She is the voice of Thunder Bay’s Superior Morning radio show and he is the man who swept her off her feet. For Lisa and Brad Laco, it was a case of love at first sight and more than a dash of hockey fever!
Twenty-four years ago, Lisa transferred to Thunder Bay from the CBC office in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Newly single with a young son in tow, it was a career move that she couldn’t pass up and her plan was to stay for 2 years before moving on. She’d heard Thunder Bay was a hockey town, so one of the first things she did was to sign son Andrew up for the minor leagues. He’d make friends and hopefully, so would she.
She had no idea that love was just across the blue line.
Very quickly, Lisa was pulled into a wonderful network of hockey moms where weekly game nights led to fast friendships and of course, friendly matchmaking. ‘There’s this guy,’ her new best friend would say. “A good talker, just like you. He’s a Bowater Boy. I think you’ll like him.”
“I grew up in a Bowater town called Corner Brook, Newfoundland,” says Lisa. “We always joked ‘Never Marry a Bowater Boy!’ Now my friends were trying to set me up with one!”
Always one to accept a challenge, Lisa agreed and one night at a Thunder Bay Flyers game, she was introduced to ‘Bowater Boy’ Brad Laco. The chemistry was natural and instantaneous, like sharp skates on smooth ice.
“He was a talker,” Lisa laughs. “Oh boy, could he talk! But he was really a good listener too. I was surprised at how much I liked that.”
“She was so distinguished,” says Brad with a smile. “Very elegant, very classy.”
Almost immediately, they grew close, talking for hours and hours on the phone, (‘sometimes all night’, Lisa admits) as they got to know one another. Brad grew up on Christina Street in Westfort, taking a job after high school at what was then Great Lakes Pulp and Paper. It was originally intended to be a temporary job but he proved so good at it that it soon became a career. She was delighted that her son also enjoyed Brad’s company, and the two of them would go to hockey and baseball games together. They all got along so well that within weeks he surprised her with an offer of marriage.
“Never Marry a Bowater Boy!” says Lisa with a grin. “Yeah right! Here I was, halfway across the country, doing just that!”
Almost immediately after the proposal, Lisa was approached by the CBC with attractive positions in both Edmonton and Regina, but really, her decision had already been made. Exactly 9 ½ weeks after their first introduction, Brad and Lisa were married at Redwood Park church, where they still attend today.
“We were both divorced so we couldn’t get married in the Catholic Church,” says Lisa. “But the folks at Redwood made us feel at home. We got married at 2:00pm on a Tuesday afternoon because the Redwood minister was leaving town and it was the last day he could perform marriages!”
A baseball game with Andrew on their wedding night was followed by a quick honeymoon at Bluefin. Twenty-two years and one large blended family later, (including talented and musical son, John, who is a perfect blend of both parents) Brad has retired from being a ‘Bowater Boy’ and is happily reducing the population of fish in Lake Superior. And as for Lisa?
“I have a great boss and a great job. I meet fabulous people every day and I’m never, ever bored. I’m doing work that matters to this community and that
fuels me. Who knows? I may never retire!”
As the voice of Thunder Bay mornings, we hope she never does. Without Lisa Laco and her Bowater Boy, both the airwaves and the hockey rinks would be far too quiet!
Follow Lisa on CBC’s Superior Morning, weekdays from 6:00am – 8:37am.
