaker 6 00:04:37 We did. And we made the cover of the Fort McMurray express in 1979 with all of us lined up in front of this bus. And, uh, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:04:48 Wow. And I have to imagine, unfortunately, because it is unfortunate. You probably still don't have that plus.
Speaker 6 00:04:54 Oh no, no. It's it was long gone and parked and traded in or whatever like that. But you said it would be something that you'd like to do. Yeah. There's so many places out there where you can get little vans and convert them or buses and do it yourself.
Speaker 0 00:05:08 That's a, it's a, one of those, I've got two and they're not must do dreams, but their dreams one is to convert like a van or a bus and something you just travel around. And one is to live in a shipping container home. I think shipping container homes are super cool.
Speaker 6 00:05:25 Like a sea
Speaker 0 00:05:26 Can see, you can ask exactly. You can do some really neat and interesting things with them, but I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. So Fort Macquarie, you've been here for that long. You've seen so many changes and not just with the individuals live here, but with like the geography, like you were saying, this was not Aviston back in the day, this was,
Speaker 6 00:05:47 It was an area. And I believe this one was area one, right. And beacon hill was area two and then thick wood was area five. So at the odd time, my girlfriend will say, I'll meet you in area five. Like, I'll tell you, see you there. And everyone's like, what are you talking about? Are you five? But that was before the city had a naming community or naming committee, right. To name the communities. And it was just going up so fast.
Speaker 0 00:06:08 That's right. So what school did you go to? What did you attend?
Speaker 6 00:06:11 I went to St. John's, which was downtown now where the Superstore is down there. And, uh, it was run by nuns. And we're actually in the process of just having our 25 or whatever it is. 35 year class reunion. It's been canceled a couple of times already, but I'm pretty sure this year will be the year. So I wasn't there St. John's school. And then I went to a composite high downtown
Speaker 0 00:06:34 Tanner.
Speaker 7 00:06:35 I don't need these victories. You had enough losses.
Speaker 0 00:06:40 So I know, oh, I went to Merck. And so it's a comp, like I say, Merck is better. Tanner is just like, well, obviously
Speaker 7 00:06:46 It's a competition. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:06:47 Competition. Yeah. Even in the name I lose. So, so why did you decide to stay in Fort Macquarie?
Speaker 6 00:06:54 Um, well, I've been here a long time. My kids are here. I, uh, was tied to the community with employment. Um, you know, why there's no place for me to go anywhere else if my children are, are still here, there's really no place that.
Speaker 0 00:07:10 And after you graduated from high school, like you decided to, did you go away for a little bit or did you go, or did you stay the whole time? What was that story?
Speaker 6 00:07:16 Okay, so now here comes the truth because I didn't graduate.
Speaker 0 00:07:21 Oh, okay.
Speaker 6 00:07:23 I got offered a summer job at Alberta treasury branch. And so I started there, um, in 79, I think it would have been. And then I'd break the news to my parents saying, you know what, I'm not going back to school. I actually felt like a change, a lion cage line. And in behind that desk at school is just not my way of, of doing things.
Speaker 0 00:07:43 I'd
Speaker 6 00:07:43 Be holding my books, waiting for the bell to go. And I'd bolt out of there, like a, like a Philly on a big race.
Speaker 0 00:07:49 Okay. So you get this job at the bank. How do you transition from that to selling real estate? Like, that's a pretty unique jump.
Speaker 6 00:07:57 Well, it's financial and it's money. And I mean, I was a domestic engineer for 10 years, um, in between that as well.
Speaker 0 00:08:03 I don't know what
Speaker 6 00:08:04 That is it domestic engineer? Yeah. Uh, specializing in the field of child development and human relations.
Speaker 0 00:08:09 Oh, okay. I
Speaker 6 00:08:11 Was a stay at home mom.
Speaker 0 00:08:12 Okay. Hey, you did. I love it. That is the best. Okay. Domestic engineer
Speaker 6 00:08:23 And funny story about
Speaker 0 00:08:24 That. A good job description will outline to, oh man.
