Gareth Doyle had a devious plan for making friends when he was in the Royal Navy.

The Navy published a monthly magazine with included an ad offering to connect sailors with pen pals.

Since Doyle knew where his ship would be over a 12-month span, he would try and get a pen pal in each country on the schedule.

“All the other sailors would get off the ship and they’d be looking for beer and looking for friends, I’d have all the arrangements made. I’d know where the pub was and I’d know where the ladies were,” he said.

“I’d be writing away and say, ‘you never know, who knows, maybe my ship would come to your country.’ But I’d already know it’s coming in three months.”

One of those pen pals, from the Philippines, was named Neva. Doyle’s ship changed course and never docked in her country - but she was the nicest, chattiest, most positive pen pal he had, so he wanted to meet her anyway.

“I had to go and pay the airfare and went to visit her, and then I figured, ‘I think this might be the one.”

That was in 1996. She moved to live with him in England two years later.

However, they eventually realized neither they, their children nor their grandchildren would ever be able to afford to buy a home in London’s famously pricey real estate market.

So they moved to Saskatoon in 2010, as Doyle had family in Saskatoon, Edmonton and Grand Prairie and had visited the country.

He was smart enough to bring Neva to visit Canada and sell her on the idea in August, when the weather was nice, he said.

But their arrival coincided with the rise of housing prices in Saskatoon - and he always wanted his kids to grow up in a small town like he did.

His work as an arborist brought him to Humboldt and he took a shining to the town. They moved shortly after.

“There’s everything that you want or need in Humboldt but none of the things you don’t want.”

The couple has four children, ages 13 to 24. Neva likes the activities the small city of Humboldt can offer, such as swimming and taekwondo.

She also likes the feeling that her kids are safe.

“When they were in Saskatoon I always made sure I was with them - so many people you didn’t know. Here, you just feel comfortable about them being out and about, she said.”

While she misses the fresh fish and tropical fruit of Mindanao island, she appreciates Canada’s the health and education systems. It’s also easy to find a job, she said.

“I wish we were all born here, my family members.”