Books, Magazines

1979

641 A Story of the Canadian Red Cross Corps, Overseas

Compiled by Miriam C. Mitchell and Florence C. Deacon

1986

There's No Wife Life It

   by Dianne Taylor (Victoria, BC)

   Published by Braemar Books Ltd. Victoria, BC  1985

            There's No Wife Like It was Dianne's first book, but by no means her writing debut.  She began composing poems and short stories as a girl.  Later she worked on the Hansard staff for Alberta's Legislative Assembly, and she has also been employed as a court reporter.

From 1983-85 she wrote an Erma Bombeck type column for the CFB Esquimalt newspaper, and a number of these articles have been reprinted in other Canadian Forces Base newspapers. 

NOTE:  Sadly, Dianne has since passed away but she has left a wonderful written record of Navy Wives for us all to appreciate. 

  1994

 Hurry Up and Wait - An inside look at life as a Canadian Military Wife

   by Dianne Collier (Petawawa, ON)

   published by Creative Bound Inc. , Carp, ON May 1994

          Although this is Dianne's first book, her writings are quite familiar to both military and civilian readers in the Petawawa/Pembroke area of Ontario.  A few years ago Dianne was producing three weekly columns, two of which earned her the title of "The Erma Bombeck of Petawawa" and which appeared in the military newspaper The Base Post at CFB Petawawa and the local community paper, The Pembroke Daily Observer.  A supporter of military wives at every opportunity, Dianne's book combines humor, tears and facts which mixed together make for honest, factual, delightful reading for all.

1994

There's No Life Like It - Military Wives in Canada

by Deborah Harrison &  Lucy Laliberte (Ontario)

published by James Lorimer & Company, Toronto, ON September 1994

Deborah Harrison is the Chair of Sociology and also teaches Women's Studies at Brock University.  She is the author of two previous books.

Lucy Laliberte is a co-founder of the Organization of Spouses of Military Members (OSOMM).  She is a lawyer, practicing in the area of pensions and family law, a military wife, and the mother of five children.

   Women On The Move - A directory of women in business in Renfrew County, Ontario.

    by Dianne Collier (Petawawa, ON)

              What started out as a project to help military wives promote their home  based businesses quickly became a venture to represent all women, in all facets of business within the County.  Led by Dianne Collier, this yearly directory which contained a daily calendar as well, was produced and distributed by a group of volunteer military wives.  Two issues were produced in 1996 and 1997 with no financial support other than advertising revenue and directory sales.  When income was not sufficient to produce another issue, the project was reluctantly discontinued.

  On The Go - In the Heart of the Annapolis Valley

   by Raelene White and Rosanne Dornan (Greenwood, NS) - self published in 1998

           In 1997 the Director of the MFRCs distributed copies of Women on the Move to all military family resource centres as an example of what could be accomplished to benefit military spouses with home based businesses.  Raelene and Rosanne, both posted to CFB Greenwood, pooled their marketing and desktop publishing talents and created their own version called On The Go.  This was a wonderful example of how more military spouses, strangers before this project, collaborated on supporting their peers.

2001

The Military Rose - For Those Who Keep The Home Fires Burning

          When a group of military spouses get their creative juices flowing - it doesn't matter whether they have any experience (we didn't...) - where there is a will, there is a way.  And so, in a general conversation to an email group started by Dianne Collier for those ladies in the military community that were interested in writing, the idea for creating a national magazine for military wives was discussed and executed a mere 14 months later.  Produced by email, we proved that it could be done although none of us would recommend taking on such a time consuming, huge project when the committee's main means of communication  was via the Internet.

        All totaled, five issues of this quarterly publication were produced and while the project didn't last as long as most hoped it would, we did enable many women in the military community to see their work in print - most for the first time. Since that time, several writers have gone on to further their writing careers.  (See the Writing section of this Virtual Gallery).

       What started out to be an easy project that would be a lot of fun but also a lot of work, turned out to be a huge learning experience for us all.  In order to keep the magazine free of any 'strings attached', no attempt was made to obtain funding from any government source.  And so, when advertising, the most elusive ingredient required to keep the magazine afloat, didn't produce enough revenue to continue producing this very expensive magazine, the project was reluctantly terminated.   

         However, those connected with the magazine feel that what we did produce, is written, recorded history of Canadian military spouses and for that reason, we don't see the project as a failure - just one that didn't last as long as we had hoped.

A Kitchen Full....of Roses - Featuring Recipes from the Canadian Roses E- Mail Group.

        In 2001 Dianne Collier started an email group for military spouses.  Some members had been volunteers on The Military Rose magazine project and so it seemed like a natural progression to carry on the friendships already formed through the use of an email group. What started out as an idea to chat about online quickly became a 'done deal' as the girls wanted to produce something that would be uniquely ours.  This was a team effort with recipes coming in from military wives all over Canada, as well as from England and Australia. 

        Special mention goes to Amy Coxworth for her creation of our beautiful, unique logo (see more about Amy's talents in the Profiles section to this Virtual Gallery).

2004

My Love, My Life - An inside look at the lives of those who love and support our military men and women

By Dianne Collier (Petawawa, ON)

Published in 2004 by Creative Bound Inc, Carp, ON

We're Moving Where? The life of a military wife

 by Jeanette Russell (North Bay, ON)

Published in 2004 by General Store Publishing (Renfrew, ON)

new beginnings - big & small - inspirations to help light the way

by Lynn Hall (

 new beginnings big & small offers inspiration, encouragement and light to each and every one of us, as we face the challenges, changes and transitions that life inevitably brings our way. At any given time, be it the end of a relationship or a change in jobs, a heartfelt loss or the pursuit of budding dreams, the new beginnings collection uplifts and affirms, spurring us on in joyfully and courageously taking steps in positive new directions.  It assures us that our lives are orchestrated with purpose and meaning, and that out of our greatest adversities are often discovered our greatest blessings.  It also reassures us that whatever our current circumstance, new beginnings, bright with promise and hope, await.