Ardelle Holden

Ardelle Holden has worn many hats in her life. She’s been a bookkeeper in geophysics, aviation and wild rice production; a scrapbook store owner; a medical office assistant. When her husband Patrick – who is a second-generation pilot – flew them to the wild rice lakes in northern Manitoba, Ardelle homeschooled their two children. She continued teaching them when the family travelled to warmer climes during the frozen winters.

“We’ve camped in remote villages in Mexico, in deserts in the States and throughout British Columbia. We’ve always been a travelling family, and wherever we go, there’s something to learn. And thanks to Knowledge Network, the whole world became our classroom,” she says. Ardelle was one of our earliest Knowledge Partners, joining in 1988 when the program first began. “It was important that the children had access to quality viewing, and I knew I could trust Knowledge.” She went on to be a monthly donor, seeing the network as contributing to her own wealth of knowledge, and wanting to do her part to ensure its quality of programming into the future.

Ardelle and Pat now split their time between their place on Quennell Lake near Nanaimo, and Ajijic, Mexico. Her love of learning continues to fuel her creative passions – she’s been busy pursuing photography and painting, has published her first novel and is well into writing the sequel. “To me, Knowledge is like food for the brain,” she says. “And you can’t overindulge!”