Francine Fact #8 – She Was The Contestant Queen

Francine Fact #8 – she was the Contestant Queen.

If you’re new here, hello, and if not, welcome back!

This month at Just TypiKel we’re doing a 10 day Francine Fact challenge to honor my late mother’s impending 102nd birthday. What’s the challenge all about? Sharing some of the unique Francine tidbits that made her special.

Yesterday’s post was about how she greeted folks upon meeting them. It was … different.

Francine proudly gripping her 2019 LEAP Award 

Francine Fact #8 – she was the Contestant Queen

I rarely enter contests as I think it’s highly unlikely I’ll win. I’ve never felt the “certainty buzz” winners claim to experience when they drop the form into the contest bin, or purchase an arm’s length of 50/50 tickets, or press “enter” on their laptop.

However, Francine sure felt it. Our mom won dozens of contests. She won so many she got scared and stopped entering contests for at least a decade. When she took them up again the wins came back but slowly.

Over her lifetime the prizes ran the gamut from a $2 scratch-and- win to bigger ticket items like washing machines, dishwashers, TV’s and trips.

Yes, trips. Francine won two. The first was an all-expenses-paid trip to Honolulu in the 1950s. As the winner of the Skylark Bread jingle contest, Francine beat out thousands of North American entrants with a ditty about her desire to “lark and toast on the beach all day.”

Twenty years later she did it again. The local morning newspaper offered a treasure hunt involving various locations around Vancouver. She honed in on the cryptic clues with the intensity of Hercule Poirot. Her prize for guessing the location of the buried treasure? An all-expenses-paid trip to Honolulu.

In 1962 she was a contestant on the Canadian TV show, Live A Borrowed Life. Contestants portrayed the life of a someone famous for the panel to guess. The producers liked Francine’s suggestion of the Dalai Lama and  flew her to Toronto. She won enough money before her identity was guessed to fly down to New York for the weekend.

In her later years, the prizes took on less importance

She was now simply going for the win. Our Saturday morning bingo games at her care home are a fine example. The prizes – weensy chocolate bars left over from Hallowe’en – were highly coveted. Nevermind she couldn’t eat chocolate or that the competition wasn’t exactly stiff as many of the players dozed over their bingo cards. Francine’s bingo wins became legendary. And a little spooky. It got to the point where I’d grab a player’s card and ask Mom to touch it for luck. More often than not, the now “blessed” card would win the next game.

Thanks so much for hanging out with me and reading.

Before you go, you should know I’m holding a contest!

On September 26, Francine’s 102nd birthday, one of my subscribers will win: an autographed copy of Never, Never, Hardly Ever – A Mother-Daughter Story of Antiques and Antics – my behind the scenes peek at life with Francine in her Vancouver antique store.

How do you enter? Just leave a comment here. That’s it. One comment = one entry. Already have a copy of NNHE? Gift your win! It’s one less thing you need to shop for. Francine would be thrilled to know our antics are getting out into the world.

So, please, leave a comment and I’ll throw your name (and it is?) into the draw.

One of Francine ‘s many mottos? “Share the wealth.” With everyone. Tune in tomorrow to learn about some of the lucky recipients …