No parent should ever have to experience the loss of a child, yet tragically, so many have. Stuart and Bonnie Lang have lived through it. Their daughter, Payton, was born with a serious heart condition that led her to spend a lot of time in and out of hospitals during her life.
“Payton was our first child, so our experience in having her became normal to us,” said Lang. “Living in and out of the hospital, taking time off work to take her for surgery and to recover was part of our lives. I didn’t want to put her in daycare at first, because I was worried about the care and medications involved, and I didn’t feel comfortable putting that level of responsibility on someone else.
“Before Payton was born, we found out she was going to have a congenital heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. It impacted her from birth, as she had her first open heart surgery when she was not even a week old. Then she had a series of three open heart surgeries before the age of four and multiple heart catheterizations and other procedures at an early age.
“After her last corrective surgery, we saw cardiology every six months and then once a year, until she was about 12,” said Lang. “When she started having growth spurts, it was like the corrections and surgeries couldn’t keep up. Then she started experiencing severe heart failure. Children with the condition are considered to always be living with heart failure, even after the surgical corrections, because they take a four-chambered heart and make it into a two-chamber one. This causes the heart and circulation to work very differently from normal.
“She started having much lower oxygen saturation levels and that indicated her heart was not functioning as well as it should. One of her heart valves started leaking quite significantly, so she needed a valve replacement. This was very traumatic because of complications from the surgery Payton’s heart didn’t maintain a proper rhythm. A week later, she had to have a permanent pacemaker put in.
“After that, things continued to go downhill,” said Lang. “Payton wound up in liver failure, which caused her to have verocies, which are like aneurysms that happen along the esophageal tract. She would have internal bleeding from it. Around this time, we ran into Lee-Anne Campbell, we had grown up not far from each other in Minitonas.
“This led to being in and out of the hospital for a week at a time. They did several things to stop the verocies, but things were deteriorating very quickly. It was then decided she needed a heart transplant and we were sent to Edmonton for an assessment. We had to live there while she was being assessed.
“It was determined that Payton needed both her heart and liver transplanted. They decided to do them at the same time because they realized she wouldn’t be able to survive one transplant without the other. During that time, Payton and I moved to Edmonton, while Stuart and Kasey lived in Winnipeg. We had to be in Edmonton waiting and were told it could take up to three years for a transplant.
“I did all of her care out of the hospital, because I didn’t want her to be hospitalized for the three years. I learned how to do pic line dressings, changes for an ART line and all kinds of medical things. Payton had all her nutrition given to her through IV and I had to do that as well.”
Despite the hardships of the Lang family being apart while Payton was waiting for her transplants, they were still able to spend some quality time together. During the uncertainty and stress of the situation, the Langs found the Ronald McDonald House was a beacon of comfort in such a time of need.
“We were fortunate to be able to access the services of the Ronald McDonald House,” said Lang. “When Stuart and Kasey came to Edmonton, we went there and they had two rooms full of handmade blankets that people donated for children to have. Every child at the Ronald McDonald House, as well as their siblings, can go to that room and select a blanket for themselves.
“Payton chose a quilt and Kasey chose one similar to it. Those blankets brought so much joy to both of our girls and they each had something to treasure. After that, Payton used only that blanket and it was her favourite thing that brought her joy.”
The Langs’ hopes fell short after Payton’s transplant surgeries. They were faced with their worst fears happening and losing Payton.
“Payton then had her transplant and it was successful, but she ended up getting a fungus, and that was what cut her life short, not the transplant,” said Lang. “At the time Payton died, Kasey was eight years old and she didn’t understand all of the things that had happened. When the doctors told us Payton couldn’t survive and that we would have to have her disconnected from life support, we spent her final night all together in the hospital room. They set beds on each side of Payton’s hospital bed and we held her as she took her last breath. Our parents were with us as well.
“We had to drive home from Edmonton without Payton, and that was the longest drive home of our lives.
“Payton was a very unique spirit,” said Lang. “A lot of children who go through major illnesses and spend the majority of their lives in the hospital experience different challenges and circumstances than others. Payton was always a kind soul, no matter how rough things had gotten.
“She was often described as a collector of souls, meaning she found people and loved them. She was like that with people of all ages. A lot of her friends reach out to me and are still in our lives.”
The Langs wanted to keep the memory of Payton alive and looked back on things that made a real impact on them during this experience. The memory of the girls picking out blankets at the Ronald McDonald House and the comfort it gave them during those tough times inspired Payton’s Comforters.
“I have always wanted to do something in honour of Payton and celebrate her life,” said Lang. “I kept coming back to the different types of gifts she had received while in the hospital. There are lots of amazing people who do and give amazing things to kids in the hospital. It came to me that I could do something and find a group of like-minded people to help me create handmade blankets to donate.
