The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

Remembering Dorothy Rungeling page 1 Sulphur Spring residents ticked-off page 3 Bigelow water main page 8

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OROTHY RUNGELING

Rana Bshara, Multicultural Centre Woman of the Year, with her husband, Antuon, and their children, Soleil and Ghasson.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Dorothy Rungeling, 1911-2018 Aviator, author, member of the Order of Canada, to be celebrated on March 2

BY SAMUEL PICCOLO

The VOICE

Dorothy Wetherald Rungeling, the lifelong Pelham resident who was awarded the Order of Canada in 2003 for her feats in aviation, died on February 17.

Rungeling was born Helen Maude Doane in 1911 and was adopted by the writer Ethelwyn Wetherald, who renamed her Dorothy and with whom she grew up on a farm in Fenwick.

See DOROTHY Page 12

Dorothy Rungeling on her 106th birthday.

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was already quite old when I first met her. Her arrival at Lookout Ridge was whispered about with anticipation. I was in high school, employed in the kitchen at the time, and even in a dining room full of grey heads the presence of a centenarian was something special.

She did not look well on first sight. She was recovering from some malady or another, and was weak and tired and had misplaced her hearing aids, and was being pushed around in a wheelchair. (In the five years I knew her, though, this was the only time I saw her so transported.)

This period of respite did not last long. Within several weeks she had reacquired her stamina and was soon a beloved resident. This was before I knew about her past life, and in the absence of information about her accomplishments my first judgments were based on her 100-year-old appearance.

Yet even before I knew that she was possibly the most interesting person in the room, I already thought she was the most interesting-looking person there.

The pigment had long since See COLUMN SIX back page

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Column Six

Multicultural Centre award goes to Rana Bshara The Welland Heritage Council and Multicultural Centre has awarded this year’s International Woman of the Year award to Rana Bshara. The award, which is in its 14th year and is given to women who have arrived in Canada within the previous 10 years, will be presented to Bshara as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations on Friday.

“I was very surprised when I heard that I had won,” said Bshara, who came to Canada from Syria with her family in August of 2016.

“When you arrive someplace new, you don’t realize that you’re doing a great job until others say something.

There’s so much new going on—you’re learning, trying to understand everything.

I didn’t think that I had done anything to deserve the award. But then people around me said, ‘You deserve it.’”

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Page 2

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

IN THE NEWS

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

by Dave Burket

I met Dorothy Rungeling just once. The occasion was last May, when she turned 106, and I took her photo as she sat in her living room at Lookout Ridge. She was excited by the commotion of the day, but also wary of tiring too soon, a concern shared by friends who had stopped by to help her prepare for the party waiting downstairs. We spoke once on the phone after that—a follow-up to confirm that Dorothy was fine with the Voice running excerpts from her books about life growing up in Fenwick. For over a year now a folder has sat on my computer labelled “_Dorothy”—the underscore to ensure it appears at the top of the list—and it has been empty the entire time.

And that’s what ran short— time. There is never enough

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Break-in

time. We do still plan to run Dorothy’s stories. I’m sorry that she won’t be here to see them come alive on the page once more… A life well-lived: Sam Piccolo’s work this week is outstanding yet again. He surveys Dorothy Rungeling’s life and many accomplishments, and recalls his own moments in her presence.

Settle in and enjoy. It’s some fine writing… Rubbing salt in the wound: Not only did that Voice on Vacation bunch at the bottom of this page have to jet off to the azure beauty of Grenada, and lounge about in the heat in their shortsleeved shirts and sunglasses, but they had to choose our February 7 issue to take along, the one in which Fenwick Flossie the man-rodent predicted six more weeks of winter! Fine. Enjoy your de-

licious cocktails while we shiver, grumble-grumble…

More seasonally appropriate: March is upon us and so is the maple syrup. Agape is holding their annual Maple Syrup Days. See their message on page 9… Or Name That Tune: After a Saturday of knocking back the syrup, wash it down with a cold one and enjoy some music trivia at Peter Piper’s. Details on the back page…That skunky smell: A couple of weeks back the Town of Pelham provided residents with a provincial ministry email address to use when complaining about marijuana crop odours in town, which we dutifully printed. Turns out it’s wrong.

A reader helpfully wrote in with the correct address, which is: cmc@hc-sc.gc.ca …

Spring: Just 21 days away.

THE VOICE POLL: Results Last week we asked: With the new community centre and its many facilities set to open this June, the current Pelham Arena on Haist Street will become surplus to needs. Should the Town of Pelham proceed on its current course to sell the existing arena to real estate developers? Or should it postpone a final decision until after the municipal election in October, when a new council may choose a different path?

Answer choices were: Yes, sell it now. The loss of space is relatively minimal, and the Town needs the cash earned by the sale to help pay for the new community centre.

No, stop the sale. There is sufficient community opposition to justify waiting, allowing voters a say through the ballot box.

Results: As of Monday afternoon when the poll closed, there were 31 votes (11%) in favour of selling now, and 249 (89%) in favour of postponing a decision until after the election. Percentages rounded.

YES NO

Voice on vacation!

lished it. Addresses are mapped by block to ensure the privacy of residents. Exact addresses are never published.

Incidents that will be mapped include: Break & Enter, Robbery, Theft, Assault, Property Crime, Suspicious Activity, Weapons Offence, Fire, Persons in Crisis.

(In a brief survey of the site, the Voice found 32 total incidents reported over the last six months in downtown Fonthill—the large majority being property crimes—and eight incidents in Fenwick during the same period [three property crimes, two assaults, two thefts, and one theft of vehicle]. By contrast, and not surprisingly, over the same six months there were a total of 261 incidents in Port Colborne, 761 incidents in Welland, 1810 in Niagara Falls, and 2838 in St. Catharines.)

Police say that the information provided is not in real time and does not represent an exhaustive list of all NRPS incidents. There is a two-to-three day delay in processing information.

Information on sex offenders is not displayed.

“It is our hope for that this new tool will act as a way for the public to be a part of crime prevention and reduction,” said NRPS Chief Bryan MacCulloch.

Police say that a home was broken into last W e d n e s d a y, in the 1900 block of Effingham Street near Metler Road. The occupant was absent when thieves broke in through a basement window. A safe was forced open and a small amount of old-style Canadian currency, possibly from the 1950s, was stolen.

Crime reports now online

The Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) has launched a new initiative to allow community members access to information related to criminal activity in the Niagara Region.

Crime Reports are available via a link on the NRPS website: https://www.niagarapolice.ca/en/community/crime-reports.asp Crime mapping provides neigbourhoods with valuable information, says police media liason Stephanie Sabourin, about recent crime activity and therefore the ability to be more vigilant and implement crime awareness and prevention efforts in their homes, workplaces and community.

Users may access and browse an occurrence as shown on a map by type, time, general location (block or cross-street) and name of agency that pub-

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Column Six

Growing up British

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Apple Day comes to Fonthill

BY JULIE MANNELL

Special to the VOICE

W

BALLOONING INTEREST Grade 6 student Jinja Shepherd explains her experiment on static electricity at the Glynn A. Green Public School's annual science fair last Friday. See story, page 3.

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

Public meeting tonight on school issues

BY VOICE STAFF As questions continue to mount regarding an email that Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn quietly sent to a District School Board of Niagara trustee last summer, Augustyn has agreed to address the issue at a public meeting scheduled for this evening, Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Fenwick.

Nancy Beamer, speaking for “Names Matter,” a Pelham citizens group lobbying the DSBN to reverse its decision to rename a local public school, confirms that the meeting will be held at Fire Station #2, known locally as the Fenwick Fire Hall, starting at 7:00 PM. While the Mayor has agreed to ap-

Under pressure, Mayor to address email revelation, other E. W. Farr matters pear, says Beamer, DSBN officials associated with the school-naming process have either declined to attend or have not yet responded to the group’s invitation.

DSBN Chair, Dale Robinson, to whom Augustyn’s email was addressed last June, has declined to appear, says Beamer, asserting that she would be

“on holidays.” The Voice was unable to independently confirm Robinsion’s intentions. She did not respond to repeated requests for comment on E.W. Farr-related matters before presstime.

Beamer, whose group maintains an email list of some 580 residents, says that all members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting.

“We would especially welcome parents and children who are unhappy with the name change,” she says, referring to the contentious decision by the DSBN to consolidate two Pelham See MEETING back page

HEN I WAS young, my father and I would go for long drives along the rural routes of Pelham. We’d blast George Thurgood and roll down the windows because we loved the smell of the breeze, the sensation of crisp Niagara wind beating our cheeks and tangling our hair against our summer-kissed skin.

My father was not a sentimental man. He worked in factories and had a Gordon Lightfoot mustache and never shed tears over injuries.

Yet something about the Pelham landscape, the hilly backdrop to his childhood and the childhoods of our ancestors, drew him in. He’d stop by a farm or a gathering of woods and, surrendering his manly veneer, tell me a story about the town.

This place is precious. This is the earth that granted us life. Here is the place where we happened upon love or here is a site of devastation.

On one particular drive sometime in the late ‘90s we stopped at a tree with a plaque.

“This tree looks dead,” I said to my father.

“It sure is getting there, Julie.”

The Comfort Maple is supposedly Canada’s oldest See COLUMN SIX Page 14

Part 2 of 2: Coronation to embarkation

BY VOICE STAFF

A construction error was discovered following the opening of a traffic calming chicane on Haist Street north of Hwy 20 last Monday that prevented large vehicles from passing through.

One resident living in the neighbourhood said he contacted the Town after seeing a small schoolbus get stuck as it tried to get through the new traffic calming measure. Later that day while driving behind a cement truck, he said that he became concerned for the public’s safety when the truck had to turn around because it couldn’t get through.

