Triple the blessings, triple the fun

When Cathy Smethurst & Ron Tulloch were expecting their first child, they did what most of us do… they started collecting nursery items… a crib, a dresser, a change table etc. When they were told this might be a multiple birth, they added a second crib. The year was 1973. The technology was very different from what’s available today. Later that summer when Cathy & Ron were told to expect three babies, they faced a huge dilemma in their tiny, semi detached home on Sophia St E… build another crib and stay optimistic, or wait and see.

As it turns out, on October 6, 25 years ago (before daddies were allowed in delivery rooms) Cathy Tulloch and Dr. David Johns and a nursing team of five delivered what continue to be RVH’s only surviving triplets. A lot of weight in babies was delivered that day as Joshua (5 lbs) then Dylan (4 lbs, 6 oz) followed by Aiden (5 lbs, 4 oz) made their way into the world.

As a community newspaper editor in those days, I made it my mission every year to record the progress of these boys… first steps, first Christmas stockings, first day off to kindergarten at Steel Street Public School, and later to Innisdale High School.

And what are the Tulloch Triplets doing now? They’re sharing the limelight as the only surviving triplets born at RVH. In 1995 a trio of boys was also born at RVH. And today, at a quarter-century old, they have remarkably similar interests. Aiden and Dylan are both chefs with Executive Caterer and can be seen in the kitchens at the beautiful new Georgian Manor Banquet Hall on Morrow Rd. Josh graduated from Carleton University and now works in the financial world at Merrill Lynch in Ottawa. But, he drives home every Friday night to join his brothers in the kitchens at Executive Caterer.

It’s to be an especially wonderful reunion in December when all three cater the retirement party for Dr. David Johns, their delivery doctor a quarter-century ago.

Photographer Mike Guilbault of PhotoGenics Photography captured all three at work last week. Cooking up triple layer cakes, I’m sure.