“My goal was to have something set up like at the Ronald McDonald House, where every child could go in and choose a blanket, but I found out that the Children’s Hospital has 1,000 to 2,000 children that go through it every year. That was a huge undertaking and I knew it wouldn’t get to that right off the start.
“I got in contact with the Child Life Team through the Children’s Hospital and they were interested in giving out the blankets,” said Lang. “We started giving blankets out to those children who were sickest in the hospital, until we could get to a stage where every child would get a blanket.
“I started Payton’s Comforters back in 2023, and it started off being myself and some family members who made blankets. The first year, we donated a total of 20 blankets. In 2024, we formed a formal board and are now a registered CRA charity. In 2024, we donated our 100th blanket to the hospital.
“This year we set a goal to give another 100 blankets and before the end of May, we had donated another 100 blankets,” said Lang. “In total, we’ve donated 200 blankets now. That is something that makes me so happy. So many people have reached out to us on Facebook, and they support this cause.
“Everyone has some connection to a child who has needed to be hospitalized in Winnipeg. When children are there, those rooms are impersonal and they feel overwhelmed by the situation, and having something soft, personal and theirs can bring them comfort. That is why I called it Payton’s Comforters.
“Payton’s Comforters has a wish list out there for people to donate stuff such as material or supplies to make blankets,” said Lang. “They can make a blanket and reach out to us on Facebook to donate it or money. We greatly appreciate everyone who donates to this cause.”

Dufresne Swan River is celebrating a milestone anniversary, having been in business in the Valley for 25 years. Store Principal Dee Palsson started the business up after transitioning a family business into the Dufresne line.
“I worked with my stepfather, Gordon Shaver, and he decided to retire,” said Palsson. “He ran a mom-and-pop kind of store, Currie Furniture. When it came time for me to decide to invest in that franchise, I knew I had to think outside the box, because as far as buying power, I knew we would need a little more lift. We talked to the President of Sealy, and he put us in contact with Mark Dufresne, because he thought it would be a good fit.
“I went to meet with Mark in Winnipeg and liked how he presented himself. He was personable, family-oriented and that made me feel comfortable. It didn’t feel like a big corporate store. I came back to Swan River and decided to partner with him.
“We held a sell-off from January to April, then did our renovations in May and opened up in June, and here we are,” said Palsson.
When it comes to helping customers find the perfect furniture for their home or a good quality bed to sleep in, Palsson prides her staff and herself on the efforts they put into helping the customer make the right choice. Although times have changed and some trends have too, today’s customer has a lot more options when it comes to buying furniture and appliances.
“I’ve been doing this for many years and I’ve found that you have to listen to what people want and guide them as best you can,” said Palsson. “Sometimes customers have an idea of what they think they want, and it’s our job to help them make the best decision when it comes to choosing furniture based on a variety of factors such as their flooring, colour of walls and what else is in their home. Because, at the end of the day, we want them to be happy with their purchase and make it a part of their home. Also, when people go into a guest’s home and they ask where they got it from, we want them to know it came from Dufresne.
“Back in the day, people went with white appliances, and now we see the demand for stainless steel and coloured panels. There are just so many options now. With a customer order program through our Canadian suppliers, we can order almost anything our customers want. We have a lot of selections of sofas to choose from.
“Even in our bedding area has grown over the years,” said Palsson. “Customers have come to realize how important a good night’s sleep is, so people are investing more in quality beds, whereas back in the day, people just bought a bed. Now, we have a Sleep Centre and we are all certified sleep experts, and we have to be to sell a bed with Dufresne. There is a training program our staff completes and it helps us to fit a customer to a bed. It’s no longer how many coils are in the mattress anymore, but it’s based on getting the customer in the right type of bed, whether it’s firm, soft, or medium. Buying a bed is a huge decision and is more of a need than a want.”
Palsson knew that in order to succeed in business, she would have to grow the business by expanding her customer area. She was instrumental in thinking outside the box and found ways to bring products to markets that had very limited options.
“We have a 5,000 trading area with Swan River as the hub,” said Palsson. “We always must be creative because to be profitable, we can’t just do deliveries in our area. I first started up in 2000, and from 2001 to 2005, we went to The Pas with trailers. We would set up in Opaskwayak Cree Nation and sell furniture.
“A lot of the elders don’t travel, and as we went up there, Dufresne got known. Our business grew from that and to this day, our trucks go up there regularly. We’ve gone into Saskatchewan and delivered as far as Yorkton. Then on the other side, we go as far as Winnipegosis. This has all been through getting our name out there and word of mouth. We had to get to know our customers because we don’t get the traffic like the big city stores do and as a result, we had to build strong relationships with our customers to earn their trust and have them keep coming back.