Speaker 6 00:08:28 Yeah. So, I mean, we were at this, uh, that, this Syncrude dinner, this fancy like executive style dinner with this big table and the five course meal comes. I'm trying to remember what fork and spoon goes with everything and water, glass, wine glass, all that stuff. And I knew it was coming in. So I'm sitting kind of at the end of the cool table with the cool kids and we're giggling and laughing and they're more like tight knit over there. But anyway, he starts going around the table asking everybody, you know, where do they work? What do they do? And I'm like, oh, here we go. Comes to me. And, and uh, I said, uh, well, am I domestic engineer? And he didn't skip a beat. He said, are you at Syncrude or Suncor?
Speaker 0 00:09:04 Right. Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:09:05 He didn't quite get it, but anyways, it's okay.
Speaker 0 00:09:09 That's awesome. I love that job title. I love how you actually have some descriptions on what it is. That's hilarious. That's super creative. Okay. So you're doing that then you transitioned into real estate. So what about that career was a calling for you or why did you think you would enjoy doing that?
Speaker 6 00:09:28 Um, so it was really funny how that whole thing evolved because I was multitasking at home. I was babysitting all the kids in the neighborhood at the time. Um, so I was doing childcare and stuff like that. And, uh, I was thinking I needed to do something like Lina's going into kindergarten. Patrick O'Donnell, who was a realtor in town for years, always had this little postage size stamp advertisement about, would you make a good realtor? And, you know, he started kind of romancing me if I could say that. And he's like, you know what? You should be a realtor. You should come in. You know? So I went in and talked to him for a little while or whatever, and just kind of felt it out, ended up, uh, having to go to Edmonton for a, for a full month for my schooling and be away from Luke and Lana when they were three and five, which was a real, huge sacrifice.
Speaker 6 00:10:14 Um, but it all worked out good. I just needed to be flexible, have my own time. Don't grind, no set hours. And, um, you know, that kind of stuff. So it did fit well to my lifestyle. Cause I still want it to be mom first. So, you know, get up in the morning, get the kids on the bus. Right. Um, put the cookie dough on the sheets and then be home before the bus came and then you'd get the cookies in the oven. Right. You know, when they get off the bus, it's like mom was never gone. Right. So it didn't upset their lifestyle. I wouldn't say too too much. Um, so it worked. We're good. I'd never, you know, I don't work on Sundays if I don't have to. I still save that day for family and friends. I still put that in my advertising, you know, can be a double-edged sword where some people will say, you know what? Um, um,
Speaker 0 00:11:01 You got distracted by 10, 10, 10
Speaker 6 00:11:03 Is like doing stuff over there. So it was kind of like, uh, you know, well, you're not the realtor for me, if you won't
Speaker 0 00:11:09 Work
Speaker 6 00:11:10 That's okay. And then most people are like, thank God. I don't want to work on Sunday either. That's true. I mean, if I got to do an offer, I will, but I don't take listing or show houses on Sunday unless I ultimately have to. Cause they're still, my kids are still my priority. My friends are still my priority. So,
Speaker 0 00:11:25 Or you can still hear. Yep. Nice. What are they up to?
Speaker 6 00:11:28 So I'm Luke and Lana. We're both in real estate with me as well for an extended period of time. Luke is still with me transitioning into his new career as an electrician. And he's just finished his third year at Canno. So I'm very proud of him. Land Elizabeth is owed at Syncrude. Now she finished her four year course at, uh, Campbell college for environmental technology.
Speaker 0 00:11:51 Oh fantastic.
Speaker 6 00:11:52 He's out at site right now, too. So very
Speaker 0 00:11:54 Cool. Very cool. Now what'd you got distracted by was Tanner giving me a signal that is questions for the Mac city minute are ready. He's going to ask you some questions. I don't know what he's going to ask you. I wish you nothing but the best of luck. But before we get started, we got to give a big shout out to Napa because they are sponsoring the Mac city minute segments. So thank you Napa for sponsoring. If you guys don't know who NAB is, please go check them out on their website or their Facebook page. They have an upcoming event. So please go check them out. Thank you, Napa for sponsoring the Mac city minute Tanner hitter with the max city minute.
Speaker 7 00:12:27 Alrighty, question number one. What is the story behind your favorite house you've ever sold?