“If a small school bus and a cement truck can’t make it through what about a fire

BY HEATHER McLAREN ROHRER

Special to the VOICE

A

Repair measures underway last week to correct a construction error in the chicane. truck or an ambulance?” he said.

While waiting for the contractor to return to fix

the mistake, the Town has taken measures to temporarily allow passage for vehicles through the neigh-

VOICE PHOTO

bourhood in the short-term.

Manager of Public Works Ryan Cook said that after discovering the issue with

the chicane the morning it first opened, the Town See CHICANE Page 5

Petition-inspired changes coming to 2017 Summerfest

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

Representatives from the Pelham Summerfest committee Candy Ashbee and Bill Gibson presented council with a final report on the 2016 Summerfest at the Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 21.

Prompted by a story in the Voice in August about a merchant petition to move Summerfest from Pelham Street, in September Town staff met with various stakeholders to hear their complaints, promising at the time that changes in the way Summerfest was mounted would be con-

sidered.

The main concerns identified during the community engagement process were security, parking, ensuring customer can access all businesses in town, and liability for damages. How to get all Pelham Street businesses to participate and finding ways to make it beneficial for them to set up a booth were also determined to be of high priority for the committee as they plan for next year’s event.

Gibson told Council that the committee is addressing these concerns in a variety of ways. To improve parking, they intend to create bet-

ter signage for out-of-town visitors to designated parking areas and shuttle services. To make participation in Summerfest more enticing to local businesses, they plan to implement a tiered-charge for booths. Under the new system, Pelham Street business owners will be charged the least, other local businesses will pay a slightly higher fee, and vendors from outside Pelham will pay the most. In response to more specific issues for individual businesses, they will also slightly alter the footprint of the event and make adjustments to security.

Another way the committee plans

Debbie

Get

to improve the 2017 Summerfest is by sponsoring and working with the organizers of the Thursday Night Bandshell Concert series to select the artist performing on the first night of Summefest. They also intend to make more use of the smartphone app they launched in 2016.

"We are really going to push it this year," Ashbee said.

“It really helps to get people to see what events there are so they can plan out where they are going.

We will be able to actually help the merchants and local businesses adSee CHANGES Page 5

FTER LUNCH ON Saturday, Mum and Dad had my afternoon cut out for me. Mum had more brass than anyone I knew, and it had to be cleaned. In addition there was the set of silver fish-knives and forks which were never used, but which had to be cleaned and put back in their velvetlined box.

Next was a walk to the newsagents to pay for the daily delivery of the Daily Mirror. As I said, Dad was a printer, but when he was 37 he had been rejected for a job, as being too old, by the printers of the Beano.

For that reason, my favourite comic was not allowed in the house, but while I was paying the papers, the newsagent let me have a 'shoofty' at the Beano. I'd explained my predicament and he understood completely.

Sundays were different again. Dad would play golf on summer mornings and billiards in winter. Then he'd stop for a 'refresher' at the local and would pick up the prawns, cockles, winkles or whelks we'd be having for tea later. Meanwhile, Mum was roasting the 'joint' and potatoes. I got to make the Yorkshire pud, and mint

See COLUMN SIX Page 14

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BY VOICE STAFF

While shopping in Fonthill between Friday and Sunday, keep an eye out for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts in front of local stores with bushels of apples.

As part of the annual Apple Day campaign, Scouting youth of all ages will be trading apples for donations.

The yearly fundraising drive is an important way for young Scouts to connect with the communities they are serving, says Leah Marie of Scouts Canada.

“The Apple Day campaign holds a great tradition of being able to have youth interacting within the communities they live in,” she says. “All of the Apple Day donations stay directly within the group that re-

The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and well-rounded individuals

ceives them, enabling youth to have experiences that build character, challenge them, and allow them to try new things. The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and wellrounded individuals, better prepared for success. Apple Day helps to achieve that.”

“Any money raised during Apple Day goes towards improving the Scouting program by providing more outdoor adventures for youth, camping equipment, canoes and paddles, training and many other endeavours that the youth want to experience,” says Marie.

Scouts Canada has some 100,000 members across Canada, and carries out programs for boys, girls

Joining their principal, Karen Simpson, at the Sept.

19 Council meeting as part of a delegation from EL Crossley Secondary School, students Abby Loewen and Neenah Williams presented Council with a list of reasons that they should immediately approve the construction of the new sidewalk proposed along Hwy. 20. The asphalt side-

walk/trail is slated to be built between the south side of the road from Timmsdale Crescent to the high school.

Because of the large volume of motor vehicle traffic travelling at high speeds through this area, and because of the necessity for students to tread this path on a daily basis, many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later.

After delivering to Council a petition containing

Many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later the names of 450 students calling for a safer walk to school, Simpson handed the

podium over to Loewen and Williams to plead their case.

Loewen told Council that because there are a lot of students who have work placements and coop placements during the school year, this is the only route for many of them to travel.

As one of the students facing this predicament, Williams said she has had no other option but to walk along the dangerous highway.

www.pennylanesold.com

H EATHER AND P ENNY L ANE S ALES R EPRESENTATIVES

BY JOHN SWART

VOICE Correspondent

and youth ages 5-25. This year the 3rd Fonthill Group, which includes Beavers to Ventures (youth ages 5- 25) will be hitting the streets to drum-up support.

Over the weekend, Scouts will be set up in Fonthill outside Sobeys, Tim Hortons, Target Gas station, Fonthill Shopping Plaza and the Pioneer Gas station at the corner of Hwys 20 and 24.

Town Council approves sidewalk to serve E. L. Crossley

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

Cell 905.933.3049

T

Second year Beaver with the 3rd Fonthill Group, Russell Letford offers a fresh apple to shoppers in Pelham during the 2015 Apple Day campaign.

SUPPLIED PHOTO A longtime Canadian tradition, Apple Day began in 1932 in Saint John, New Brunswick, when Scouts handed out 21,000 apples as a way to say thank you to the community. In return for their generosity, many people offered them donations. From then on Scouts have reached out through Apple Day to raise funds for their programs.

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Column Six It doesn’t get better than Autumn

Longtime Scouting tradition dates to 1932

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Request made of community still peeved at name change

See DSBN Page 9

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Column Six

BY VOICE STAFF The District School Board of Niagara is requesting that the Town of Pelham cede a portion of Cherry Ridge Park for use as a soccer field to serve the students of the new Wellington Heights Public School, formerly the E. W. Farr Memorial Public School, in Fenwick.

Currently under renovation and expansion, the new school will combine students and staff from the previous school and Pelham Centre, where classes are being held while construction continues.

Two letters, containing virtually identical text but signed by different authorities, were sent last week to nearby residents of the park, as well as to parents of Pelham Centre students.

“The DSBN is currently building onto Wellington Heights Public School on Alsop Drive,” states the letter. “The size of the school's addition means the existing small soccer field will be eliminated.

The Town and the Board have been discussing the possibility of working together to create a field for both the school and the

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In an effort to bring further attention and deterrence to driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs, the Niagara Regional Police Service reports the names of those people who are charged with an alleged criminal impaired driving offence in the Region. None of the following charges have been proved in court.

In addition to being charged, these individuals are also bound by a Ministry of Transportation 90-Day Administrative Driver’s License Suspension and are prohibited from operating a motor vehicle on a roadway. The public is encouraged to contact the Niagara Regional Police Service Traffic Safety Hotline or Crime Stoppers to report those who are driving in contravention of the suspension.

The following individuals have been charged criminally with impaired driving by alcohol or drugs, driving with a blood alcohol concentration above 80 mgs of alcohol in 100 ml of blood, or refusing to provide a breath / blood sample.

Donald D. JAHNS, 53, Niagara Falls Jordyn C. McCORMACK, 31, Niagara Falls Jennifer M. LEES, 28, St. Catharines Illoana M. SEYMOUR, 33, St. Catharines Franco CRISTOFANO, 33, St. Catharines Garret J. WAGNER, 21, Mississauga Tyler D. WEBB, 25, Grimsby Ibrahim M. SULIMAN, 24, St. Catharines Trevor A. HESP, 21, St. Catharines Steven J. MOORE, 32, St. Catharines Nolan R. IVANOVSKIS, 30, Welland Dennis A. WILLMS, 47, No Fixed Abode

The Niagara Regional Police Service is committed to reducing impaired driving offences through education and the apprehension of offenders through enforcement programs like RIDE. Impaired driving is still the leading cause of criminal deaths in Canada and destroys thousands of lives every year.

Congratulations

In Grenada: Jim and Nancy Yungblut, and Dave and Dagmar vanRavenswaay, with Dave and Brenda Dayman taking the picture. So blue!

NRPS impaired driving charges

“I start work at 2:30 PM and school lets out at 2:15 PM so I can’t take any other route,” Williams explained.

“I have had friends, family, teachers and other community members reach out to me in the past about how this is unsafe and how there should be another alternative for us.”

Looking ahead to winter, when she will need to walk this path three or four times See SIDEWALK Page 2

HERE IS NO BETTER time to cycle than Fall. It matters not whether you’re new to the sport, a seasoned recreational cyclist, racer, touring rider or mountain biker; we all have reason to look forward to autumn.

Summer’s heat has faded, and the streams of sweat that ran from soggy helmets into our eyes are now just slight perspiration. Fitness is peaking from lots of saddle time, making those tough climbs of Spring a breeze in Autumn.

It’s hard to beat the feeling of beginning a crisp, cool Fall ride with a slight shiver, knowing your efforts will soon warm you perfectly.

The hues of Autumn are outstanding.

A Pelham route as simple as following our southern boundary is one that would make most Toronto cyclists jealous, especially when our forests and fields are ablaze with colour.

Begin from Harold Black Park, and zig-zag south along Effingham Rd toward the Welland River.

If you’re new to cycling, it’s important to know south is the direction away from any hills.

