10th Newsletter
March 23, 2014,
Dear Fellow Classmates ( and
teachers ),
We are now only 40 sleeps
away from the Reunion. Excitement is mounting as we finalize the preparations
and continue to find more classmates and teachers and receive more bios, with
more promised.
CONFIRMATION FORMS
Although a lot of you have
sent in your confirmation forms, still many who had indicated they are coming
have not yet done so. We need them for a
variety of planning purposes so please send them to me now, even before the
April 11th deadline (though I
know some of you will be late with this homework just like you were back in
high school). Also please try to use the form rather than just write a letter
as there are many questions asked and the letters just don’t answer all the questions. Here again is the form, which you can fill
out in a reply email to me.
NTCI CLASS OF 1968 REUNION MAY 2ND
AND 3RD CONFIRMATION FORM
NAME
MAIDEN NAME
HOME ADDRESS
HOW MANY COMING TO MEMORY MINGLE
HOW MANY COMING TO MAYTIME MELODIES
HOW MANY COMING TO BILL HUMBER HOUSE PARTY
HOW MANY COMING TO DOUG GAMMAGE HOUSE PARTY
HOW MANY GOING TO SATURDAY NIGHT RESTURANT
WILL YOU VOLUNTEER TO SET UP FOR MEMORY MINGLE
WILL YOU VOLUNTEER TO CLEAN UP AFTER MEMORY
MINGLE
WILL YOU VOLUNTEER TO WORK AT RECEPTION DESK OF
MEMORY MINGLE
WILL YOU VOLUNTEER TO SELL 50/50 TICKETS
WILL YOU VOLUNTEER TO TAKE PICTURES
WILL YOU VOLUNTEER TO TAKE VIDEO
MAYTIME MELODY TICKETS
A reminder that if you are
going to Maytime Melodies, you must buy
your own tickets directly from the school. This can be done by mail (and your
tickets will be waiting at the box office for you). The tickets are $10 each and
cheques should be made payable to “North Toronto Collegiate Institute “ not the
teacher nor the music department. They should be sent right away to
Deborah Pady
c/o Music Department
North Toronto CI
17 Broadway Avenue
Toronto, ON M4P 1T7
A block of good seats is
being held for us until April 17th, thereafter you can still buy if
tickets are available but you might not be sitting with our group. Please remember to wear your NTCI 5 year
music pin if you received one and still have it , as I do. It did not matter I was a lousy 3rd
clarinet player, they had to give me
one.
2/3, 1/3 DRAW (formerly known as the 50/50
draw)
As it was decided not to
charge for any event and we do have some expenses we are hoping to raise enough
money from a voluntary lottery to pay for everything. It was recently decided
to be safe, instead of 50/50 , we would have the winner get 1/3 so to ensure that the expenses are being at least
close to being covered. Tickets are $5 for 1, $10 for 3 and $20 for 7. Any money left over will be donated to the
school. You can buy them beforehand by sending me a cheque to my office at 2039
Robertson Road, Suite 300, Ottawa ON K2H 8R2 or by sending me an e mail money
transfer (which should be easier for both of us) to pascoe5122@rogers.com. If you do the money transfer remember to send me the password.
For those of you who are not
able to attend the reunion, besides having your bio you might want to
participate in the reunion by buying some lottery tickets We
will acknowledge you when the draw is made.
And remember they make excellent birthday, anniversary, Christmas, or Chanukah
gifts.
The draw will be made at the
Saturday night restaurant outing. You do not have to be present to win.
FOOD FOR MEMORY MINGLE
For Friday night Memory
Mingle we are ordering a light dinner. To reduce costs we are asking in town
people to make something. What we need is finger food (veggies
& dip, fruit, cheese & crackers) as well as baked goods. Food
should come ready to serve and not need utensils. Leftovers will be transported to house parties. What to make should be coordinated with Carolyn , Ruth and Janet so I suggest you contact Carolyn (kennedy7704@rogers.com) with what you intend to make or just that you are willing to make
something .
