Louise and earlE (Larkin)

 Known to us as Louise, her birthname is Marguerite Louise. She was born on Jan 15, 1933.   Her husband Earle Joseph Larkin was born on Dec 10, 1932. In the early days, Louise taught for 3 years at Rennie's Road School near Hunter River.  She was seriously considering a vocation with the Catholic church as a num, and not wishing to make a wrong decision, she decided she would join the Sisters of St. Martha at the Mount in Charlottetown to see if this was her calling. When Pop (her father) dropped her off at the convent he told her she could come home anytime that she wanted. After 4 months, she left this convent and returned home. Following this, Louise took a position with the PEI Department of Agriculture, the Women’s Institute division. The tasks involved operating a ¼ ton Dodge truck and assisting Women’s Institute members who wished to learn to make leather gloves and matching handbags. The other lady who worked with her taught sewing and weaving. She would spend afternoons and evenings, Monday to Friday,  in each district.

After Louise and Earle were married, they lived with Earle's parents on the farm in New Glasgow. In December of that year, Earle left for Guelph, Ontario, to take a butter-maker's course. Louise stayed at the Mort Larkin farm until he returned in April 1956. They then moved and settled in O'Leary where they had their first 3 children, Christine, Michael and Earlene. In 1959, Earle took a job at the Kinkora Dairy. While he worked there, the family lived in rental houses in Kinkora, Shamrock, Emerald and Central Bedeque. It was always exciting to move into a new house for the kids but it was a whole lot of work for Louise and Earle. It was always a challenge, but it was also exciting for the children to start a new school in each community. Soon, the next 5 children were born – a new baby or two in every house. Louise stayed at home to raise the children as there was always plenty to do - plus she was always active in the local church, school and community organizations. In 1968 Yvonne (Louise's sister) and her husband, Rollie Larkin (Earle's brother) opened the Chez Yvonne Restaurant in Cavendish. While Yvonne and Rollie lived in a house on the restaurant property,  the "Earle Larkin" clan moved into the "Rollie Larkin" clan's house in the summer over the next couple of years, mainly so Louise could work at the restaurant with her sister. Louise continued to work during the tourist summer months for many years, as a cook and waitress, at Chez Yvonne's. Later in her life, as the children were growing, she worked in the New Glasgow Craft Shop and the By The River Bakery.

In 1970, Earle went to work at the New Glasgow Dairy, where his father and bother were, so they moved to New Glasgow permanently. The final addition to the clan, Jeffrey, was born in New Glasgow. In 1974. When Yvonne and Rollie Larkin sold their house, Louise and Earle bought it - finally a permanent home and no more moving!

In his later years, Earle took a position as a milk inspector. He enjoyed the travel involved in this role and he loved the people he got to meet on his trips. In May 1993 he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in April 1994.

In 1995, Louise sold the family house and moved in to a beautiful apartment with her son Michael, and his wife Libby. Later on she met Gerry Arsenault, and they married in 2009. Gerry and Louise lived together for a year and eventually moved to Cornwall PEI. Louise shares that they had many good times together. Gerry passed away on January 16, 2012. 

Louise joined forces with her daughter Earlene and they moved to Charlottetown together in 2020, where they were eventually joined by another sibling, Christine. Today, Louise continues to do almost 100% of the baking for this dynamic trio, she still loves to pick berries (especially blueberries!) and enjoys her garden at her grandson's farm - a great place to go and hangout every summer. She grew all the cucumbers for the family's lot of fall pickles this past year.  Louise's purpose, other than sharing her love of baking with her family, is centered around many church activities and community groups and she has a busier social life than most anyone else in her close circle of friend's and family. She puts more miles on her car than some of her children do! She tries to get out walking as often as she can.