If you avoid the morning and evening weekday rush hours caused by those travelling through Pelham between Wainfleet See AUTUMN Page 3

Indulgence Bakery Mossimo’s Pelham Street Grille Sobeys Fonthill Peter Piper’s Pubhouse DeVries Fruit Farm Beamer’s Hardware & TV Fonthill Library PenFinancial Credit Union Bob’s Boys Antiques Moku’s Family Health Pharmacy Fonthill Fitness Fenwick Pie Company McDonald’s Fonthill Legion Semenuk’s Gas Bar Target Store Tim Horton’s Giant Tiger Pelham Town Hall Pub on the Hill Zee Lube Express Care Food Basics Minor Bros Stores Avondale Stores A-1 Market Sobeys South Pelham Grill on Canboro Pelham Library Ridge Berry Farm Circle-K

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

Page 3

Guardrails anger Sulphur residents Barriers installed just before road closure, no explanation from Town The recent installation of guardrails on Sulphur Spring Drive has angered residents of the street, further exacerbating their frustration that the Town has not repaired a section that has been closed for nearly two years.

During the week of February 12, guardrails of approximately 80 and 120 feet were installed on either side of Sulphur Spring between Orchard Hill Road and Luffman Drive, just before the part of the road that is closed. Part of the guardrail hugs the road as it crosses a bridge, though a large portion of it is not at the water crossing. The road is straight at this point.

Last week, several residents of the street gathered together to walk along the road and physically observe the area.

“The big white elephant is the closed road,” said David Stark, a medical doctor who has lived on the drive for some two decades. Near Luffman Drive, part of the road collapsed into the adjacent creek. Ever since, the residents said, the road has eroded more and more, likely meaning that the cost of any fix has also increased.

In spring 2016, Stark and other residents of the road were told by the Town that the road closure would be “temporary.” But the 2018 Capital Budget pushes the repair of the road to at least until 2020, and Councillor Richard Rybiak has said, “[It looks like we are] going to continue to keep Sulphur Springs closed for the foreseeable future.”

“I don’t understand why they would spend money on putting up guard-rails on a straightaway when they should be spending money on fixing the road,” said Roberto Polillo, who owns property between the guardrails and

BY SAMUEL PICCOLO

The VOICE

the closure. There are three property owners beyond the guardrails before the road dead-ends at the closure.

Stark is one of two homeowners on that section, and said that putting up guardrails for tens of thousands of dollars while not fixing the road “makes you wonder how decisions are being made.”

Town Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald, and Town Director of Public Works Andrea Clemencio did not respond to or acknowledge multiple requests for comment. The Voice asked the Town for its rationale in installing guardrails on this stretch of road, and the cost of the work. The Voice also asked when the project was approved, since residents said they were recently told by Town staff that the guardrails had been approved a couple of years ago.

An engineer consulted by the Voice, while acknowledging that he hadn’t done guardrail work for a while, estimated that the cost was between $200 to $300 per foot, making it likely that the project cost at least $40,000, and possibly upwards of $60,000.

Marty Melnick, Stark’s neighbour, said that no one who lives in the area wanted the guardrails—or even knew that they were going to be installed.

“When I want to change something on my property, I have to tell everyone within a hundred miles to see if they have any objections,” he said.

“And the Town didn’t even tell us that it was going to happen?”

Dennis McNeil, who has lived on Sulphur Spring for 45 years, said that he’s nev-

er seen a car go off the road where the guardrails have been erected.

“They put them up on a straightaway,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

McNeil said that over the years he has helped to pull vehicles out of the creek that runs alongside the road, but at a different point in the road where there is no guardrail.

As it stands now, the part of the road where McNeil says he has seen cars go over the edge is dangerously eroded, with asphalt hanging over a crumbling bank.

As the residents walked over it, past pylons marking the danger, water squished up through the asphalt beneath their feet.

“This part of the road isn’t going to last much longer,” said Melnick. “Then we’ll be trapped in on both sides.”

Melnick also pointed to the trees cut last autumn on the bank of the creek near the guardrails. In October, a Town contractor cut vegetation on the bank using a tractor’s side-arm, leaving behind jagged stumps of three-inch saplings.

At the time, Town Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald said that work was “very minor” roadside sightline maintenance, and that the tree cuttings were part of a five-year plan to remove diseased ash from the area.

But an arborist who saw the cut saplings said that the work was not proper tree removal and instead appeared to be a cutting back of any tree encroaching on the roadside.

This cutting worried Melnick.

“The roots of those trees have to be there to help keep up the bank,” he said.

The state of the road has residents worried about

Top: Dennis McNeil and David Stark look at a road section that's dangerously eroded. Above: Marty Melnick, Brian Tighe, Dennis McNeil, David Stark, and Roberto Polillo stand in front of the recently installed guardrail.

VOICE PHOTO

This part of the road isn't going to last much longer

emergency situations. Already, Stark said, an ambulance had to be called for someone who fell into the creek, and it was delayed for half an hour because the driver was unaware that the road had been closed.

“I’m a medical professional—I know that thirty minutes is the difference between life and death,” said Stark.

Stark said that he often has to rush from his home to work, and that if the road is blocked off at the other end, he’ll be unable to get to an emergency.

“There was a tree that came down across the road, and it took two hours before it was opened up again,” he said.

Stark said that he is also troubled by the difficulty

that will likely be faced by a fire truck in travelling down the road to respond to a fire call, and speculated that the value of his house had greatly diminished.

The residents gathered were familiar with the closure of another road in Pelham, Poth Street. A resident of Poth, Bruno Villalta, says that Town CAO Darren Ottaway told him that he could “sell his house and move” if he wasn’t satisfied with the road going unrepaired.

Ottaway said of Poth residents, “They’ve exercised their constitutional right to live wherever they want, and yet now their expectation is that everyone else has to pay for that. I don’t think that’s fair.” Ottaway called a home in the area a “bad investment.”

“You chose to live there,” he said, addressing a hypothetical Poth resident.

“That’s your problem.”

Sulphur Spring resident Brian Tighe was upset by Ottaway’s suggestion that a home in a rural area of town is a “bad investment.”

“Why is it a bad investment?” said Tighe. “Because you don't have enough money to fix the roads?”

Ottaway told Council to ask, “Is this repair going to create wealth? Do the nine

parcels generate wealth?”

Stark called this a shortsighted view of the issue, and said that he thought the Town’s failure to repair the road “would create a lawsuit.”

The Niagara Region has informed residents of Sulphur Spring that it cannot collect garbage at their homes because of the difficulty involved in turning around the truck.

“We’ve got to leave it in front of our neighbour’s driveway [down the street].

The racoons pick it apart and it looks like a dump,” said McNeil.

McNeil’s home is heated by oil, and he said that one provider has already declined to deliver to him because of similar difficulties in turning the truck around at a dead end.

Sulphur Spring Drive is routinely called one of Niagara’s most scenic routes, and Stark said that before the road was closed, autumn days would sometimes bring a hundreds of sightseers in cars.

“Sure, we used to complain about the traffic then,” he said. “But the road closure is much worse. People don’t realize all that the road closure entails.”

Page 4

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

OPINION

The opinions expressed in submitted commentary and letters to the editor are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Voice of Pelham.

The Voice of Pelham is a 1211858 Ontario Limited publication David Burket, Publisher 2-1428 Pelham St., P.O. Box 1489, Fonthill, ON L0S1E0

COMMENTARY / OP-ED Larry Coté The cell phone incursion

I

F YO U H AV E ON E of those ubiquitous cell phones on your person, you and your whereabouts are being tracked and monitored. Your every move, location and communication can be watched and recorded without your knowledge or consent.

There are a number of implications associated with such skull-gadgetry.

Felons who live on the other side of the law know this. When indulging in some sort of underhanded activity these techno-savvy crooks buy a half dozen cheap cell phones and after using one deep-six it into the canal. There it will forever lie, never to reveal what’s in its memory.

Many of us have become nonchalant about the loss of privacy. We freely use wireless credit card machines, email and other mechanisms that reveal who, what, when, why and where we are.

One day last summer my golf bag and my partner’s were loaded onto a golf cart and parked to the side to await our tee time.

Unwittingly a fellow golfer came along and mistakenly stored his cell phone in my golf bag.

Following the game I stowed my clubs in my SUV and started the drive home.

As I left the parking lot I saw said person walking around the parking lot and waved to him as I drove past him.

When this fellow golfer returned home he realized that his phone was missing and used his wife’s cell phone to report this to his employer. Astoundingly, his employer’s IT guy said the phone was located in the golf course parking lot, and so he returned to the golf course to locate the missing phone. When he arrived back at the golf course the IT guy advised him that “the phone is on the move!”

Of course it was! It was still in my golf bag in the back of my vehicle.

As I made my way home suddenly my golf bag was pinging away. I pulled over and checked the pockets.

Eventually I found the cell phone. There was a flashing message that said something to the effect of, “This phone has been stolen or lost. Call the number on the screen immediately!”

I dutifully entered the number and after one short ring it was answered by a male voice who demand-

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The Voice

1428 Pelham Street, P.O. Box 1489, Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 Office open: Monday - Thursday 8 AM - 2 PM

(905) 892-8690

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca PUBLISHER & EDITOR Dave Burket publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca NEWS WRITER Samuel Piccolo ADMINISTRATION Lori Gretsinger office@thevoiceofpelham.ca CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn Botari, Larry Coté, Colin Brezicki, John Swart, Kirk Weaver

ed to know the name of the caller. Taken aback by the tone of the demand I refused to give my name and asked the inquirer to state his name and what was his business. He did so and explained that my fellow golfer somehow misplaced his cell phone with me and would be calling my cell phone shortly to arrange for the retrieval of his device.

