Franck's Folio
it’s all about inspiration
Franck Lalande's life
I come from a rural town; Alfred, Ontario, where the population there is less than 1500, but now I live in Gatineau Quebec since 2007. My parents come from Alfred and L'Orignal… one of my grandfathers was a milkman for the town and my other grandfather was a farmer, owned a mill and a cheese factory close to L'Orignal… both grandparents had 16 children. We moved to Alfred when we came back from travelling with External Affairs…(France, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Trinidad and Tobago) now "Department of External Affairs and International Trade" that's why I was born abroad (Paris, France) and as my wife likes to say that the story begins there and ends there: 0P We also traveled to Trinidad and Tobago where I learned my English and at the age of 10 I was back in French schools… it was hard… especially grammar. Once in high school, I decided to go to college as my three siblings had done… I went to "Juvénat Sacre-Coeur" in Summerstown – Cornwall. We were 40 boys in 9 and 10th grade studying and playing… with a lot of curricular activities. I then moved to Ottawa boarding here and there to study at "College Samuel Genest" and then "University of Ottawa". I was 4 courses short for two BA in social science 1. Economy and 2. Management and Public Politics. I decided instead to complete a college degree at Toronto School of Business for a diploma with honors in "Electronics Computer Network Technician". I am now an Information Technology System Technologist. :0) . While studying I always worked part-time to help pay for my studies… it paid all my university without loans; I’m proud of that.
So let me tell you about my work experience… My father bought a general store called "Cadieux et frere" in 1980 … in the years where interest rates were high. The store eventually stopped selling clothes, food, pharmacy, and cigarettes… to specialize in building materials, flooring, decorating hardware. We became a "Dismat" chain, which was bought out by "RONA". We then had the opportunity to open a second store in Rockland, Ontario - "Rockland Building Supplies". Unfortunately, economic recession forced us to close the business because of bad credit we had approved to customers, expensive rent, renovations. Then a few years later our competitor in my hometown, the "Home Hardware" business, burned down and the owner couldn't rebuild … so we applied for the dealership and the year after built a new store just out of town. That was back in 1999. Then in 2000 a fire broke out in the barn where the materials were and left us with the hardware store only… we made do with tents for a while to rebuild and enlarge the present building. In 2001 my uncle who had business shares with my father died of a tragic heart attack while driving. By that time I was living in Ottawa with my best friends and boarding with up to 7 at one point. I was also in a situation where I had a dilemma … return to Alfred for a good position at the hardware store or continue working for Secure Technologies International. I opted to work in the lumber business again and move to the country. The salary had been increased to match the salary I was making in the city at that point. Meanwhile, I had a home-based computer business called Ordivox from 2001 to 2006.
Alfred is a nice French-Ontarian hometown… place of leisure, fresh environment, nice friendly people that like to tease and have fun, especially all my family. A relaxed working environment and sometimes hectic during summers and weekends, but definitely a fun place to be. I really appreciated the chance of being with a lot of people… it is maybe a small town compared to Ottawa … but it is definitely a more sociable town… My family lives there… cousins and uncles, aunts… and I found myself in a healthy environment again, playing card games and helping out my parents. Rent was free! My father liked to play computer games with us, some of my friends lived closer to Alfred (Eric, Jean-Francois, Redg, and Etienne). After my operation in 2005, I found my wife on the internet ... she lived in Gatineau... I soon moved in, we now have a big boy Andriy Lalande Mokrushyn, a dog and three cats. Since 2007 we've been living in Limbour sector of Gatineau, Quebec since we purchased our house.
In 2006 I found my new full time job at the Ottawa Catholic School Board and have been working there since. My health has greatly improved and my wife Halyna loves to take care of our beautiful flower garden.​
