Within a year Elizabeth was pregnant with their first child. She had a son. They named him after Joe. Elizabeth had two more children in the next four years. She had to stop working to look after the children. Joe took extra taxi shifts. It was getting harder to put any money aside, but they never gave up on their dream of owning a house.

In 1975 they bought a run down salt box house close to St. John's. They purchased it from a neighbour. The house only cost $4,000. They bought it on a rent-to-own plan. The house had no electricity or running water. They planned to rebuild it while they were living in it. They tore down the walls and put up new ones as they could afford the materials. Joe drove his taxi in the day and worked on the house at night. Elizabeth hauled water from up the road. She tried to keep the house warm with an oil stove. She cooked on a propane camping stove. She looked after the children and helped repair the house.

Elizabeth and Joe paid off the house the same month they finished rebuilding it. They had running water and an indoor toilet. They had electric heat and a new woodstove. Their lives were much easier.

In 1978 the last of Elizabeth's children started school. Elizabeth walked down the hill and applied for a job at the little inshore fishplant. She was hired to work on the filleting line. She started the same day. Elizabeth remembers those days fondly. She was paid more than the minimum wage. She enjoyed working with fish. It was exciting down on the wharf. There was lots of talking and laughing among the women in the plant. They used to tease and joke with the fishermen when they came to unload their fish.

Elizabeth's boss let her go home at lunchtime so she could feed her children and send them back to school. She took her evening break in time to meet her children at the end of the day. She cooked their meal and went back to work. When she first started at the plant Elizabeth worked from early spring until November. During the caplin season she worked through most of the night. But she didn't mind. The money was good. Her neighbours left their porch lights on for her and the other women. They walked home together at two or three in the morning. "We were a big part of the community," says Elizabeth. "Everything revolved around us and the plant. It made you feel important."

The money Elizabeth made helped her husband Joe start his own house repair business. He bought the tools he needed one by one. Within four years, Joe quit driving taxi and worked at his business full time. Elizabeth's money was her own then. She bought a few things the family needed: a deep freeze, a rocking chair, a microwave oven, their first television.

In 1990 Elizabeth's working hours were cut in half. There just wasn't much cod or caplin that year. She didn't work enough hours to qualify for unemployment insurance. Joe told her not to worry. His business was still doing well.