Within minutes, the apologetic cell phone owner appeared at my door and retrieved his device.

A few years ago this story would have been an episode from a sci-fi series but today most people just shrug and pass over the implications without a care. Apparently, and in our electronic naivete, we have ceded our right to privacy, and allow unseen techno-honchos to monitor a good part of our lives with impunity.

And so it is. If you have a cell phone on your person be mindful that you are being watched— and the video camera overhead is confirming your every move.

Larry Coté is a retired college professor and has been award a Governor General’s Medal for his community contributions.

Letters Dog-walkers, please respect the cemetery As a dog owner, I get the joy associated with allowing your dog to wander off leash. I have more than once taken my dog out to the canal lands, and various wooded areas around Niagara, to wander unchecked, but please realize that a cemetery is not the location to do this.

Last week, while walking through the Fonthill Cemetery to visit my father, who passed away in 2013, I passed a couple with

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the place to allow your animals to wander unchecked.

I don't doubt for half a second that the owners of the dogs made a concerted effort to try to collect any "gifts" left behind by their animals, but when you have three dogs wandering around at large, how could you possibly expect to collect everything?

I know that we're told to always consider, and reSee CEMETERY next page

CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS Member of Federal Parliament

Electoral District: Niagara West

Dean Allison, MP 4994 King Street Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0 Dean.Allison@parl.gc.ca 877-563-7900

Mayor of Pelham David Augustyn mayordave@pelham.ca 905-892-2607 Ext 317 Members of Pelham Town Council

Member of Provincial Parliament

Ward 1 Councillor Richard Rybiak rrybiak@pelham.ca 905-892-2105

Sam Oosterhoff, MPP 4961 King St. East, Unit M1 Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0 sam.oosterhoffco@pc.ola.org 905-563-1755

Councillor James Lane jlane@pelham.ca 905-892-2607

Electoral District: Niagara West-Glanbrook

Members of Niagara Regional Council Councillor David Augustyn mayordave@pelham.ca 905-892-2607 Ext 317 Councillor Brian Baty brian.baty@niagararegion.ca 905-892-5317 Town of Pelham 20 Pelham Town Square P.O. Box 400 Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 905-892-2607

Ward 2 Councillor Catherine King cking@pelham.ca 905-658-8599

Richard

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Community Centre project updates: www.pelham.ca/pcc

NEWS INQUIRIES & TIPS editor@thevoiceofpelham.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR letters@thevoiceofpelham.ca

not one, but three dogs off leash, happily wandering around. People, this is a cemetery! This is a place where our ancestors are buried. Have respect for the dead, and please take your dogs to the leash-free dog park.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with you walking your pets through the cemetery on leash, and obviously collecting their business as you go, but really, burial grounds are not

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Page 5

OPINION Letters

FOLLOW THE MONEY By Jim Pitt

continued

Make good on promise of accessibility I am a blind person currently residing in Fonthill and I am increasingly frustrated by the absence of an accessible route for walking on Pelham Street, south of Pancake Lane.

There are no sidewalks heading south of Pancake Lane and traffic is becoming increasingly faster and heavier. Not just passenger vehicles, but lately there has been a noticeable increase in the volume of heavy truck traffic, including a number of transport trucks pulling multiple trailers.

This makes for a potentially treacherous situation for someone such as myself, navigating with a CNIB white cane.

The recent development at the southwest corner of Pelham Street and Welland Road, which includes the Circle K gas station and convenience store, has also added to the volume of traffic in the area.

There are now very limited sidewalks at that corner, most of them not completed

and cordoned off with Town of Pelham barriers. If only I could walk to this store safely, I could then call it convenient! Unfortunately the construction of this facility has left the corner of Pelham Street and Welland Road inaccessible to people with visual or mobility issues, as the sidewalks are incomplete and there is a significant drop off at the end of the new sidewalk, which has remained unfinished for well over eight months and poses a significant public safety risk to pedestrians.

I brought this issue to the attention of the Pelham Town Hall in September 2017 and advised them this situation had existed for a number of months.

I was advised by Town staff at that time that the issue was not theirs but was due to the developer not completing the sidewalks and the Region needing to complete some traffic signal work.

See ACCESS next page

CEMETERY continued from previous page spect, someone else's point of view, but sometimes I just don't get it. Imagine being graveside to pay respects to a dead relative and having a dog come up and urinate on the headstone.

Think people, think.

Kirk McInerney Fonthill

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Farming principle would be well applied to Town, personal finances

F

ARMERS HAVE A SAYING: Don’t eat your seed corn. It means that you should never eat the seeds you are saving for the next growing season, because if you do, well then obviously you won’t have anything to plant. You will probably lose the farm and starve.

Over the years governments have sold their seed corn to make the books look better. The Harris government sold the 407 highway to balance the budget just prior to an election. The Wynne government has sold a stake of Hydro One for the same reason.

Now the Town of Pelham is in the process of selling our Haist Street arena land to help pay for the folly known as the Two Arenas.

The Town has already plowed through the reserves and maxed-out the credit cards, so to speak, and now it’s desperate. Yet these public assets are not the property of any particular government, nor the politicians temporarily in charge of it. Unfortunately, legality and morality don’t coincide on the matter, since our politicians are free to sell the seed corn for whatever bargain price they can beg, leaving us mere residents footing the tax bill later, long after the pols are gone.

Canadians in general are also selling their seed corn. Let me explain.

The oldest and most used method of retirement saving is the RRSP, or Registered Retirement Savings Plan.

This program was set up long ago as a means for Canadians to save for that unknown duration of time after working. It could be a tragically short time or an uncomfortably long time.

Uncomfortable, that is, if the money runs out.

Today many government workers, especially senior workers, are paid more— much more—than their private sector counterparts In a previous column I outlined the enormous amount of debt Canadians are taking on. Home equity loans, lines of credit, car payments in the form of long term loans or high monthly leases, and credit card debt are at all-time highs. Payday loans are also on the rise. People who are insolvent are the worst offenders in this market. For every dollar they earn, they owe $1.34 to a payday loan operator. But this extra money is still not enough.

A recent survey by BMO found that 40% of respondents at some point took money out of their RRSP. The amount that is being taken out is also rising and now averages $20,952.

However, you don’t get that amount.

You get $14,667 after the 30% withholding tax, and you may still owe more to CRA. When you retire you can collect CPP. The most you can receive is around $1,100 per month, or $13,200 annually.

Very few Canadians receive the maximum. The average amount this year is about $7,700 annually. At 65 you can add the Old Age Security payment of $586.66 per month, or $7,039.92 annually. This will give you a total of $14,739 in government pensions. Obviously this will not be enough for anyone’s retirement.

In the past, many employees in the private sector had defined benefit pensions. These provide an annual pension that is inflation-adjusted and guaranteed. These types of pensions are disappearing and are now only common for government employees.

In the distant past it was felt that, since government workers were forgoing the luxurious pay found only in the private sector, an indexed, guaranteed pension would help even the playing field. That was the distant past.

See FOLLOW THE MONEY Page 8

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Did you conquer Everest or kick a bad habit?

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Page 6

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

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Today's forgotten business stopped advertising yesterday

Notice of Public Information Centre Reconstruction of Regional Road 54 (Rice Road) From Highway 20 to 200m north of Merritt Road In the Town of Pelham The section of Regional Road 54 (Rice Road), from Highway 20 to 200m north of Merritt Road is scheduled for reconstruction in 2018. Rice Road is to be reconstructed to an urban cross section (curb and gutter) on the west side and the east side will remain as a rural cross section with roadside ditches. Two 3.5m wide through lanes (one in each direction) will be constructed, as well as left turn lanes at intersections. The project will also include the construction of traffic signals at Port Robinson Road and the construction of storm sewers throughout the project.

It is anticipated that construction will commence in the early summer and will require the entire construction season to complete.

A Public Information Centre (PIC) has been scheduled for: Tuesday, March 6, 2018 4 – 6 p.m.

Pelham Public Library, Festival Room 43 Pelham Town Square, Fonthill

The purpose of the PIC is to provide adjacent residents and businesses the opportunity to view the construction drawings. The PIC will be held in an open house format. A formal presentation will not be made, but staff from Niagara Region and Upper Canada Consultants (the Region’s engineering consultant) will be present to answer questions and discuss the project.

If you require any accommodations for a disability in order to attend and participate in this meeting, please contact the Accessibility Advisory Coordinator at 905-980-6000, ext. 3252 or e-mail: accessibility@niagararegion.ca to make the appropriate arrangements.

If you are unable to attend the Public Information Centre and would like further information, you may contact one of the following individuals: Mr. Cam Milne, C.E.T. Project Manager Transportation Engineering Niagara Region 1815 Sir Isaac Brock Way Thorold, ON L2V 4T7 905-980-6000, ext. 3437 Fax: 905-685-0013 cam.milne@niagararegion.ca

Mr. Adam Keane, P. Eng. Project Manager Upper Canada Planning & Engineering Ltd. 30 Hannover Drive St. Catharines, ON L2R 6V9 905-688-9400 Fax: 905-688-5274 adam@ucc.com

Personal information collected at public meetings or submitted in writing is collected under the authority of the Municipal Act, 2001, and will be used by members of Regional Council and Regional staff. The written submissions including names and contact information and the report of the public meeting will be made available to the public. Questions should be referred to Frank Fabiano, Regional Clerk at 905-980-6000 ext. 3220.

/niagararegion

niagararegion.ca

continued

DEBT to stop public land sales Are our public lands being respected by our Mayor, councillors and CAO? We are not sure, due to the secrecy in Town Hall.

The Mayor and councillors have lost the trust of the residents by their actions and words. Residents are saying across our villages that the October election can't arrive soon enough to thoroughly clean out Town Hall of this Mayor and all councilors, as well as senior staff members that didn't have the guts to stand up.

