January 2023 Edition

In this issue you will find: The 2023 GBCRA Board of Directors Note from Co-Chairs Retiree News Past Events - St. Andrew's Piano Concert, AGM, Sinatra and Crosby, James Dean Upcoming Events - Cinema Club, Romantic Comedies, Book Launch Student Placement Spotlight - Emma Downie Musings and Meanderings - Member Spotlight Sponsor Spotlight - Richmond Station Tips and Advice Lives Lived Call for Volunteers

GBCRA Board of Directors 2023 At the 2023 Annual General Meeting held December 2, 2022, the membership voted in favour of the slate of directors put forward by the outgoing 2022 Board. We are pleased to introduce the new Board of Directors Julie Bulmash - Retired 2021. Former Co-ordinator, Human Resource Program, School of Business. Board member since 2022. Events Committee Bob Cox - Retired in 2010. Formerly the Director of Staff & Organizational Development. Founding Member 2014. Board member since 2015. Director of Communications Dianne Diniz - Retired in 2014. Former Chair Nursing & Director of Health Sciences. Founding Member 2014. Board member since 2015. Co-Chair Barbara Dunlop - Retired 2015. Former Co-ordinator of Food & Nutrition Management, Center for Hospitality & Culinary Arts. Board member since 2019. Secretary Debbie Plested - Retired in 2018. Formerly Project Leader, Department of e-Learning & Teaching Innovation. Board member since 2020. Director of Membership Denise Pontone - Retired 2018. Former Program Co-ordinator for Online Testing with Educational Resources. Board member since 2018. Support Liaison Georgia Quartaro - Retired in 2016. Former Dean Center for Preparatory & Liberal Studies. Board member since 2018. Co-Chair Joan Reynolds - Retired in 2015. Former Manager International Programs & Partnerships. Board member since 2020. Treasurer Patricia Robinson - Retired 2010. Former Faculty, Nursing. Founding Member 2014. Board member since 2015. Director at Large Crystal Kotow-Sullivan - Retired 2012. Former Chair Liberal Arts and Sciences. Founding Member 2014. Board member 2015-2016 and 2022. Communications Committee "Musings and Meanderings"

Note From Co-Chairs

Georgia Quartaro

Dianne Diniz

Happy New Year! Welcome to our first newsletter of 2023! We are looking forward to the year ahead. Several interesting activities are already being planned. You can read about some of them in this newsletter and can sign up for ones that will happen over the next several weeks.   Many of you attended our Annual General Meeting on December 2nd. Once again we met using Zoom. We had a presentation honouring those who had retired over the past year. If you missed it or would enjoy seeing it again, there is a link in this newsletter. Be sure to turn on your speakers so you can enjoy the music as well as the visual presentation. At the more formal part of the meeting, we heard updates about our organization’s activities, membership, communication, and finances. The proposed budget and revision of the bylaws were approved. We thanked departing board members Jennifer Cooke and Laura Lothian-Bryant, each of whom has contributed significantly over the past few years. Fortunately, both will remain active as convenors, Jennifer for the Theatre Club and Laura for the Bridge Club. We also welcomed new board members, Crystal Kotow-Sullivan and Julie Bulmash. Again there are details about this in the newsletter as well as a link to the recording of the AGM itself. The meeting concluded with a presentation about the music of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. In the question and comment session afterwards, it emerged that in addition to our own familiarity with these singers, many members found that the presentation evoked fond childhood memories of their parents playing this music.   As we welcome new retirees, we also acknowledge former colleagues in our “Lives Lived” whenever we learn of someone’s death. Often they have lived long lives in which they have been able to pursue their interests and activities. This month, that section also acknowledges the passing of a colleague who was still active in his career at the college. It is a poignant reminder that sometimes our colleagues do not get to retire.  We have been talking about a Cinema Club for a few years and several members have expressed interest. However, the constraints of the pandemic and the challenges of streaming a film for people to watch simultaneously from their homes have kept this item on the drawing board. The prospect of meeting to watch a film now seems possible again. If you are interested, please sign up for the online meeting. We’ll see who is interested and how members would like to structure this. With luck, we’ll be passing the popcorn soon. Meanwhile, the Bridge Club and the Book Club are resuming their regular schedules.   We have enjoyed hosting and helping students in the past and are welcoming another student this month. Emma Downie will be doing a placement with us. Read about her and the activities she is planning to pursue with us over the next semester.   We hope you had enjoyable and restful holidays. We wish each of you good health and many delights in the year ahead and look forward to seeing you at our events. We also hope you will consider volunteering for the new Musing and Meanderings series.  Happy New Year! Dianne and Georgia

Retiree News Our Nod to the 2021 - 2022 Retirees At our AGM, we celebrated GBC's most recent retirees with short video clip. Click to watch or download (about 5 minutes in length) Introducing the Newest 2023 Retirees We congratulate GBC's newest group of retirees for 2023 and wish them well. Annie Engson, Database Specialist, Office of the Registrar Rachele Maciel, Administrative Assistant, Centre for Community Services & Health Sciences Jill Mulholland, Co-ordinator of Construction & Trades Centre for Continuous Learning Lisa Rogers, Chair, School of Dental Health, Centre for Community Services & Health Sciences Past Events  On December 2nd GBCRA held its 7th Annual General Meeting which was attended by almost 40 GBCRA members. Click here for a recording of the full meeting, or go to https://gbcra.org/governance-and-meetings for meeting agenda, notes, reports, and minutes. Crosby and Sinatra A Flashback to Blue-eyed Crooners Following our AGM, several of us joined Daniel Aonso form Circles Enrichment for an enlivening presentation featuring the legend of old blue eyes himself: Frank Sinatra. We explored and compared his music to the other great crooner, Bing Crosby and left with a real sense of how crooning has evolved in the 21st century! " Fun Fact: Frank Sinatra paid meticulous attention to the details of a song including the notes of a song, even though he could not read a single note of music. Piano Concert featuring Classical Piano Performer Rudin Lengo This piano concert was attended by about 100 music lovers from across Toronto, 20 of whom were members of GBCRA. The audience was treated to a superlative program expertly executed by Mr. Lengo, and he was rewarded with a standing ovation at the end.  Our group then wound our way to a private room where we enjoyed lunch with Mr. Lengo, a graduate of the Glen Gould School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Toronto Conservatory. The conversation was free and easy. We asked Rudin about his career, preparation for this concert, his early training in Albania, and his musical preferences - he is a fan of Adele! So engaging was the afternoon, that none of us even thought to take photos until the event had finished.   Mr. Lengo will be performing again in April at the Four Seasons Center, and we hope to take a group once again to hear him. This time with photos! James Dean - The Rebel James Dean, the post-war icon, only starred in three movies before his sudden death in 1955 at the age of 24. A masculine over-the-top figure who personified an unrivaled characterization of “cool,” Dean’s fascinating place in cinema history and his rebellious car crash death have only mythologized as the years passed. Through clips, photographs, and discussion, writer and film historian Ryan Uytdewilligen presented Dean’s life, films, and discussed how he embodied the nihilism of the mid-1950s.

Up and Coming Events - There's Something for Everyone!

Wednesday January 18 1:00pm - 2:00pm Launch of GBCRA Cinema Club Online "meeting" to determine the interest in this kind of club by our members and to determine how to best go forward if there is enough member interest, scheduling times and determining movies to view. Click here to register

Tuesday, January 31st 12:45pm - 1:45pm Romantic Comedies – The Recipe Hollywood loves love. Romantic comedies have been a staple since the creation of film – continuously topping the box office and melting our hearts. Join Ryan as he breaks down the formula on what goes into a good romcom from the “meet cute” to the setting. Watch excerpts from classics like "It Happened One Night”, “Roman Holiday”, “Moonstruck” and “When Harry Met Sally”, while highlighting some of Hollywood’s most beloved couples from Tracy and Hepburn to Newman and Woodward. Click here to register

Wednesday February 8th Mid Afternoon - Exact time TBA The George Brown College Alumni Office is inviting GBCRA members to a book launch for Michael Decter’s new novel, Shadow Life, on February 8th at The GBC Waterfront Campus.  After a long career in health care policy and leadership, Michael Decter has turned his hand to fiction. A Harvard-trained economist, Decter became Cabinet Secretary to the Government of Manitoba in 1982 and subsequently served as Deputy Minister of Health for Ontario as well as Founding Chair of the Health Council of Canada. He has written eight non-fiction books on health care leadership, government policy, and finance, and has been a frequent speaker and writer on these issues. Now he has written a novel described as “a taut, searching story of guilt, family secrets, and new love.” This launch event will be held mid-day (exact time TBA) in the second floor auditorium. In addition to the opportunity to hear Decter talk about his book, attendees will each receive a copy of the book and have an opportunity to meet him and to chat with other attendees at a reception afterwards. Tickets for this event are limited. Please click here to register if you would like to attend.

Student Placement Spotlight Emma Downie Emma Downie is a Mental Health and Community Worker, finishing up her studies at the First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) in partnership with Toronto Metropolitan University. Emma currently works at Stella’s Place where she connects youth and young adults to appropriate community resources and provides mental health counseling to her clients.  Emma is no stranger to GBCRA. Her mother is a GBC retiree and GBCRA member, and Emma is looking forward getting to learn more about us. Her placement runs from January until April, and during that time Emma will be researching a wide variety of issues related to retirees and helping interested individuals make specific connections to other individuals and to groups pertaining to particular issue, i.e. co-housing as one way of aging in place. Emma is particularly interested in connecting with retirees to examine the meaning that “community” holds for us as individuals and as a demographic. Over the course of her placement, along with conducting resource research, Emma would like to explore the notion of “community” with individuals or small groups of GBCRA members, either virtually or in person.  If you would be willing to speak with Emma, please click here, and we will facilitate the connection.

Musings and Meanderings- Member Spotlight Join in the Fun!!! The Communications Committee is excited to introduce a new column to our newsletter called "Musings and Meanderings"  Here is a description: We are retirees of the College system - some of us have worked in several colleges and some of us have spent our college careers at George Brown College. But there is more to the story - many of us came into the college system from other professions and fields of expertise. The Musings and Meandering Series is about the journey that we have taken over a lifetime. We hope to capture the diverse experiences that we have encountered as well as the treasures we have discovered along the way.  You are invited to be a guest on this new series. It will be pre-recorded, published in our newsletter, and then posted to our GBCRA YouTube Channel. Of course, you will have the final say over what is published and what is not. The program will be hosted by Crystal Kotow-Sullivan, who has done webcasts and podcasts for the past three years. Her webcast, called Soiree Lifestyle Series 2020, has 62 episodes and her current podcast, called Journey to Inner Wisdom, has 26 episodes. Crystal is a 2012 retiree of GBC. This promises to be an enlightening and entertaining series and we hope that you will join us. Let us know you are interested by dropping us a note at [email protected]

Sponsor Spotlight  We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends! Thank You Richmond Station In this new column we will put the spotlight on our supporters. This month we thank Mr. Brandon Wraith, George Brown graduate and Assistant General Manager of Richmond Station. For the past two years, Brandon has arranged for the Richmond Station donation an exquisite dinner for two at their Chef's Table plus wine pairings to our GBCRA Scholarship auction.

Here's what this year's lucky winners Gayle Takahashi and Pat Goyette had to say. Says Pat, "We enjoyed an amazing meal at the Richmond Station restaurant. The generous donation to our GBCRA auction by the restaurant made it possible for us to partake of the Chef's Menu with wine pairing. The food was exquisite, and the service was professional and friendly. I don't think I will wait till next year's auction for the chance to visit this restaurant again!" Visit them at https://richmondstation.ca

Pat Goyette and Gayle Takahashi

Tips & Advice  Did You Know... Sinai Health/UHN Health Aging 101 Education Series   Sinai Health/UHN and Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health and the University Health Network Hospitals in partnership with RTO (Retired Teachers of Ontario), have developed a valuable webinar series called "Healthy Ageing 101."   The Healthy Ageing 101 Webinar Series is a free, virtual health education series open to all. Every month, September through June, a new topic related to healthy ageing is discussed. During the one-hour session, attendees will hear from an expert speaker and have the opportunity to participate in a 30-minute question and answer session.   The Sinai Health team has developed important, relevant and valuable content in an effective and enjoyable format. Please visit https://sinaigeriatrics.ca/healthy-ageing101/#tab-id-2 for the upcoming list of topics. Future sessions include: Advice on How to Approach Advance Care Planning and End-of-Life Conversations Balanced Diet, Balanced Life: How to Get the Most Out of Your Meals and Keep a Healthy Weight CRA Outreach Program for Older Adults 65+   Each session is recorded and posted on the website afterwards, alongside the slides presented by the speaker. Visit https://sinaigeriatrics.ca/healthy-ageing101/#tab-id-3 to review previous session.   To sign up for the Healthy Aging and Geriatrics Mailing List, visit https://sinaigeriatrics.ca/subscribe/

Lives Lived We Celebrate and Honour the Lives of Our Colleagues

Peter Norman Cherrie / Peter Wylde (1931 - 2022) Peter discovered his love of music and theatre history very early in his life. He studied Modern and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto and Harvard, subsequently teaching Russian literature at Harvard, U of T, and Smith College (Mass). Peter had a long and fulfilling life in the world of theatre under the name Peter Wylde. He was an actor in England, at the Stratford Festival, and on Broadway and worked as a dramaturge for Toronto Arts Productions. He was a coach and mentor to his students and protégés until the end of his life. He taught at the National Theatre School of Canada, Ryerson University, and did private teaching and coaching. Peter was a professor at the George Brown Theatre School from 1986 to 1999. His directing credits include work with the Toronto Children's Opera Chorus and the Pacific Opera Victoria, B.C. Peter embraced 21st century technology, Zooming with students during the pandemic. His reflections on on acting and on Canadian theatre history can be seen on YouTube.

Joanna Berlinghoff (1951-2022)  As a high school student, Joanna spent a couple of summers travelling southern Ontario with friends working as a barker for the Conklin shows. During a gap year after grade 13, she hitchhiked in Europe as far as Istanbul. While studying at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland from 1973 to 1979, she worked part time at a language school teaching English as a foreign language and so found her calling - teaching English as a second language to adults. She returned to Canada and taught high school French and ESL at two private language schools while attending George Brown College to attain her TESL certification. In 1988 she was hired as a professor in the School of ESL at GBC where she met her lifelong companion Ron Cooper. She enjoyed volunteer work at Community Centre 55 in Toronto's East End where she continued teaching after retirement, helping new immigrant women with their language skills. She was an avid reader and boisterous tennis fan. Joanna and Ron enjoyed travelling to many parts of the world. They spent 15 Canadian winters in New Zealand, a favourite destination which became a second home.

Donald Simpson (1923-2022)   Don was an educator throughout his professional life, primarily as a teacher and counselor. He was a committee member involved in changing the high school curriculum into semesters and eliminating grade 13. He also had a love for poetry, especially reciting it. After retiring from his role in secondary education, he finished his career teaching at George Brown College and as a member of the Mississauga Senior Centre. He spent his final years living in Windsor to be nearer his extended family.  Jessie Rosalind Powell (1929 – 2022) Jessie was born in Madras, India. She graduated from a university in Vellore, India, with a B.Sc. in Nursing and worked for several years as a nursing superintendent in Bangalore. In 1970, Jessie and her husband moved Toronto, where she resumed her career. She joined George Brown as a professor in the School of Nursing in 1972 and taught at the College for over 20 years. She had a reputation as a warm and supportive teacher as well as one with firm professional standards. In retirement, she travelled extensively and was active in her church and her community.

Stevan Ciric (1961-2022)  Stevan was a highly intelligent, deep thinker who greatly valued education. He obtained an undergraduate degree at Carleton University, then went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Divinity at Washington Theological Union in Washington D.C. When he came back to Toronto, he continued his education at the University of Yorkville, completing his Master’s in Counselling Psychology. These studies led Stevan to a rich career including administering to the homeless and at risk youth as a social worker, running his private practice, providing counselling to staff and the dying in palliative care units in Toronto, and then landing at George Brown College in 2002 where for 20 years he was a member of faculty and administration. He taught social sciences, religion, politics, history and communications. He was a passionate and humorous professor who connected strongly with his students as evidenced by the NISOD Excellence Award he received in 2008. He went on to serve as a Student Success Specialist in 2009, before becoming Chair of the School of Health & Wellness and the School of Health Services Management in 2011. He was very proud of his work at George Brown College, and it was extremely fitting that he spent the majority of his professional career working in the field of education which he held in such high regard.

Call for Volunteers We are sure that you all know that organizations like GBCRA highly depend upon its members to contribute to the operation of the organization and its programs. We are thrilled that so many people are stepping forward to take on the roles of Board members, committee members and convenors.  We have an urgent need that perhaps you could help us fill…..and its kind of fun! You may have noticed that our newsletters contain some photos of members, but not many; and the reason is simple - we simply forget to take photos during the setting up and running of events. If you are looking for a fun way to spend some time, perhaps you would consider volunteering for us by attending our events and taking photos that we can use in the newsletter.  Click here and let us know you can help us out!

This Newsletter is compiled by a Board Committee of Bob Cox, Crystal Kotow-Sullivan, and Joan Reynolds. Various members of the Association write articles for the newsletter and we encourage member participation. This month we thank Georgia Quartaro, Dianne Diniz, Bob Cox, Emma Downie Please feel free to contact our Communicatons Director, Bob Cox, to provide us with feedback, suggestions, and articles by clicking here

GBCRA 2146A Queen St E, Unit 46, Toronto, ON M4E 1E3 | www.gbcra.org ‌