SATURDAY MORNING WALK
For
those of you who are not too hung over from partying Friday night, Doug Campbell,
who does this for Heritage Toronto, has
volunteered to lead a walk starting at 10:30 am Saturday morning starting at the
south west corner of Eglinton Park and
finishing at Young and Montgomery.
Find out what the park was prior to
1922, see the oldest house in North Toronto, see where John Montgomery of
Montgomery's Tavern, lived, what Castlefield Av. was named for, & other
historical facts.
FINDING CLASSMATES
You will note from the enclosed up to
date database that there are a number of
classmates’ e-mail addresses listed
for the first time . That is because I just recently went though all of the
names individually or whom we have no
address for and tried to find them on Facebook , LinkedIn and Canada 411. That resulted in some more
findings and some of those classmates gave me e-mail addresses that I could not
find. Yes I got a lot of wrong numbers
phoning similar names using Canada 411, but in one case I reached someone’s
father and in another a brother who were able to give me the classmates
numbers. For very common names I don’t have the time to phone everyone listed.
In some cases I found people on Facebook and sent them a Facebook e -mail but
they have not checked their Facebook e-mail or don’t recognize my request to be
a friend. You can help by picking some friends you really want to see and
calling everyone with that name using Canada 411 and trying inviting them to be
a friend and sending a message on Facebook if they are listed ( you can filter
on Facebook by seeing if they said they went to NTCI which some have done ). Contact possible siblings to find people
especially women who may have taken their husband’s last name. You don’t want it on your conscience that you
did not look for your best friends. I
promise after May 2nd no more harassing from me to find people.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMEMT
1.
Send back confirmation form if you have
not done so.
2.
Send in bio if you have not done so.
3.
Order Maytime Melody tickets if you are
going to the show and have not done so.
6.
Buy 2/3,1/3 Lottery tickets from me ( pascoe5122@rogers.com)
7.
FIND SOMEONE WE HAVE NOT FOUND YET
8.
Contact friends on database who have not
replied yet with their confirmation form or bio and ask them to do so.
9.
Make Hotel Reservations the Best Western
Roehampton if needed . They are holding
some rooms until April 5th at
our group rate,. Call 416-487-5101 and tell them it is for the Class of
1968 NTCI Reunion.
10. Visit
Reunion Blog http://ntci68.blogspot.co.uk/?zx=bbbb5ceb75851e64
BIOS
Here are some more interesting bios from
classmates. I am looking forward to
receiving the remaining ones. Please send them before April 17th as
there likely will be only one final newsletter. Don’t you want your classmates
to have time to read and study your bio before the Reunion ?
Doug Campbell
My family moved to Don Mills at the end of grade 10. I finished high school at DMCI then took
business at Ryerson. I spent some time
at Revenue Canada before switching to legal publishing (De Boo, Carswell,
CLB). I finished off my full time
working life at Statscan. Along the way
I married (she has since passed away) and had 3 children who now seem to be
fully functioning adults- Jordan, Adam & Anelise.
Now I work part-time at a Home Hardware store & spend my
leisure time going out to listen to roots musicians in places like Graffitti’s,
the Cameron, Hugh’s Room, Castro’s & the Cadillac Lounge.
As my bio seems short compared to others let’s relate an adult life encounter I had with
“Bruce ” Snell. When my daughter was 11
(1993) she sang in the Toronto Children’s Chorus (ages 10 to 16). At one of their concerts I ran into Bruce
. I told him I had attended NT, then
asked if he had a granddaughter in the chorus.
No, he was here as his daughter from his second marriage was in the
chorus.
Roz Zurkowsky
After leaving NTCI, much to my parents’ dismay and Miss
Vale’s, I chose not to become an English teacher. Instead, I found myself
attending the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. My one act of
rebellion. My four years were
challenging and interesting. Mary Ann Ward and I continued with our
majoretteing at the U of T football games. They certainly were a distraction
during my first year of nursing. My
fourth year specialization was in Mental Health nursing. I found myself
becoming an advocate, basically a pain to my instructresses, as I was
constantly focusing on including mental health in all aspects of nursing. With much relief to the faculty and myself, I
graduated in 1972. Not much seems to
have changed concerning mental health issues as evidenced by Clara Hughes, our
great spokesperson for “ Let’s Talk.”
I had a short-lived job at Baycrest. It lasted 3 months. On
tendering my resignation, I was offered a Head Nurse position to entice me to
stay. Let’s just say, the elderly residents at Baycrest, as much as I loved
them, were better off that I left.
Two months later, I began my mental health nursing career,
which lasted until 1990. Within 5 years of working in a medical model hierarchy
in a hospital, I knew I had to leave nursing. I don’t do well as a doctor’s
hand maiden, nor do I do well with simply giving people medication, putting
them in 4 point restraints and participating in ECT treatments. I found it
necessary to speak to them as people and view them as a whole, not just a
label.
In 1977, I applied at the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education for their Master’s program. I was accepted into the combined program
of Adult Education and Applied Psychology. In 1982 I graduated with a M.Ed.
with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy. Because I did not have a
teaching background I had to take 2 extra courses. I guess I should have
listened back in high school, although I have no regrets.
In 1979, I married and 6 months later, we found ourselves
pregnant, all while I was taking my Master’s program. We have 2 wonderful sons.
In 1987, I needed to complete my supervised hours to become
a Clinical Fellow with the American Association for Marriage and Family
Therapists, my governing body.
I did this practicum in Ajax at Family Services where I have
continued to work for 26 years as a Family Counsellor.
It seems that I’m known in the Region of Durham as the
expert in working with women who were sexually abused as children and women in
Domestic Violence situations. I continue
to learn from these women on a daily basis and am privileged to be their guide
in their journey of healing.
I have also been the Chairperson for the CART (child abuse
review team) program at CAS for 15 years. Currently, I spend Mondays at DRIVEN.
This is Durham Region’s initiative to help abused women and their children.
Both of these programs are extremely rewarding for me.
In my copious spare time, I love to read, sing in the car,
see movies and spend time with my beautiful grandbaby Parker, who will be 2 at
the end of this month. She is truly a
joy and a blessing.
At this point in my life, I can say that I have had a
meaningful life and have no regrets.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion. Bless the
goddesses for nametags.
Anne Galbraith (Lowenberg)
My Dad was transferred to Calgary in 1967. I was the last sibling at home, so I moved
with them, with the promise of a bedroom decorated in red and white and a trip
to Disneyland. I continued my education
here and went on to do two years of business college. Della Street had been my youthful idol and I
wanted to be her. It didn't take me long
to discover that I didn't want anything to do with criminal law. I soon realized that I enjoyed the prospect of
dealing with other people's money and became involved with the banking sector
of law. I have been working for the same
law firm for 34 years and for many years have been a corporate and banking
& finance paralegal, with an emphasis on aviation law (and billable hours). I have been fortunate in that I continue to
enjoy my work and have pretty much decided that I'll keep doing it for as long
as it's fun. I like the fact that I'm
still learning and face new challenges daily.
Being a hopeless romantic, I married an older man at
19. (No, it wasn't a shotgun wedding,
just a foolish youthful decision.) Being
raised in the Cleaver household, I was a believer in the happily-ever-after
syndrome. Once I woke up, I got the hell
out of Dodge. (Stupid, young decisions
carry an automatic do-over clause, much like the Mulligans I take for many
tee-off shots.)
Years later, I married Dave Lowenberg. We have recently celebrated our 35th
anniversary. We have two children, a son
and a daughter, and three grandchildren.
Being a parent is really hard work.
It wasn't easing meeting our goal to get them to adulthood with a good
education and no criminal record, but we succeeded in both. As a grandparent, my goal is much simpler –
have them grow up to feel loved and knowing which fork to use. The hard stuff, I leave to their
parents. I haven't been called upon to
do a lot of babysitting, because I work a lot more hours than their parents.
Once our kids left home, we sold the house in the Burbs and
bought a condo in the beltline of downtown Calgary. Now, instead of commuting by car for three hours
a day, I can walk to work in about 20 minutes.
I love it! My husband Dave is the
technical manager for Canada for Raybestos Brakes. This has meant him leaving town every Monday
morning, and flying back in on Friday afternoons, so a lot of the child rearing
fell to me. We're a little afraid to
retire in case we find out we don't like each other's company. Our life has been a little idealistic, in
that we've never had time to argue, just weekends and holiday time
together. We have been able to do some
travelling and enjoy a weekend retreat in Sundre that we bought several years
ago. Once we do retire, we'll probably spend our summers there. It's only about an hour and a half from
Calgary.
Life has been good to me.
Me and mine all enjoy good health and each other.
I have many good memories of my time at NTCI and look
forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces in May, though I doubt that I will
really recognize many. Before and after
pictures should help.
See you soon.
Brian
Lauder
I’m sitting here browsing through the most recent NTCI blog
and announcement for the class of 1968 reunion in May. I’m reading through the
list of names of former classmates, most of whom I have not seen in over 45
years, and some of whom are deceased.
Over the years, I have kept in touch, off and on (more “off” than “on”)
with a few former classmates like Nadia Koltun, Warner Clarke and Doug
Campbell.
In August of 2012, I retired from the Town of Caledon, where
I worked as a planner for about 12 years.
On one of my first days there, I was scanning the list of staff, and I
came across Nadia Koltun’s name. Hadn’t
she been in my class at NTCI? Then one
day, a couple of weeks later, I encountered her in the stairwell. We both immediately did a double take,
recognizing each other. We worked
together professionally throughout that time, but also developed a friendship
as well. She was able to fill me in on
what some of our previous classmates had done.
When I left high school in 1968, I applied to and was
accepted at the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo. I had always wanted to be an architect, and
while this was a fledgling school, it was developing a solid reputation. I soon found out that there was much more to
architecture than designing pretty buildings.
While on a co-op work stint in Zurich, Switzerland, I decided that my
abilities were better suited to the pursuit of English Literature, and switched
into the English program at Waterloo.
There, I obtained my MA in English Literature.
In the middle of my English studies, I decided to take a
year and a half off to travel in Europe.
Between jobs teaching ESL in Hamburg and Munich, Germany, I travelled
throughout Europe and Asia. I lived on
the Greek island of Mykonos for several months, and travelled overland through
Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to India, where I lived for 4 ½
months. This was to ignite the flame of
travel, which has stayed with me throughout my life.
Following university, I taught English at Humber College for
about 3 years. I eventually channeled my
love of architecture into a successful renovation business, which began as
providing home modifications for persons with disabilities, a business which I
owned and operated for over 10 years. In
1988, I married and moved to Rochester, New York, where I remained for about 10
years. During this time, I obtained my
Masters of Library Science (MLS) at SUNY at Buffalo. Following my divorce in 1998, I returned to
Ontario where my friends and family were.
I re-married in 2000, and my wife, Sharyn and I bought and
renovated a house in Guelph, where we now live, at least for part of the
year. Right now, it is hard to say where
“home” is. We have two lovely
grandchildren on the east coast in Nova Scotia and another in Vancouver. I have developed a very special bond with my
step-grandchildren. My wife often says
that when she brought up her kids to be independent, it was not her intention
for them to live at opposite ends of the country!
It was through Sharyn that I developed a love of all things
Italian, despite the fact that I don’t have an ounce of Italian blood in
me. Over the last 10 years, we have
visited Italy at least once almost every year, and in 2008 we started taking
groups of students on art history courses to Florence and Tuscany. That has developed into a small business as
tour leaders, taking groups of adults on art and wine trips. This May, we will take a group of adults to
the stunning Amalfi Coast.
During the 80’s while living in Toronto, I developed an
affinity for wine, and began my own collection.
Several years ago, I studied as a sommelier, and now try to convey some
of that passion to others through wine tastings, classes, and, of course, art
and wine trips to Italy. My mostly
Italian collection is thriving.
In retrospect, NTCI fostered my love of music, and I still
remember Bill Schabas and I singing “Now is the Hour (When we Must Say
Goodbye)” in front of our Grade 13 class at the end of the school year. There was hardly a dry eye in the room. I have maintained this love of music
throughout my life.
Retirement has given me the opportunity to do those things
which I really want to do: cycling, skating, going to the gym, reading, and
travelling.
Mike Fletcher
It was in 1966 that I came to Canada at age 16 and started
going to NTCI. My father had been asked by Oxfam of England if he wanted to go
to Canada for two years, to help either resuscitate Oxfam of Canada or to close
it down. Since I was the problem child, it was decided that I should come out
to Canada with my parents and finish my education at North Toronto Collegiate
Institute. I wound up taking my grade 12 and 13 in Canada,
Following NTCI which was a great experience for me, my first
foray into student politics and acting in Romanoff and Juliet, I went on to
York University, at that time a brand new university on the northwest fringes
of Toronto, Ontario. I had a great time there, and I often say that I majored
in extracurricular activities, I wrote for the student newspaper and was active
in student politics on a number of levels. Due to a chance meeting with a
fellow journalist, I naively joined the staff of a brand new radio station and
watched with amazement as an exceptional group of young people took that campus
medium from a standing start to an extremely professional station in less than
three years. Besides working as News Director, I was also on air and acted as
Chairman of the Board. The complete crew was a group of exceptionally talented
individuals with whom it has been my privilege to stay in touch for the last 45
years. So I’m used to reunions after many years!
I was also elected as president of the university student
council, so it is perhaps not surprising that at the end of all of these
activities and such a wide range of student and business experience I did not
see the value of going on and completing my degree, one of the few decisions I
made that I now somewhat regret.
I always say that becoming an accountant was one of the
biggest jokes I played on myself in my life. But I started into the CGA course
almost by accident and completed it just because I was stubborn and wanted a
qualification. Accounting is an extremely useful skill set and has taken me to
many places. But I have found over the years that in many ways accountants live
up to their stereotypes! My latest book out later this year, “Better
Approximately Right Than Precisely Wrong” takes on the financial measurement
system as well as the accounting profession.
The Certified General Accountant’s course requires that your
job matches the course of studies that you are undertaking. After I graduated,
I joined a brand new company at the start of Pay TV in Canada and was hired,
ironically, by the person who had been station manager and my boss at Radio
York. The next six years I spent working in a variety of cultural industries in
Canada. I started self-employment in 1986 and provided a variety of
microcomputer and accounting based services to the cultural industries, ranging
from magazine companies to sound recording, to the Directors Guild and other
involvement in the film industry.
In 1990, while on the board of the Canadian Magazine
Publishers Association, I heard of an opening offered by the Department of
Communications of the federal government in Ottawa, The Cultural Industries
Development Fund was a new program to provide regular bank loans to cultural
industries in the magazine, book publishing, sound recording and film
industries, with an occasional venture into the brand new world of multimedia.
So I took the job and spent two years in Montreal.
Despite the Federal Business Development Bank’s best efforts
to turn me into a banker, I found myself unwilling to restrict myself to that
narrow of frame of thought and so moved on to join a high tech company in
Ottawa. I continued to work in high-tech until approximately 1997, which was
when I first heard of a potential computer problem called the Millennium Bug,
or Y2K.
For the next three years of my life, I became a Y2K expert,
not as a mainframe problem but I was interested in the impacts of this
technological glitch on small and medium enterprises. The next three years were
filled with very mixed results. I got to travel the world advising governments
as to how to best deal with this situation, while at the same time I was
building and promoting a kit for small businesses that I hoped would make my
fortune and which in fact, due to the unique and uncertain nature of the
Millennium Bug problem, crashed and burned as an expensive lesson in late 1999.
In 2000 I started doing analysis work for federal government
departments, particularly Indian Northern Affairs Canada which was involved in
large projects with First Nation communities across Canada. Including one that
was being done by a company in Nunavut, a territory where I now do a lot of
training. Over the last ten years I have done a lot of work with First Nations
and Inuit communities. I enjoy the opportunity to go into Canada’s far north
and help people, organizations and communities make the transition from a very
traditional, nomadic lifestyle to an integration with the traditional
commercial economy that is more familiar to those of us working in the southern
parts of Canada.
