Lois Hole

Lois Elsa Hole, CM, AOE DStJ (née Veregin; 30 January 1929 – 6 January 2005) was a Canadian politician, businesswoman, academician, professional gardener and best-selling author.

Lois Elsa Veregin was born in Buchanan, Saskatchewan, to Michael M. Veregin and Elsa Viktoria Norsten in 1929, not 1933, as was later misreported.

However, the Edmonton Journal, the Royal Alberta United Services Institute's newsletter and the Legislature of Alberta all indicate that she was born in 1929.

The Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta confirmed that Hole was born on 30 January 1929.

Most sources cited 1933 as Lois Hole's year of birth based on her reported age at death.

Her family moved to Edmonton, Alberta in 1948, where she completed her education at Old Scona Academic High School.

In 1950, she met Ted Hole, a young University of Alberta agriculture student.

Several years later they married and moved to a 200 acre farm near St. Albert, Alberta.

Lois and Ted Hole ran a successful market garden business from their farm which they, along with their sons Bill and Jim, incorporated as Hole's Greenhouses & Gardens Ltd. in 1979.

In 1983, she was awarded an honorary doctorate Doctor of Athabasca University and in 1997 received a Distinguished Citizen Honorary Diploma in Business from Grant MacEwan College and in 2000 received an Honorary Doctorate in Laws from the University of Alberta.

In 1993, Hole wrote her first book, Vegetable Favourites, and went on to write five more in the "Favourites" series.

There are currently more than 1,000,000 copies of the various books in this series in print.

In 1995, she was named Edmonton Business and Professional Woman of the Year and St. Albert's Citizen of the Year.

The series won the Educational Media Award from the Professional Plant Growers Association in 1996.

She was a school trustee at St. Albert School District No. 6 in 1998, was a trustee and chairperson, Sturgeon School Division, was on the Athabasca University Governing Council, and Chancellor of University of Alberta, 1998–2000.

In 1998, Hole's Greenhouse began publishing their own books starting with Hole's autobiographical I'll Never Marry a Farmer.

She also wrote several books with her son, Jim.

Hole's Greenhouse has continued to publish gardening books along with a successful annual magazine, Lois' Spring Gardening.

She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999 and a Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 2000.

She was the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 10 February 2000 until her death on 6 January 2005.

She was known as the "Queen of Hugs" for breaking with protocol and hugging almost everyone she met, including journalists, diplomats and other politicians.

She was the Keynote speaker at the Alberta College Graduation Ceremony in 2000, at Strathcona Composite High School Commencement ceremony in 2001, and at the Strathcona Composite High School commencement ceremony in 2003.

Hole was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Alberta by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in December 1999, and assumed office on 10 February 2000.

One of her first acts as Lieutenant Governor was to discuss with Premier Ralph Klein over his government's controversial legislation which expanded the role of private providers in public health care, nonetheless she pledged to avoid a constitutional crisis and signed the bill into law.

Lois Hole had been diagnosed with abdominal cancer in 2002, making a public announcement the following year when she began treatment in early 2003.

In 2003, she received an Honorary Degree in Horticulture from Olds College, Olds, Alberta.

During his wife's term in office, Ted Hole died of cancer in April 2003.

In 2003 she was awarded the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Humanitarian Award.

She was made an "Honorary Patricia" by the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

Her health improved, temporarily, but by late 2004, her case was terminal.

Her illness prevented her from making several scheduled public appearances.

She died in office at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton on 6 January 2005, aged 75.

A public memorial was held for Hole at Edmonton's Winspear Centre.

Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson was criticized for failing to attend Hole's memorial service.

Rideau Hall issued a statement saying the Governor General was, at the time, abroad representing Canada at the inauguration of the President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko.

However, the inauguration was postponed, and it was felt that Clarkson could have returned to Canada for the service.

When it was later reported by the Toronto Sun and The Globe and Mail that Clarkson would wait in Paris, France, for the rescheduled presidential investiture, more outrage was expressed in the press, which was only compounded when Rideau Hall informed the public that the Governor General would also attend a "long-standing engagement" with the Queen at Sandringham House, contradicting reports that Buckingham Palace had said the dinner was actually booked at the last minute.

In response, some monarchists began lobbying Clarkson to resign, had she willingly used the Queen for publicity and damage control purposes.

It remained one of Western Canada's largest retail greenhouse stores until it closed in early 2011 when the Hole family moved the operation to their new site on the edge of Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park, and opened the Enjoy Centre.

She received her secondary education at Strathcona High School (now known as Old Scona Academic High School) and then her ATCM (her associates diploma) in Music from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario.