Jonathon Clark and Natalie Gerry, both lawyers at different local firms, met when they were working on opposite sides of a legal file.
Afterwards, they fell out of contact for a while, but then ran into one another at a party, and that was that. For their first date, they planned to just get a casual drink at Red Lion, but the date happened to land on Valentine’s Day trivia night at the restaurant.
“We both like trivia, so it ended up being really fun and a great first date,” says Natalie.
Natalie is from Sudbury but she moved to Thunder Bay to attend the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law – she was in the first graduating class from the law school.
“I’m the opposite. I grew up here, but I went away to law school in the UK,” Jonathon tells me. He returned to Thunder Bay to practice. Jonathon works at Weilers Law while Natalie works at Ericksons.
The couple have two French Bulldogs who they love to walk around the Hillcrest Park neighbourhood.
“Jon got me into curling as well,” Natalie tells me. “He’s been curling for a long time at the Port Arthur Curling Club, but I just started and now we curl on a mixed team. We really enjoy it.”
They did quite a bit of camping this summer, visiting the Sleeping Giant and Northern Light Resort.
“We love the outdoors here, and we have to mention the commute because it is such a pro to living here,” says Natalie.
They also note the Tomlin, Lot 66, and Thai Kitchen as three of their favourite restaurants in town, and St. Paul’s Roastery as a favourite spot for coffee.
“We try to eat local as much as we can,” says Jonathon. “Natalie is also obsessed with Heartbeat Hot Sauce and steadily goes through bottles of it.”
The two were married in September of this year, opting to have a very small ceremony in their backyard with their parents rather than postpone the wedding entirely. They originally had planned a bigger reception to take place at the Fort, but they hope to have a belated celebration with friends and family when they are able to.
“It was a really nice ceremony, even with just five people and our dogs,” says Natalie.
Natalie also sheds some light on why she decided to stay in Thunder Bay to practice law after she graduated:
“Life and work are well-balanced as a lawyer in Thunder Bay, and the Bar here (the legal community) is very collegial, which makes for a welcoming work environment.
Starting out as a student in Thunder Bay allowed for a lot more legal experience early on in my career, which I’ve heard is different than in larger cities. In Thunder Bay, new lawyers or articling students are given the opportunity to meet with clients, and even run trials early in their career, which made for an interesting learning experience early on.
My articling experience introduced me to the firm where I continue to work, Ericksons. The mentorship from senior lawyers at my firm has been excellent. As a young lawyer, the more senior lawyers have time to answer questions and help with files, because they’re not normally working the ten-hour days that some bigger firms in larger cities require.” Both professionally and personally, Jonathon and Natalie have found their niche within the city.