Considering the highly questionable land deals we have learned of in the East Fonthill development, and the secrecy of Town Hall, residents are particularly concerned that the Mayor, Council and CAO are now negotiating our public asset lands under fire-sale, secretive deals that are not beneficial to the public.

We learned from an outside source that two parties the Town was trying to entice

to buy our land at considerably less that the targeted $15 million dollars, both broke off last Friday and do not want to negotiate further with the Town. Their offers were tragically lower that the reserve. Now the Town is closer to piling on an addition $15 million dollars in debt.

The Town has been asked to say what’s happening, with no information forthcoming.

The position of DEBT is to watch, wait and see.

If the Town makes any move to sell our land assets (in East Fonthill or on Haist Street) in a way that has any hint of impropriety, DEBT will consider filing an immediate appeal with the OMB to halt any sale until there is full and satisfactory public disclosure.

Curt Harley Pelham DEBT

Canadians need guaranteed annual income

PUBLIC NOTICE

Date: Time: Location:

Letters

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

@niagararegion

I am advocating for a guaranteed annual income so that Canada and Ontario can eliminate most, if not, all poverty. Our provincial Poverty Reduction Strategy officials, and our federal and provincial elected representatives, should be asking how we can improve and modernize our social safety net.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the 13 provincial/territorial premiers, including Kathleen Wynne and her Liberals, should implement a one-stop guaranteed annual income scheme for Canada’s most disadvantaged or vulnerable residents — people with disabilities, the working poor, low or fixed income seniors, mental health consumers and families, the unemployed, the

ACCESS continued from previous page Six months have now passed and no action has taken place to rectify this public safety issue. I again emailed the Pelham Town Hall on February 9 to express my concerns regarding this situation I and was advised that it is the ongoing fault of the Region, who have not completed traffic signal upgrades as of yet, so that the property developer can complete the sidewalks, in turn.

I am concerned not only for my own safety but that of others living and travelling at this end of Fonthill, including a significant

underemployed and the homeless.

Some people believe governments cannot reduce or eliminate poverty. On the contrary; we can’t afford to not to.

A 1984 book called “Canadian Churches and Social Justice,” by John R. Williams, suggests governments have basically three ways to help those “in need”: progressive taxation through tax credits, like the disability tax, family and seniors tax credits, and GST rebates; public services and social agencies, such as Public Medicare, the provincial drug program, subsidized housing, income supplements — CPP, EI, OAS, senior GIS, income support, special needs

number of young children in the neighbourhood.

In reviewing the Ontario governments 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the accompanying regulations, I have noted that there are provisions in the regulations to ensure that new developments and existing developments that are being renovated require accessible sidewalks and external paths of travel. These requirements apply to private sector organizations and all levels of government, including municipalities such as the Town of Pelham.

In a document titled The Path to 2025: Ontario’s Accessibility Action Plan,

See INCOME Page 14

the Ontario government states, “in order to truly be successful in achieving our goal, we need to reach higher, to go beyond the requirements of the AODA and its standards. We need to integrate accessibility into everything we do, until it becomes second nature.”

This philosophy does not appear to be shared by the town of Pelham.

There is a significant number of longstanding accessibility issues present here in town. Numerous sidewalks have low hanging branches at face and head level that someone can walk into, shrubs and small trees impinging onto sidewalks, and audible crosswalk signals that can be difficult to activate properly or do not function properly. These are just a few other examples of accessibility issues that can be faced daily.

Yet the Town of Pelham’s Accessibility and Inclusion web page states that, “the Town is committed to the identification and removal of barriers to people with disabilities.”

It also states that the Town of Pelham is a member of the Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee (JAAC), which is a partnership between six communities in Niagara: Thorold, Pelham, Ni a g a r a- o n-t h e-L a k e, Lincoln, West Lincoln, and Grimsby. Their website states: “Together with Council, we share a commitment to facilitate the identification and removal of barriers to people with disabilities promoting equal opportunities to our citizens of all abilities.”

Jonathan Cecilli Fonthill

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

Page 7

TOWN COUNCIL NEWS Rental fees, facilities allocation, zombies

BY VOICE STAFF In its shortest meeting for some time, Pelham Town Council had a light agenda last Monday evening. The lengthiest discussion held was on updated user fees and charges for Town facilities and services.

Councillor Gary Accursi asked about the listed gym fees for the community centre.

“It seems extremely low to me,” he said.

“Comparing it to the rental of the Kinsmen Room—it just seems excessively low to me for twenty dollars an hour.”

Director of Public Works, Andrea Clemencio, said that the fees for the community centre had been reviewed by Town staff, and that room rentals (such as the Kinsmen Room) were more expensive because they included a cost for setup and cleanup.

“These kinds of costs are incurred with gymnasium fees,” said Clemencio. “We have to honour fees in license agreements that are signed and agreed to.”

Accursi did not immediately relent.

“Twenty dollars would probably not cover the hydro and heat and running a mop over the floors,” he said. “Do we have an alternate cost for groups not part of those agreements? I think we’d lose money at twenty dollars and hour—it’s not even worth opening the gym for that amount.”

Director of Recreation, Culture, and Wellness, Vickie vanRavenswaay told Accursi that the Town was pricing the rental to be competitive. “Twenty dollars is comparable to the board of education,” she said. “When it comes to Pelham basketball, they’re paying less than twenty dollars right now, though they have signed for the twenty dollar fee. We can look at fees again in 2019.”

Mayor Dave Augustyn asked for a comparison between the rental cost of rooms at the community centre and Old Pelham Town Hall. In response, vanRavenswaay

said that comparing the two was comparing apples to oranges.

“Old Pelham Town Hall is a self-serve,” she said. “You come here [to Town Hall] to pick up the key and leave your deposit, then you set up and clean up yourself at Old Town Hall. At the community centre, all of that will be done by staff.”

Council also spent time during the meeting discussing the facility allocation policy. Accursi asked for more explanation of a particular line. “’Community youth organizations will be encouraged to utilize early morning and non-prime time hours as well as shared time wherever possible,’” read Accursi from the document, before turning to Clemencio.

“We’re softly encouraging them to take advantage of less-appealing or very early hours,” said Clemencio. “[We’re trying to get] even sharing of prime-time hours.”

Accursi also asked about a clause that read, “new special event or tournament requests received less than 12 months before the desired event date, will only be considered if there is an economic, social or cultural benefit to the Town.”

“This sounds harsh to me,” said Accursi.

“We’re trying to rent our facilities. Sometimes events come up three months ahead of time. There needs to be a lot of flexibility here, I think. Someone could read that and say, ‘I’ve missed the twelve months, I need to run the gamut to be considered.’

That’s not the message we want. We want to send the message that we’re open for business, while giving due consideration to the groups already booked.”

Clemencio agreed that the wording of See TOWN COUNCIL NEWS Page 18

Steve Vaughan, pushed by Gracie Furlong, moves in for a dunk on Saturday.

VOICE PHOTO

River Lions v. Panthers in wheelchair ball The Niagara River Lions professional basketball team, which plays out of St. Catharines, joined the Pelham Panthers wheelchair basketball team for a match on Saturday morning at E.L Crossley high school.

“We’re trying to promote the idea of wheelchair basketball,” said Rhys Evans, a member of the Pelham team.

“Our roster is kind of short this year, with some players

BY VOICE STAFF moving on and choosing to do other things.”

Evans explained why wheelchair basketball is so important.

“It brings people together—people with disabilities and able-bodied people,” he said. “There’s the Brock Penguins wheelchair basketball, but you have to have more ability to play there.

We adapt our rules to fit the

people, so that everyone can play.”

The River Lions were handily trounced by the Panthers team, though in their defense wheelchair basketball is incredibly difficult for those not used to it.

“Man, my arms are so tired,” said Dwayne Smith, a forward for the team who said also that he had not See DUNK Page 16

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Page 8

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

Infrastructure issues: Foss Road dip, Bigelow water main

BY VOICE STAFF Numerous residents in the Fenwick area have expressed concern that a pronounced dip in Foss Road near the railroad tracks may

be a serious culvert problem, but it appears as though the dip will correct itself in the spring.

“The deflection is due to frost heave in the area of eight-year old culvert,” said

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Town Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald. “Signs were erected, and Roads staff continue to monitor the area in road patrols. Heaves such as this typically disappear with the spring thaw.”

An independent engineer consulted by the Voice offered a similar appraisal.

“The road on each side of the culvert has heaved with frost but the culvert hasn’t—a case where the culvert could be called ‘too good an installation,’ said the engineer. “That problem will cure itself when the frost goes out in the spring.”

“People don't realize or believe what frost can do.

I've seen water frozen inside a square structural steel tube that made it round. A ski lift collapsed in British Columbia—a steel column leaked and filled with water, and then when it froze it split the column.”

But another infrastructure problem will not be cured by warmer weather.

A pipe on Bigelow Cres-

cent off Haist Street has been leaking water for some time.

When asked about the situation, M a c D o nald said, “It is suspected that this is a water service leak, likely on the municipal side of the service that is scheduled for repair.”

MacDonald further asserted that “unique conditions at this site prompted A sign alerts drivers to the presence of a dip on Foss Road in Fenwick.

VOICE PHOTO the need for specific parts to be ordered, “It’s been leaking since sponse, wondering how it hence the delay, and it is a sometime in December,” could know that specific priority for water staff.” said Spark. “The water’s parts are needed if it is only Fonthill resident Bob running out into the ditch “suspected” that the probSpark, who lives around the and right under the drivelem is a water service leak, corner on Woodstream Bouway.” and if the pipe has not been levard, walks his dog past Spark said that he was dug up to confirm the prethe leak every day. puzzled by the Town’s recise problem.