“The other part that helps the business is that we offer servicing here,” said Palsson. “Dean Henderson does all our service and has done it since we opened. The big box stores aren’t like that. Most customers have to send stuff away to be fixed or call a 1-800 number. Here at Dufresne, our customers call us and we look after them. That has been a huge advantage for us.”
Owning and operating a business in a rural northern community, Palsson knows the importance of developing and maintaining a strong relationship and trust with customers. With big box store competitors and less populated areas to serve, she has prided herself on establishing loyal returning customers and that has led to her success in business.
“We put a great emphasis on acknowledging the customer when they come into the store,” said Palsson. “My staff have all been trained to greet customers within the first couple of minutes. I base this on my own experience as a customer. I know if I go into a business and I’m not greeted right away, it just doesn’t feel right.
“Customers tend to go online to see what is available for options and I find are more educated about the products as a result of that. We never saw that before. After spending 25 years here, I find that every day is different and as staff, we have to grow. The consumer now is coming into the store knowing the product details, which means staff have to know it as well. If we don’t know all the specs on something, then we look into it for the customer.”
When it comes to finding the perfect staff, Palsson has been successful in recruiting and retaining employees. Many of her former employees got their start working for her at Dufresne before finding their career path. She has always treated her staff like family and still has strong personal relationships with many of her former staff.
“Over the years, I’ve had excellent staff,” said Palsson. “I’ve had some leave to try other things and then come back to work here. Others have stayed for several years before moving on to another career. People stayed because I treated my staff with respect and like family. It’s very much family-oriented here, because we all know each other’s family, kids, and have spent time together outside of the workplace. I still keep in contact on some level with the majority of my former staff. We’ve formed friendships that have continued long after their time here at Dufresne.
“One former employee who was instrumental in helping me develop the business was Lloyd Barabash. When we came over from Curries, we had to lay off staff and rehire. In that process, we hired Lloyd and he worked here for over 10 years. He was like my rock. I was around 34 years old at the time I started this business, and he gave me a lot of inspiration and guided me through things. He was wonderful to have as part of the team and his presence here is still missed. He still comes in and talks to us, and that is great.”
With this 25-year anniversary, Palsson is looking toward the future of Dufresne and finding a succession plan before she retires.
“Being a store principal, I’ve reached a point where I know I have to think about the future,” said Palsson. “I’m not ready to retire right now, and I plan to stay for a few years. In that time, I would like to find a successor. Someone I can work with to help grow the business and then take over.
“Dufresne has implemented a program with their store managers that is modelled after our store, which I’m very proud of. They hire a manager and depending on how they do, they are offered an opportunity to become a store principal. This allows them to have a financial stake in the business, instead of trying to buy into a franchise. I’ve always had a stake in the business and found it made me work that much harder over the years. It helped me to make this my store and do all the local community things I was able to do while in business.
“Every day is different, and I have to say, I’ve really enjoyed the people I have met through the store,” said Palsson.

The Valley has once upon a time been home to many who have written and published books. Award-winning journalist, freelance writer and now author, Rosalie I. Tennison, has launched her memoir Naomi’s Houses. The story talks about Tennison’s experience growing up in the Valley, under less than ideal circumstances.
“It wasn’t until I moved to Winnipeg, about seven years ago, that this memoir popped into my head,” said Tennison. “I have a half finished novel that I’ve abandoned, because there is so much focus now on lived experience instead of the creativity of one’s imagination. I felt that readers wouldn’t appreciate it because it was not based on my lived experience.
“Even though I have written some short stories and never published them, I found myself reading a lot of memoirs and liked the genre. I had an idea for a memoir, but even then, it wasn’t this exact idea. Although this is my memoir and it is all about me, in the end, it really also is about my mother.
“I once recall hearing a writer being asked why they chose to write about a particular character and make them the focus of their book when there were three other strong characters to choose from,” said Tennison. “The author explained that sometimes when writing a book, a character can come out more than others and the book becomes focused on that character. This is what happened to me. I was writing my memoir, but it became a tribute to my mother. It’s not what I thought when I started out.”
Tennison added a personal touch to her memoir and included entries from her mother’s diaries that spanned over several years. It took her some time to finalize the creative process of incorporating her mother’s diary entries, but she felt it was an important part of the book.
“I used my mother’s diaries in the book to introduce the various chapters,” said Tennison. “Originally, I put Naomi’s Diary and then the date before each chapter. That was how I did the whole book. I had four drafts of the book before it went to a publisher. Then I hired an independent editor to help me with the structure and layout. I honestly can’t see it being any other way now.
“The publisher, Heritage House, had asked me for ideas of what I would like to see on the cover and I shared those with them. In the end, the cover was nothing like I imagined, but I quite like it. I had to trust the experts when it came to this.
