Menu
Menu
About
Maureen Haddock was born into a printing family and spent much of her early childhood with her parents in their Manitoba weekly newspaper office. At the time, her parents were the youngest publishers in Manitoba. Her love of the printed word grew from these stimulating surroundings.
Maureen received her Bachelor of Education from the University of Saskatchewan in 1970 and later the same year, married her entrepreneurial, childhood sweetheart.
Maureen has distinguished herself in the fields of communications, training, creative services, and writing. All of these skills were applicable in the many businesses she and her husband have shared. Maureen’s published works include short stories, poetry, lyrics, newspaper and magazine articles, publicity material, scripts for DVD and CD, as well as educational materials for The Body Shop Saskatchewan and The Belly Button Buddies.
Maureen has written three books since 2005. Her third book, published in June of 2016, is titled With Love, From Iraq and remained on the bestseller list at McNally Robinson Booksellers for 18 consecutive weeks, and periodically over the next few years.
Maureen’s blog, From the Cookie Jar, was initiated in 2013 and contained three themes. She wrote about ideas, memories, and recipes, all with a vintage spin. In 2020, the Get a Bigger Wagon website received a new look and From the Cookie Jar now has a recipe focus.
Maureen began writing a food column for Prairies North magazine called “Eats and Treats” in 2018, and in 2020 she began writing “Maureen’s Kitchen” for Saskatoon Home magazine.
Maureen’s new blog, which launched in the fall of 2020 and contains her more personal stories, can be read at www.glamourforgrandmothers.com.
In 1951, Gordon moved west, from Montreal, with his parents and brother. They settled in a small Saskatchewan town, which provided the right growing conditions for his independent spirit and entrepreneurial nature to flourish.
Gordon graduated from The University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1972. His entrepreneurial spirit led him into many business ventures, including an advertising agency, music store, drug stores, card and gift stores and businesses involving land development, fast food, clothing, tourism, bath and skincare products, entertainment, and publishing. His businesses have been both franchise and self-started. Gord’s wife Maureen has known him since they were twelve, and, having married him in 1970, was involved in most of these businesses.
Maureen wrote Get a Bigger Wagon and Get an Even Bigger Wagon documenting some of those small-town experiences. She believes that Gordon was allowed more self-discovery time while growing up than most children. It was clear to Maureen that growing up in small-town Saskatchewan contributed significantly to the boy becoming the man he is today.
Audra Balion is a terrific fit for our Get a Bigger Wagon team. She tells youngsters, who aspire to be artists, “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; not everything you do will be perfect, and that is okay. Learn from your mistakes, and have fun.”
Audra provides graphics and illustrations for many Get a Bigger Wagon (GABW) projects. She illustrated the first GABW comic, released in 2018. It contains two stories from Get a Bigger Wagon, published in 2005. She is also the graphic designer for the Get a Bigger Wagon Young Entrepreneur Awards competition, which began in 2018.
You can learn more about Audra Balion at audra.balion.ca.
Terry Allington is a natural addition to the Get a Bigger Wagon team and is a vital part of Get a Bigger Wagon Productions. Terry found his passion for videography while studying photography in college. He went on to enjoy a successful, twenty-year broadcast career in Saskatchewan before joining the University of Saskatchewan in 2009 as a Production Technician. He continues in this position today. Working for USask provides Terry with a wide variety of projects, ensuring that no two days are the same.
In his role at the U of S, Terry is involved in the Haddock Entrepreneurial Speaker Series at Edwards School of Business, and, more recently, the Get a Bigger Wagon Young Entrepreneur Awards (GABWYEA).
On the weekends, Terry operates his own freelance video business, where he has produced many interesting projects, including a 100-episode fishing show for television. Although the Haddocks met him first as a broadcaster, they also worked with Terry on several independent projects like The Belly Button Buddies and a variety of programs for TVTruck.
Presently, Maureen is working with Terry on her Saskatchewan Fashion Artisans video project. She says, “Terry loves a good story and brings an artistic eye and meticulous editing skills to every video.”
The Artist
Denyse Klette was the perfect choice when it came to selecting an artist to portray the boy in the two Get a Bigger Wagon books. Denyse, like the boy, has a fiercely entrepreneurial streak that has remained intact since childhood. She loved the stories and had an immediate understanding of the boy’s nature. Although Denyse has worked in many art mediums and can paint in many styles, she chose to capture the era for the books by using a soft monochromatic presentation, reminiscent of daydreams, memories, and the early days of television. She called upon her experience as a portrait artist to depict the detailed emotion in the boy’s face. The resulting paintings make viewers feel like they have just stepped into someone’s memory.
The Haddocks present an original painting from the books Get a Bigger Wagon or Get an Even Bigger Wagon to each presenter at the annual Haddock Entrepreneurial Speaker Series. To view these painting presentations, visit Trek 2000 Corporation.
For information about Denyse Klette and her many projects, please visit dklette.com.
Recipes, entrepreneur articles, news and more.