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The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

Page 9

Page 10

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

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www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

Page 11

READY TO DEPART Dorothy Rungeling at the controls of her Beechcraft, leaving Welland airport for Florida in 1963.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Page 12

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

Dorothy: Her life continued from Page 1 In 1927 she got her driver’s license; in 1949 she became a pilot, eventually winning several races and setting records as the first female to accomplish various feats.

Rungeling’s introduction to flying was an accident. In 1951, she wrote of herself as having been “a woman who was terrified of airplanes.

To her, they were machines of the devil flown by demented fools who could find nothing better to do with their time. They killed people without any provocation whatever, they just fell out of the sky for no reason at all, and they were just as likely to disintegrate before your eyes in flight as not.”

Rungeling and her husband, Charlie—an Englishman who had come to Canada to work—owned a car garage, and she wrote that Charlie had the “bright idea to have one of the little English cars we sold photographed under the wing of an airplane to use in advertising.”

When at the airport for the photo shoot, their fouryear-old son Barry wanted to go up for a ride, as did Charlie.

“It was certainly goodbye to my family forever. They would never come down alive,” wrote Rungeling.

When the two did come down safely, Barry badgered his mother into taking her own turn.

“As I climbed into the little hell-machine I borrowed Charlie’s handkerchief because I knew I would be sick,” she recalled. But she wasn’t. The flight transfixed her.

“We went home to the supper I had mentioned an hour before. Only I didn’t feel like getting supper now. I was too busy thinking about that airplane and those dials on the ‘dash’ and about how slow you went so fast,” she said. “Somehow the old world seemed very drab and unexciting. Something was wrong…something was missing…or had I been missing something?”

A week later, Rungeling returned to the airport without telling her family.

“Nobody knew I was learning to fly because I thought everybody would be against it,” Rungeling told the Voice before her 106th birthday party last year.

“But they weren’t.”

Six hours of lessons later and she was flying a plane solo. Charlie was ultimately supportive of her piloting, and the two soon bought the first of a series of their own planes.

Rungeling became known as “Canada’s Flying Housewife,” winning numerous races, including the Governor General’s Cup in 1953 and 1955, and a race from Hamilton to Havana in 1954.

She joined the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots, and in 1954 was the first Canadian woman to earn an Airline Transport License. She competed three times in the All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race, which was nicknamed the Powder Puff

Derby. She and her co-pilots once wore matching aprons embroidered with the words: “To hell with housework.”

Rungeling was also the first Canadian woman to conduct a solo helicopter flight, and in 1964 was elected Pelham’s first female Town Councillor.

In 2015 the airport at the southern reach of Pelham was renamed after her, though a lack of funds has meant that signage with Rungeling’s name has yet to be erected. Pelham Town Councillor and chair of the airport commission, Richard Rybiak, recently told the Welland Tribune that the signs will be done “as soon as we have the capital funds available for the project.”

Though Rungeling last flew a plane decades ago, her deep love for being airborne never left. When she was 101, a young acquaintance of hers remarked that he had a

As if by magic, we entered a dark, shadowy world

friend who’d be interested in taking Rungeling up for a spin in his two-seater.

“Oh, I’ve had lots of chances to go up,” said Rungeling. “I always say no.

I’m afraid I’ll catch the bug again.”

There was one time when Rungeling did return to the sky. The man to whom she had sold her last plane still had it in Grimsby. After Charlie died, Rungeling went up in it one final time.

Helgi Kernaghan, who knew Rungeling for 50 years, drove with her to the airport.

“She said that it was nice to take a ride in it, for the memories,” said Kernaghan.

“But she didn’t have the itch to fly again.”

Kernaghan and her husband Ken bought the Rungelings’ Foss Road farm in 1968. Rungeling had first come to that farm with her birth mother in 1911, when she was six months old, and she later wrote that when the property was sold to the Kernaghans, “we did not have a door key to hand over.”

“It was a working farm [in 1911],” said Kernaghan, “and her birth mother had come from Toronto to work.

Eventually, they decided that it would be better for Dot to grow up on the farm there. When she was two or three, Ethelwyn adopted her.”

Despite being adopted by Wetherald, whom she called Nan, Rungeling remained in contact with her birth mother Mary Doane, whom she called ‘Mama.’ Until Mary’s accidental death when Rungeling was a teen-

Left, Rungeling at 5, in 1916. Above, feeding a hummingbird in the 1960s, a favorite pastime. Top, Rungeling's sketch of the Fenwick farmhouse in which she grew up. SUPPLIED IMAGES

Even at the age of eight or nine, I felt the responsibility of keeping my part of the bargain

ager, Rungeling regularly visited her in Toronto.

“After looking forward all year to summer holidays so I could visit the big city, when the time actually arrived I was hesitant about going,” Rungeling wrote a lifetime later. “Going to the station in a horse and buggy gave me more time to think about it than I wanted. But even at the age of eight or nine, I felt the responsibility of keeping my part of the bargain.

It was good practice in what I had been taught—that responsibilities and promises were something to always be honoured.”

Rungeling said that her apprehension soon dissipated upon arriving in the city.

“As if by magic we entered a dark, shadowy world. It was an eerie feeling to look up on either side and see nothing but tall buildings which cast very

dark shadows and gave a feeling of nightfall—of being dwarfed, of being just a little bit scared, and I hung onto Mama’s hand a little tighter.”

When Rungeling was eight or nine, she spent a Christmas in Toronto. “[Mama] had been experiencing a particularly bad time with employment and was living in one room,” wrote Rungeling. “She did her best to give me a good time while I was with her, but soon all her money was gone and Christmas was upon us. I somehow realized that she had a financial problem and I knew enough not to expect a Christmas present—not even one. On this Christmas morning when I woke up, I fully expected that it would be just another day, and I was prepared to accept it as such. Everything would be all right.”

When Rungeling awoke

in the morning, there was a small bundle at the end of the bed.

“My mother smiled and said: ‘It’s yours. Open it. And Happy Christmas!’ There were tears in her eyes,” wrote Rungeling. “There lay a tatting shuttle. I was overjoyed. The world was right! I had a tatting shuttle!”

“I appreciated the situation more and more and years went by. I had received the best gift in the world—a gift of love and a mother’s tenacity in getting a gift for her child, no matter how small or inexpensive it was.”

When she published her first book, in 2001, Mary was the first person mentioned in the dedication.

“To my birth mother Mary, who unselfishly shared her child to give me opportunities that would otherwise have been impossible,” wrote Rungeling.

She thanked Wetherald too, who she said “even in the early 1900s taught me not to ‘follow the crowd,’ but to be my own person and follow my dreams.”

Wetherald was in her mid-50s and alone when she adopted Rungeling—of this, Rungeling wrote only, “She had many family problems that she did not share with anyone.”

Rungeling recollects her as being truly kind. In one story, Rungeling wrote of a time when she cut up her Uncle Herbert’s reins in order to make a skipping rope.

Herbert was furious, according to Rungeling, and demanded that Wetherald spank her, something that had never before happened.

As Wetherald was about to strike, she whispered in her daughter’s ear. “I won’t hit you hard,” she said. “You See DOROTHY next page

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

Top, members of the Six Nations of Grand River wish Rungeling luck on her 1956 departure from Hamilton for Havana. Above, the 1948 advertising photo shoot that started it all. Right, there's no description with the photo, beyond a date, June 14, 1955, and a stamp identifying its origin as the DeHavilland Aircraft company, Toronto.

SUPPLIED PHOTOS

DOROTHY continued from previous page just holler good and loud and Herbert won’t know the difference.”

Wetherald died of pneumonia in 1940. Her last words to Rungeling were, “I’m so glad I adopted you.”

Last week, Helgi Kernaghan said that one of Rungeling’s disappointments was that Wetherald had not achieved greater local recognition for her accomplished writing career.

Kernaghan was Rungeling’s guest at the Order of Canada ceremony in 2003, where Rungeling gave an impromptu speech.

“She gave a little bit of her history, and told a few stories,” said Kernaghan. “I think that she told the one about the car stalling.” For Kernaghan the car-stalling story was representative of Rungeling.

“Dot was ahead of her time when it came to the women’s movement,” said Kernaghan.

“There were lots of men at the airport who weren’t too happy that a woman was there flying, and winning all those races too. Dot said that one day they did something to her car so that it would stall soon after she left the airport. But Dot See DOROTHY Page 17

Page 13

Page 14

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

AWARD continued from Page 1 Bshara, 33, began working at a francophone daycare in Welland two months after arriving here.

She said that she doesn’t think that this award is really going to her as a person, instead considering herself a representative for all the women who made the decision to leave their homes with their families and come to Canada.

“It’s nice that it’s for women,” she said. “It highlights women’s role in society, and really shows how they can be recognized in Canadian society.”

Lori Webster, a program coordinator at the multicultural centre, gave a similar account.

“We look for women who have been successful in business or other work, and who have made cultural contributions to the community,” she said.

Webster explained that part of the award’s purpose is to inspire other women and to show them cases of great success.

“For newcomers, it can all feel like a very slow process, especially if there’s a language to learn,” said Webster. “Most of the women coming have professional qualifications in their home country, but they may not be recognized in Canada. So they have to be really patient to re-train all over again.”

Bshara talked about how difficult the adjustment has been.

“I worked for an airline in Syria, so I had some English. But I had never actually studied it—all that I

learned was from listening to others,” she said.

Her husband, Antoun, was a mechanical technician in the printing industry. Since arriving in Canada he has worked at the Fonthill Sobeys.

“My kids have adapted pretty well,” said Bshara. “I’m proud of them for picking up the language so quickly—now they are correcting us and our accents, saying, ‘Mom, you have to say it like this’” The family has taken time to get used to the cultural differences, too.

