Dora Rampone and Roger Simoneau

​Dora Irma Rampone was born in Kelowna, BC on January 29, 1929.  She attended Mission Creek School for grades one to eight and Kelowna High School for grades nine and ten.  She left school and enrolled at Herbert Business College (Kelowna, BC) obtaining a General Business Diploma. Upon completion of this training she got a job working with the college.  Then the travelling bug got her.  She obtained a secretarial job with General Motors in Calgary, Alberta. Dora got secretarial jobs in Prince George, BC, California and Vancouver, BC, in the medical field, before returning to home town Kelowna, where she worked for the “Weddell and Horn” law firm.

Dora was an avid sports person and excelled in skiing at Black Mountain Ski Bowl, boating at Woods Lake, curling and tennis in Prince George and as a pitcher in softball.  She was scouted as a potential ski team member but turned down the offer in order to continue travelling while working.

Joseph Roger Simoneau was born in Willowbunch, Saskatchewan, on March 16, 1927.  At age one, his family moved to Edmonton, then Fairview, Heinz Creek, Peace River and Grand Prairie, all in Alberta.  In his first year of school, he was enrolled in a convent school, where English was the only language allowed.  This proved difficult for Roger and his French speaking family.  During grade eight, he quit school and began working at “Simoneau and Son Plumbing and Heating,” a tin-smith shop in Kelowna.  

Dora and Roger met in 1940, when Roger’s parents (Joseph and Leonie) visited Dora’s parents (Camillo and Emma).  For the next twenty-eight years they kept in touch until August 30, 1968, when they were married.  About this same time, Roger had closed his Plumbing and Heating shop on Groves Avenue. Later he opened “Custom Lighting,” selling light fixtures from Kamloops to the Kootenays in BC.   By 1977, he undertook the building of Gallagher’s golf course, on land formerly held by father-in-law, Camillo.  In 1981, with the golf course complete, he moved his sights to the building of a resort at Idabel Lake, near the Highway 33 Big White turnoff.

After their marriage, Dora continued with curling and was an active member of the Kelowna Curling Club executive.  Both Roger and Dora enjoyed golfing, often travelling to golf destinations in the Pacific Northwest.  Dora and Roger have one son, James.  He lives in Vernon, BC, where he sources products for “Kal-Tire.” Sadly, Dora passed away in 2020.

D. E. Rampone, Kelowna Canadian Italian Club