As you can tell from my description, my work experience has
not followed the traditional role of an accountant, both in a lack of focus on
bookkeeping and auditing, but also in the number of roles I have undertaken and
the number of industries in which I have worked. Over the last 40 years I have
visited and worked in every province and territory in Canada, approximately
half of the US states and another 30 or so countries around the world. I have
analyzed everything from airlines to pulp and paper mills, outfitters to retail
stores, golf courses to manufacturers, computer service providers to media
companies. One of the advantages of having accounting skills is the universal
applicability of that skill. Accounting knowledge is not specific to any
particular countries and can be used everywhere, and I’ve been able to apply
that skill in many different situations all around the world. And while many of
my roles have tended to have an accounting function, I have also worked in
positions in information technology, marketing, sales, general administration
as well as being CEO of my own company for the last 35 years.
My passion now is helping people understand and use the
financial information they already have, without math and without bookkeeping.
I also offer programs in the Tripe Bottom Line (Profit, People and Planet) as
well as how you can transform your organization for the future by taking
advantage of the move towards sustainability which will affect our entire
economic sphere. I provide keynote addresses, webinars, two-day training
sessions and online teleclasses and home study courses. My web site is www.highspin.com and I can be reached at mike@highspin.com. My LinkedIn connection
is highspinner. I am now based in Smiths Falls, Ontario and my phone number is (613) 205-1179.
Barry Edington
I was never an essay writer…so why would I start now!
·
After NTCI, I went to York, then George Brown…ending
up with a BA and a CYW
·
Met the second love of my life (Ave Maria) at GB,
marrying her in late 1974
·
Just so there’s no confusion, Diane Pitkethly was the
first love of my life (Allenby - Grade 2!!!) but she never knew it L – very sad to hear of her passing
·
Ave and I did a 2 year stint as live-in counselors at
a group home for young offenders in Toronto in the mid 1970’s
·
Then to Peel Children’s Aid Society – social worker,
court worker, emergency care supervisor (1978 to 1993)
·
Moved to Brampton (1979), then Georgetown (1983)
·
2 sons (1981 and 1983) – both doing great – older son
lives in Georgetown and works at a chocolate factory (yes, we get freebies – in
10 kg boxes!), while the younger son has followed his heart, and his snowboard,
to Vancouver where he works as a fundraiser for the SPCA
·
Next - an opportunity to lead – as Executive Director
and COO of a large group home organization in Peel (1993 to 2005)
·
Followed by a Provincial Manager position with the
Canadian Cancer Society (2006 to 2013)
·
Now in a blissful semi-retired state doing some
contract work in the business development field for a GTA non-profit.
·
Community interests and focus have been part of our
way of life…lots of volunteer activities – from coaching to literacy to United
Way agency leadership to Rotary International (Ave and I are both Rotarians
with our local Club…I have been fortunate to have been President of our Club on
two separate occasions)
·
Dogs (rescue) and golf are our other interests (if
only we could get the dogs onto the golf course – finding the wayward balls
would be so much easier).
·
Ave is a superb golfer – League Silver Medallist for
the past two years
·
BTW: We renewed our wedding vows in 2008…in Cuba…because
Ave found a way to get an upgrade at the resort…with unlimited golf…as long as you took advantage of their $50
Wedding Package…which included witnesses, judge, 3-piece Mariachi band, roses,
special honeymooner dinner and a photographer. (I truly believe that the resort
staff spent more time planning this than we did for the original ceremony in
1974!)
·
And, as a final piece of trivia…when you sign up at a
password protected web-page you are often asked for a piece of personal
information so they can assist you if you forget your password…one of the
questions posed to me was “What was the name of your best friend growing up?”
Well, I hope to see him in early May, while not
delivering the Toronto Star on Roselawn.
Jeff
Plewman
This graduate who I have not been able to get a hold of
seems to be a well know recording artist
going by “Nash The Slash “
You can check out his very interesting career at http://www.nashtheslash.com and on
Wikipedia under his name or Nash the Slash .
Google him.
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