“I had so many notes from my kids’ teachers. They said, ‘Soleil and Ghasson are great, but they just need to keep a space between them and their friends.’ Back home, they are always kissing and hugging their friends, but here you have to respect the space,” said Bshara.

Though she doesn’t yet feel like it’s home yet, Bshara said that after 18 months she has become much more comfortable.

“I still have that feeling of homesickness,” she said. “I don’t have any family here other than my sister-in-law, so when I have moments to think, I am sick thinking about my family not in safety. If I had a magic stick, I would like to have all of them here.”

Bshara said that she and her family have been overwhelmed by the positive support from the community, and that this had made the process considerably easier.

“We have been surrounded by so many good people. They’re always saying, ‘Whatever you need, we’ll

Fonthill Sobeys staff gave the Bsharas a tour of the store soon after their arrival in summer 2016.

VOICE FILE PHOTO

do it for you.’ There are some times when you can feel some people aren’t nice, and maybe they’re discriminating because we’re new here or because we don’t speak English perfectly. But that’s just one or two percent of everyone. When it happens, I give myself a positive push. I say, ‘You’ve been here less than two years. You’re working hard, you’re well-adapted, your kids are doing well in school,” said Bshara.

Pelham resident and Voice contributor Larry Coté, who was a

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program, Student Aid; and minimum wage laws.

Unfortunately, these initiatives have had little, if any effect in combating poverty.

As for the private sector’s non-profit community, religious and social organizations, the best they can offer is Band-Aid solutions like food banks, soup kitchens, Christmas hampers and so on. While they are helpful to those people in need, it doesn’t eliminate or reduce poverty.

member of the committee that sponsored Bshara’s arrival, was also part of the “entourage” that met her at the airport.

“She’s just a remarkable person,” said Coté, adding that he wasn’t the least surprised that Bshara won the award.

Coté and his wife, Barbara, have remained in close contact with Bshara and her family since their arrival.

“They’re so hospitable—we just stop at their house and they seem

The latest statistics in Canada show that there are 4.9 million women, men and children living in poverty.

According to the provincial government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy progress report, June 2014, there are approximately 27,000 low-income residents here.

For many families and individuals, social assistance is their primary source of income. They and people in other low-income groups are struggling to pay for rent, heating, food and other basic living necessities, and in many cases, their income is wholly inadequate.

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to prepare us a three-course meal,” said Coté. “I’m worried that I offended them by saying, ‘You don’t have to cook for me!’”

Coté praised Bshara’s willingness to engage with her new country.

“She’s very eager to fit in.

They’ve taken up skating, the kids are enrolled in soccer here, she’s taking English classes, and has a full-time job at the daycare.”

At Sobeys, Bshara’s husband works full-time in the produce section.

“I’ve talked to [store owner] Ron Kore about him, and he said that his work ethic is impressive,” said Coté. “They’ve been here eighteen months, and they both have jobs, own two cars, and just bought a house.”

Lori Webster highlighted Bshara’s job at the daycare, where she has worked since two months after her arrival, as well as her volunteer work at le Centre du Sante Communautaire in Welland.

“This award isn’t open only to refugees, though because of the work that we do a lot of the past winners have been refugees,” said Webster. “We had one woman win who was originally from Rwanda.

The year that she won Roméo Dallaire was in St. Catharines to speak, and she got to meet him. That was a special one.”

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The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

Page 15

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workers. Pay $14/hour, 40-60 hours per week, must have own PELHAM LIBRARY CARD MAKING WORKSHOP Looking for seasonal/ transportation, must be able Putting on an event? full time help. to handle 50 lbs. comfortably, Make six cards with fallworking themes, learning a variety of techniques. Materials Applicant must be able in rural area outdoors town! to are workprovided. min. 40-60 At time of all registration, weather conditions.

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No education, no library.on.ca or call 905-892-6443 for more details. available in blocks of 30 comfortably is required. experience required. Apply in words for $8.85 + HST. Jobs included pruning, person, 1367 Balfour Street, Planting trees, thinning Fenwick Ontario from 10 – 5, Ad booking and payment FABULOUS LIONS FISH FRY and harvesting fruit,FENWICKMonday – Friday. deadline is Thursday packing sorting Tastyand treats with funds heading straight back into the Noon community.

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WALKING CLUB Interested in walking in Pelham? Join them Tuesdays at the Pelham Arena from 9-10 am and Thursdays at Fonthill Bandshell for 9-10:30 am. There is no fee for this program. For more information, please contact jcook@ pelham.ca or call 905 892-2607, ext 329.

Support your local HAMPER DAY FOR PELHAM CARES service clubs Purchase fresh fruit and vegetables at the Market or bring a non-perishable

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that I have a car, I can give rides, and doing anything else that I can. I was telling my husband that I’d love to work one day in settlement services. I know there—I the steps fillwhat thehappens hampers at theknow Pelham Farmers and processes that have to happen.”

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Page 16

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

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advertising@thevoiceofpelham.ca

DUNK continued from Page 7 idea how hard it was going to be. Smith is 6’6” and was having a hard time positioning his legs to keep them out of the way. The Lions team kept trying to shoot from the perimeter, but the light foam ball repeatedly glanced off the rim or backboard, too bouncy to fall.

The Panthers, meanwhile, never wasted their possessions, shooting only when they could dunk on the shortened nets.

“I have a friend who’s doing an internship with the

...it was by far my favourite of all the things we've done

River Lions,” said Evans.

“And she got me the contact information for Michelle [Biskup], who does the public relations for the team.

When I emailed Michelle

NURSERY TRUCK HELP DRIVER Local nursery nursery growing requires container truck driver with AZ License. PoWholesale grown perennials, is seasonal but could be full time if applicant vines,sition flowering shrubs, evergreens & dwarf trees seeking has other who skills, i.e. welding, plumbing, tractor individuals desire a careercarpentry, in horticulture.

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Ontario and the northeast US. Must have clean abstract, Plant professional knowledge and experience is be an customer asset. If friendly. you are Will appearance and an individual who to has organizational skills andRates dedication be required assist in unloading truck. are hourly as well as competitive. a willingnessResumes, to work astogether a team player, we lookcan be and with abstract forward to hearing from you. Wages will commensurate emailed to jane@willowbrooknurseries.com or dropped with experience. Resumes may be dropped of between the off between the hours of 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m.. Mon.-Thurs hours of 8:00a.m.-4:30p.m. Monday to Thursday or 8:00a.m 8:00a.m.-12noon -12:00ornoon on Fridays at: Fri. at:

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No (We thank you youryou application, however We for thank for your application, only those considered will be notified.) however only those considered will be notified.

Contact Name Taryn Wilton Contact Phone 905.401.5748 Contact email info@fonthillelectric.ca

Date:

The Voice

Our readers could be your customers. Tell them why they should choose you!

Advertiser Fonthill Rlectric Ltd

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Darling, is it my imagination, or did we disappear for a couple of weeks. It's almost as if we're merely some sort of filler, pawns to be used at the whim of an unseen force, designing the world around us.

Waiter, bring us both double scotches. Quickly.

with this idea, she replied within six hours to say yes.”

Biskup said that it was an easy decision.

“I came out to one of these games last year, and it was by far my favourite of all the things we’ve done.

The team was so excited to come, too,” said Biskup.

“They were just telling me how they broke a sweat.”

The team intends to make the day an annual event, she added.

“I think that it’ll be great for the River Lions’ team-building,” offered Evans. “The playoffs are coming up and they’re going to need it then.”

After the game was over,

the Panthers and River Lions crowded together for a photo, the wheelchairs in the front, the Lions towering in the back. A couple dozen audience members with cameras assembled in front of them, clicking away paparazzi-like. And then they all headed to the cafeteria for pizza.

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www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

DOROTHY continued from Page 13 knew all about cars—so she fixed the problem and then did a lap back around to the airport, just to say to them, ‘You can’t stop me.’”

But regardless of resistance she faced, Rungeling was never one to complain about her treatment.

“It is my opinion, regardless of Women’s Lib, that in the early 1900s there wasn’t much that a woman could not do if she really wanted to. The only reason she did refrain from taking part in some these things is that she was afraid of being an individual,” wrote Rungeling.

Through it all, Rungeling readily credited those around her for allowing her such liberation.

“My beloved husband Charlie,” she thanked in a book dedication, for making “my dreams come true with his unfailing encouragement and his ever-present ‘Go for it! You can do it.’”

Charlie supported her early motorcycle habit—she bought her first bike for $50 in the 1930s—and her skeet-shooting and horse-riding interests too.

Rungeling learned to play the clarinet, saxophone, and harmonica, and was a first violinist in the Cornwall Symphony Orchestra. She became an avid amateur artist, making pencil sketches of Pelham from the early 20th century, and working with watercolours and acrylics.

When Rungeling finally gave up flying, she and Charlie became active sailors. Soon after, Rungeling demonstrated her wicked wit in a brief pamphlet satirizing the many technical terms used by sailors.

“This is dedicated to the new sailor, who I am sure is having

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018 just as hilarious a time understanding the nautical lingo as I am,” wrote Rungeling, before listing her own definitions for various terms.

“Pinching: An Italian compliment,” was one entry.

“Skin Drag: A dance at a nudist colony,” and “Yacht: A hole in the water lined with mahogany into which one puts hundred dollar bills,” were others.

Lorna Brandstatter, whose father went to school with Rungeling, knew her for 78 years.

“We moved back to Welland from Oshawa when I was about two,” said Brandstatter. “We called her husband ‘Uncle Charlie,’ and Dot told me that he used to pick me up and carry me around.”

“One time, Uncle Charlie took me out on the horse and cutter in the winter. I still remember the bells on the horses and the way the snow rolled off their hoofs.

That’s one of my favourite memories. When I told Dot about it, many years later, she said, ‘Oh, that horse would have been Sydney. She loved driving the cutter.’”