Speaker 0 00:12:34 Whoa,
Speaker 6 00:12:35 Uh, favorite house I ever sold? There is so many favorite houses out there I've ever sold. My very first listing was my childhood house up on signal road. I sold that my mom and dad were snowbirds and they went to Arizona and then she phones me says, so I think we want to sell the house now full of furniture, 30 years worth of stuff in the crawl space. And that was my very first listing that I sold. Um, I've sold famous houses. Um, I have sold famous houses. I have sold scary houses. Um, matter of fact, if I, if I can interject a little bit about that,
Speaker 0 00:13:08 Um,
Speaker 6 00:13:09 I am writing a book actually about my real estate career. And I think I'd mentioned that to you one time when I seen you at a rib Fest is where we
Speaker 0 00:13:17 Were that's right.
Speaker 6 00:13:18 So, so as you asked me questions like this Tanner's stories come to mind about what's going to be in the book. So, uh, you guys will have to wait I guess for that one.
Speaker 0 00:13:26 Yeah. Hurry up and write that I'm interested.
Speaker 6 00:13:28 Yeah. You know what, it's a process. I just took a 10 day writing course through, um, Belvaux suppress. Um, and, uh, that is intense as well. All the things that you don't know, it's not just putting words on paper. Like there's so much science behind it on how to get a good draft and apply for, uh, a book writing contract and all these kinds of things. But they've been kind of romancing me a little bit too, which makes me nervous as I'm, unfortunately I'm a perfectionist, so I'm just trying to get it all nailed down. And, and you know, the little disclosure in the front says something along the lines like, uh, you know, if I've ever sold your house or you've ever showed a host through me, the story is not about you as much as it sounds like it's ad it's not about you. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 0 00:14:10 That's hilarious.
Speaker 7 00:14:12 Question number two. What is your favorite way you seen Fort McMurray grow in your time here?
Speaker 6 00:14:19 My favorite way. Oh, wow. Geez. Um, you know what? Fort McMurry, uh, pre fire was a great city. Post-fire, you know, the town has got so many good things to say about it that, you know, I think the culture, I love the culture in Fort McMurray. I like so many people here from different parts of the world. And, and that's got another funny story behind it, but I don't want to take up too much of my time, but you know, you can travel the world without Superstore downtown. You see these ladies and their up collected stuff. I'm like, oh, what are you guys making for dinner? And they tell you and you pick up the same stuff and then they tell you about their country. And it was our grandmother's recipe. And you go through, I mean, that's one thing that I've always loved about the city is the culture. Um, favorite thing has how it's growing would be just the people, I guess is my, my final answer on that
Speaker 7 00:15:14 Question. Number three. What is one reason you think Fort McMurray is a great place to raise your family?
Speaker 6 00:15:20 Oh, I mean, I've lived that firsthand. I mean, I've raised both my kids here from babies. They're 30. My daughter is turning 30 this weekend and my son is 32. I mean everything about Fort McMurray, you got the nature, you got the outdoors, you got the support, you've got the schools, like the amazing school systems. You've got the trails and all the outdoor activities you can do. We lived in waterways for years and we would just do out our back fence there and go wherever we wanted to go boating the same thing. Uh, both Luke and Lana do standup jet ski racing. So I have to say, you know, all the adventures that they've had in the Sinai and, and thanks to some other local racers here in town, um, you know, the experiences that they've had, like the world nationals and, and all those kinds of things, um, education with Kiano, um, the ski hill, like just all the activities and stuff that you can do and adventures and wildlife. And I mean, with Lana and her environmental technology degree, she's pretty much showing me Fort McMurray in a whole new, different light too, to what she's learned in her schooling from like the bird sounds to the trees. And what's, you know, came here from a different country, like the plants and stuff like that, that are not indigenous. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 7 00:16:32 Cool. Question number four. What is your favorite part of putting somebody into a new home?