“We are in a different world today,” said Tennison. “Back when I pitched a story, you had to sit down, type out a letter and mail it. Maybe two weeks later, you would receive a letter indicating whether or not they were interested in your story. Now there are all these tools such as the Internet, email and form letters. All publishers have to do is type in an address, and they don’t even do that anymore. It should be so much easier to politely reject people’s submissions, but it’s not. Instead, publishers take the stance that if a writer hasn’t heard from them in six months, they can assume they don’t want the book.
“I had to create a table with all the publishers that had the date I submitted, what their criteria were for submissions, and when they stated to respond. I would go back to check and once it got to six months, I would assume they didn’t want the book.
“Heritage House only accept submissions in January and the only reason I didn’t submit to them earlier was because I missed the deadline,” said Tennison. “Eventually, I did send them my memoir, and they came through for me.
“It took a year before they said they would publish it, so I think it wasn’t so much what I learned about myself, but instead this whole process confirmed who I am. I’m not a quitter, and I come from some pretty sturdy farming stock who plotted along and did what they could for survival. I had a mother who instilled that in me.”
Tennison’s story is one that reflects on what it is like to grow up in poverty and the struggles that come with it.
“My family’s experience growing up in the Valley was very difficult,” said Tennison. “We were very poor, but I had good parents. My maternal grandparents were heavily involved in the community. My maternal grandmother was a leader in the Women’s Institute and my maternal grandfather started the local branch of the Farmers’ Union. They were highly and well-respected people.
“My paternal grandparents didn’t stay in the Valley very long. They left and also left my father to stay in the Valley. From there, my parents met and married. They struggled with poverty and then my father died.
“We were plunged into deeper poverty,” said Tennison. “We had to leave the farm we lived on outside of Bowman and move to Swan River. We ended up in a rundown house in Swan River and our family continued to struggle. Due to our financial circumstances, a lot of the time we felt unwelcome and it was really hard growing up.
“My mother did the best she could given her circumstances. Her focus was to ensure that her children did not end up in a similar situation that she had. She pushed us to get educated and find good jobs, to get out of poverty. It certainly wasn’t a life that she had pictured for herself. The truth of the matter is, one never knows when their circumstances might change. Poverty doesn’t play favourites and it’s colourblind.
“We were a family experiencing poverty,” said Tennison. “We were invisible. We had a really tough time. Fortunately, there were some people in Bowsman who helped us out from time to time, and I’ve never forgotten that.
“I did a book signing in Calgary in the middle of April, and a woman I grew up with in Bowsman and our parents were family friends, had her daughter drive her from Carstairs, Alberta, to see me. I was shocked and burst into tears. This woman told me how she remembered our family and that when her family was getting ready to head into Swan River on Saturdays, her mother had them fill a cardboard box of produce from the garden to give to my family to survive.”
Looking back at Tennison’s story and life experience of growing up in poverty, she feels that although she has survived this chapter in her life, poverty still impacts many people today in ways that most people can’t imagine until they have gone through it.
“The book touches on how people think we’ve come a long way and things have changed since then, but in essence, they really haven’t in the last 50 years,” said Tennison. “There are still people living in poverty and struggling, but the difference is that there are more social safety nets now than there were back then.
“We didn’t have a lot of those tools growing up.”
Tennison has matured and lived other life experiences that have helped shape the person she has become, but writing this memoir also helped her to gain a better understanding of just how much her mother did for her family despite having the odds stacked against her.
“I think it’s not so much that I learned much about myself when writing this memoir as it was about how it reinforced who I am, because I’ve always struggled with imposter syndrome at times and a lot of self-doubt, but I had a mother who said I could do whatever I want,” said Tennison. “That has always been at the back of my mind. So, when the going gets tough in life, which it often does for all of us, I hear her voice and think to myself that I can do this.
“Writing a book has always been something I wanted to do. I didn’t have a type of book defined at that time, but it ended up being one that was a memoir and a tribute to my mother. That positive reinforcement of being able to do this floated through the book as I wrote it. It took five years from the time I started writing to almost the day when I was standing in front of a crowd at McNally Robinson launching the book.
“A lot of people would be deterred by that length of time, but I kept persevering through dealing with different editors and maintaining my voice,” said Tennison. Then going through the submission process can be very off-putting and demoralizing. I was just about done, and only had three Canadian potential publishers left who may be potential possibilities, and then Heritage House wanted to publish my memoir.”
Tennison will be in the Valley for the Swan River Museum’s Heritage Day in August to promote and sign her memoir and to take a photo with her father’s car that was donated to the museum. Naomi’s Houses is available to purchase online from McNally Robinson, Indigo Chapters and Amazon.