Brandstatter was still quite young when Rungeling got her pilot’s license, but was nonetheless enthralled when she was taken up for a ride.

“She pointed to a hole in the clouds and said that it was a ‘Sucker Hole,’ because you’re a sucker if you go up there,” recalled Brandstatter.

When Rungeling’s husband was in the hospital before his death two decades ago, Brandstatter began calling Rungeling twice a day.

“I’d call her to make sure that she got home from the hospital all right, and then I’d call her in the morning to make sure that she was okay,” said Brandstatter.

Page 17

So when I die, I will have seen the 'best show on earth'

The two spoke twice a day for the next 20 years.

Rungeling enjoyed good health well after her 100th birthday, turning in her driver’s license only when she was 102. She bought her first computer in 1991, at age 80. “This was before Windows...before almost anything which we now have on personal computers,” she said. “It had a program named Norton Desktop.”

She became proficient with the machines, and eventually gave lessons to other seniors.

In her 90s she authored several books, including three compilations of stories from her life, even titling one, “It’s Fun to Grow Old.” Though she outlived all of her contemporaries, Rungeling continued to make new friends, particularly at Lookout Ridge Retirement Home where she resided during her final years. A memorial service will be held there on March 2, at 2 PM. Friends of Rungeling are expecting many people to attend, considering her presence and prominence in the community in which she lived for more than a century, and which she loved dearly.

“So when I die, I will have seen ‘the best show on earth,’” she wrote in the introduction to stories from her childhood about the place that she loved.

“I will have lived to the utmost,

With Susan Koch, left, in Grand Bahama, 1958. enjoyed to the fullest all the marvellous developments of mankind, while still being able to enjoy the things people used to enjoy—the marvels of the sky, the clouds, the trees, birds, and other things of Nature’s creation, because this was my beginning.”

Rungeling’s friend Mary Beattie, whom she saw regularly for the last 25 years of her life, was

SUPPLIED PHOTO

with Rungeling in the hours before her death. Beattie said Rungeling was lucid up until the last.

Late Saturday afternoon, Rungeling was resting in bed as Beattie visited. Beattie said that she asked Rungeling if she was comfortable.

“Yes, very comfortable,” replied Rungeling. “I just need to close my eyes, and go to sleep.”

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Page 18

The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

TOWN COUNCIL NEWS continued from Page 7 the policy could be changed so that such events “will be considered.”

Accursi asked about the process by which groups could appeal facilities allocation if they are unhappy with the arrangement.

“Is there a process of ap-

peal to Council?” he asked.

“Or is the word of the manager the end-all and be-all.”

Clemencio said that she was not aware of anyone having ever challenged an allocation, while vanRavenswaay said that staff will sit down and try to work things out with user

groups.

“It’s good that you’re sitting down, but if it’s not incorporated in a policy then it could be unable to be done,” said Accursi.

CAO Darren Ottaway recommended against the formalization of Accursi’s point.

“I would not recommend

that Council put that in there,” he said. “It opens the door for them to circumvent administration period. Second, when we deal with groups and they don’t like the answer of administration, we always say, you can go to Council.

That’s a standard answer.”

At that, Accursi relented.

Council briefly discussed a report from the Human Resources Director, Paula Gilbert, on the end of a two-year pilot vacation program. In this pilot, employees were required to take the statutory minimum of two weeks vacation a year, and employees agreed to forfeit any claim to vacation payout. Gilbert included some apparent testimonials from staff in her report.

Pre-pilot opinions were summarized as “an unhealthy work/life balance. Strain on mental and physical health,” and worries from staff about an inability to unplug from work email over the weekend.

The post-pilot quotes were enthusiastic.

“I think it works great and the flexibility is amazing,” read one. “I think it’s a great benefit and something that sets us apart from other municipalities in the Region. I wouldn’t want it to change.”

Gilbert’s report also asserted that a staff member had said that the pilot “helps morale by empowering employees to feel trusted and accountable.”

Council heard one presentation during the meeting, on the Big Brothers Big Sisters 2018 Bowl for Kids Sake event.

According to its Executive Director, kids involved in the program are “forty-six percent less likely to start using alcohol or illegal drugs, thirty-three percent less likely to hit someone, and seventeen percent more likely to be employed.”

She relayed a challenge from Fort Erie’s town council, saying that the trophy for the most money

raised was in their hands, but that they were challenging Pelham’s council to match the $4000 goal.

The Bowl for Kids Sake will be on March 3 and March 7, and will have a zombie theme.

“Some people say that when I bowl the ball doesn’t go very far, so it’s like I’m dead already,” said Augustyn.

“I’m trying to make a joke here about the zombies.”

Council did not discuss the Regional Council motion supporting a resident petition to the province to investigate Town finances, nor did it follow-up on a discussion from the previous meeting, in which Councillors had mused about billing the Region for costs relating to “defending” itself.

When the meeting ended, after just an hour and ten minutes, Ottaway joked that something was off.

“Do we need to sit here for another hour?” he said.

“It just doesn’t feel right.”

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The Voice of Pelham, February 28 2018

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COLUMN SIX continued from Page 1

Dorothy Rungeling was the Township of Pelham's first female councillor, seen here in an image dated 1964. of her life largely to the “vast explosion of ideas and practises” to which she had access. But, as ever, she was perceptive enough to know that her own enthusiasm for the new world had its limits.

“There has been a loss of warmth, honesty, and loyalty among people.

We have crime today that would have sent people running to lock their doors in the old days, doors which were normally left unlocked,” she said.

Her depiction of life as a child always had an element of magic to me. She once told me that the thing she missed most of the old days was the silence, and she echoed this in the closing story in one of her books.

“In the 1920s or ‘30s the sounds one was most likely to hear in the country were the farmer talking to his horse as they worked in the fields. The plough or the cultivator made no noise whatsoever. The horse’s feet made no noise. There was a wonderful blanket of silence in the countryside broken only by a bird bursting into song to let the world know how joyous he was, or a pheasant flying out from under cover because he was frightened by the proximity of the horse toiling

in the field. As we reached the mid1920s occasionally an automobile came down the road at a slow speed, but only occasionally. Perhaps one or two a day. A dog barked in the distance. A bell might ring at the house to summon the men from the fields for their dinner, or a hen might cackle to announce to the world that she had just laid an egg. But the point is that you could sit and actually listen to silence. If you have never experienced this then you just cannot imagine a pleasurable experience it is.”

This was ironic, of course, since a close friend of Dot’s described Dot’s latter-day hearing well when she said that Dot heard 25 percent of everything and filled in the other 75 percent as she saw fit.

Dot embodied the paradoxes of life. She loved the future and

lamented the loss of the past. She never publicly pounded her own drum, but was privately proud and kept multiple copies of every news article in which she had been featured. She grew up with Quakers, but she was not religious. She was invariably kind, but sometimes she would, in the words of a close friend, “give someone a look and decide that she just did not like them.”

She had countless friends and published books on her own life, but she was determinedly private and even her closest confidants knew not to pry. She was 106 and tired all the time; still, she wanted to live another decade.

I sent Dot letters when I was away, and tried to visit when I could, though more often than not she was sleeping when I knocked on her door. Many of our conversations instead happened when I caught

In the 1920s or '30s the sounds one was most likely to hear in the country were the farmer talking to his horse

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her at the south end of the east wing, where she would often sit in the mid-morning sun that beamed through the end windows.

She slept there too, naturally, and since Dot’s hearing aids weren’t that effective, many times I was able to clomp right up without her noticing.

I had my camera with me on one of these mornings when Dot was dozing in the sun. I took my time focussing, trying as ever to make sure that my amateurish skill did not produce an amateurish image.

I had thought that the snapping of the shutter would not wake her, but it did. She opened her eyes slowly, and looked over at me without offence, as if being awoken by a paparazzo was routine.

“Did you get a good picture?” she asked lazily. I said that I hoped that I had.

As it turned out, I did not get a good picture. A sudden flinch, an inexpertly squinted eye—one or the other resulted in a blurred print.

Dot’s feet are in focus; her face is fuzzy.

I never did have the chance to get a better shot. It doesn’t matter.

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left her hair, though it still somehow retained an off-white shimmer, almost a golden-straw in the right light. When she came down to dinner, having just awakened from a late-afternoon nap, the hair on the back of her head would stick up at a jaunty angle, only to settle back slowly to where it should have been as the meal progressed.

Her fingers were long and thin, and her skin was light and papery and allowed ribbons of blue veins to shine through. Her face was wrinkled, yes, but in a way that seemed as though each wrinkle had been placed in precisely the right spot.

Bits of her life reached me slowly. First I learned that she had been a pilot and raced planes. Then that she painted, rode horses, sailed, shot skeet, wrote books, played an armful of instruments, and golfed.

Then that her mother had been a famous poet. Finally, I think, it came out that she had received the Order of Canada.

It was a combination of her age and abilities that made her so fascinating, a renaissance woman practically born during the Renaissance.

Dot was in no hurry to tell people of these things, as anyone who knew her will say, and I learned much more about her by reading her books than I ever did by speaking to her. There are no literary pretensions in these stories. Dot was 90 when she started churning them out and they are written in the voice that she spoke.

“Had I been given my choice of the era in which to live, I could hardly have done better than to start my visit to this planet when I did—in 1911. What other age could have afforded such an opportunity to taste many different modes of life, a variety which no doubt could never have been duplicated in any other era in the past and perhaps never in the future,” she wrote.

As a teenager inclined to bemoan that the world had lost its wonder, I had no doubt that she was right.

She had, as she said, “trimmed the wicks and filled the oil lamps,” as well as seen “the era of nuclear energy which supplies our homes with electricity to light up the house at the touch of a button.”

She was sanguine about what this meant, attributing the richness

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