Speaker 6 00:16:38 Oh my gosh. Moving people to the next phase of their life is probably one of the coolest things ever and not just getting them into their new home, but would when somebody moves from their parents' basement into their first home is super exciting. And, and I always say, listen, the plant can only grow so big in the same pot. So now you have a bigger pot and all the new things you're going to learn and all the exciting things you're going to experience. Um, empty nesters is probably one of the more emotional ones, because these are people who are leaving their big house and downsizing to something smaller or even a motor home or whatever. And you know, you go in the house and you'd do the listing presentation. Then you see in the door, jam all the Heights of their children and she's starting to tear up and I'm like, you can take that wood with you.
Speaker 6 00:17:24 You can just take that with you. I'll tell the buyers, they have to get a new one because it's where they raised their kids and all those things. Um, yeah, so many stories about that. I had this guy one time crying in my office because he wanted this house with this garage and she wanted this house with the kitchen and they're in front of me and they're battling it out and she gets upset and goes to the washroom. He's sitting there. And I only said two things to them. And the one thing I'll tell you and the thing too, I won't, but thing, number one is if the mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
Speaker 0 00:18:00 Right? Right.
Speaker 6 00:18:00 She come back to the room and he said, we'll take house, whatever address. And she's like, what did you do? I said, I didn't do anything.
Speaker 0 00:18:09 There, here go.
Speaker 7 00:18:10 And your final question, thank
Speaker 6 00:18:12 God. This is stressful. I'm actually perspiring. As we speak Towner,
Speaker 7 00:18:19 What is one piece of advice for buying a house within the community of what Buffalo that you think anyone could use?
Speaker 6 00:18:26 One piece of advice. Okay. So my VIP bars presentation probably takes about 45 minutes, which goes over all the points about what a person needs to take into consideration when making the biggest investment of their whole entire life. So everything from, you know, best financing to the best home inspectors lawyers, you know what your mom and dad are going to say, you know, future growth, resale, so many things.
Speaker 7 00:18:56 And those have been your five questions.
Speaker 0 00:18:57 There you go. I know nerve wracking, right? Wow. That
Speaker 6 00:19:00 Was like, I was like a little button in the back going dude, dude,
Speaker 0 00:19:03 Dude,
Speaker 6 00:19:05 I was going off in my head. I don't know if you guys heard it though.
Speaker 0 00:19:08 There's no, uh, like we call it the Mac city minute, but uh, Tanner called it that because nothing in Fort McMurray is a minute long. Everything goes longer. So there's no need to like rush through. We haven't had one guest,
Speaker 7 00:19:20 I think we've had like two or three guests that like plow through it. But it's never as fun when they, until they get like the long answer story. That's what we're looking for.
Speaker 0 00:19:29 We're looking for, we're looking for the story. Yeah. Well, listen. We're at the end of our time. Oh,
Speaker 6 00:19:35 My fast
Speaker 0 00:19:36 Flies. So thank you for coming.
Speaker 6 00:19:38 Thank you for having,
Speaker 0 00:19:39 I have so many more questions. So I am basically telling you, you need to come back again because like, uh, like you talk about famous houses, scary houses. We never talked about like the growth. There's so many things we did not get to chat about. So please, please, please come back again. But before I cut you loose, everybody gets a shameless shout-out or plug. So you got the mic, the lights and the camera have fun.
Speaker 6 00:20:02 I shameless plug. I don't understand.
Speaker 0 00:20:04 You get a shout out, plug anything you can. We've had people say, I love you, mom, promote your business. It could be anything shameless, shout out or plug.
Speaker 6 00:20:13 Um, okay. So, um, I guess I want to do a plug and I guess it's something that, um, I try to live on a daily basis. And um, so it's 10, 10 and 10. So 10 random compliments, 10 random acts of kindness and 10 random smiles on a daily basis to everybody who can do that. It would just make the world such much, such much more, much more of a, of a more loving and caring. And you'd be surprised if you just give somebody a random compliment, how much it brightens up their day. That's
Speaker 0 00:20:45 Right. There we go. Love it. That is a good plug. Okay. Well Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, the rest of the world. Thank you very much for tuning into another episode of the Mac city morning show. I do appreciate it. Big shout out to our title sponsor neuronal Toyota, as well as Napa for sponsoring the Mac city minute. Do appreciate you guys' support. Um, everybody else. I hope you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace
Speaker 10 00:21:17 Can you
Speaker 11 00:21:26 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
