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Fall 2017 Edition # 56

CHIT CHAT President’s Message

Ian Cryer Greetings to everyone! By the time that this newsletter arrives in your mailbox, another summer will have passed by and we will be well into the autumn season. I trust that your summer was everything that you hoped it would be.

To our new retirees, welcome to the best job you ever had! I will have met some of you at our No Bell Breakfast at the Sarnia Golf and Curling Club on the ‘normal’ first day of school! What a delightful change from the customary first day during your working career!

As a Provincial Organization, RTO/ERO is moving steadily toward a restructured governance model. At the Fall Senate in October, Senators will be presented with revised bylaws that will be considered for approval with possible amendments. You can be assured of two things: first, that the interests of the organization will be paramount and second, that there will be very little impact at the local district level.

Plans are underway to celebrate our 50th anniversary as an organization, both locally and provincially. Provincial mailings, local mailings and our website are sporting the 50th Anniversary logo. Watch for further information in the near future.

Locally, our District operates on a firm foundation. We welcome several new members to our District Executive.

Lambton District 38 www.rtolambton.on.ca

It is gratifying to know that we have capable people who are willing to volunteer to serve our District. Our schedule of Executive Meetings has been established and a variety of educational workshops and social activities has been planned.

If you have considered becoming involved at the district level, please be in touch!

On the Inside

Goodwill Committee 2 Birthdays 3-4 In Memoriam 4 Staying Connected 4 Personal Development 5 Pension Concerns 5 Meet William 6 Meet Eva 6 STO 6 Your Local Executive 7 Christmas Dinner Info 7 Membership update 8 Health Update 8 Venngo 8

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Goodwill Report

Catch the Summer Sun

A suncatcher, body lotion or a gift card was delivered or mailed to 77 members who have celebrated 90 or more birthdays, or who reside in continuing care or retirement homes. Again this year, RTO organized this joint venture with Lambton’s Retired Women Teachers. Volunteers from both groups enjoyed summer visits with these members. Thank you to our volunteers who included Ann Clubb, Audrey and Bernie Hendrickson, Domenica Rastin, Gail Gilroy, Heather Crawford, Heather McKellar, Helen Noble, Joanne McRae, Judy Stubbs, Kathy Bandla, Kathryn Palmer, Linda Smith, Maria Varsava, Mary Wolff, Nettie Ellison, Pat LaPlante, Pat Poland, Phyllis and Rick Clements, Sandra Marshall, Sharon Higgins, Stephanie Abercrombie, and Sue Gilmore.

To anyone interested in volunteering, the message is “we have a job for you!”. Volunteers are needed for Monday, December 4, 2017 to pick up and deliver poinsettias to about 70 RTO members in the Sarnia-Lambton area. Each volunteer usually visits about 3 or 4 individuals and presents poinsettias on behalf of RTO. If interested, please contact Audrey Hendrickson or Sandra Marshall.

We can use your help. Please let us know if you become aware of something happening to one of our members e.g. change of address to a nursing home or someone confined to home, milestone anniversaries, marriages, people in the news, illness, births, death or someone needing a pick-up visit.

Our Committee Members

Audrey Hendrickson, 519-541-1747 staddonlea@mnsi.net presents certificates, designed by Kathy Bandla, and conducts interviews for 90, 95 and 100 year olds, and helps organize the poinsettia delivery. Check our District website www.rtolambton.on.ca for pictures and interviews. Sandra Marshall, 591-337-5088 smarshall111@cogeco.ca works on the organization of poinsettia and summer gift deliveries. Gail Gilroy, 519-869-8694 cgilroy@sympatico.ca delivers memorial donation cards and information packages to spouses at local funeral homes. She also works on the summer gift delivery with RWTO. Norma Cox, 519-542-1208 ncox@sympatico.ca sends Thinking of You and Sympathy cards to members who are ill or hospitalized, or whenever appropriate. She has sent twenty-one cards since January. Pat Poland, 519-869-4909 ppoland1@gmail.com purchases cards for use throughout the year and mails birthday cards to those members eighty and older. She sends out about twenty cards per month. Business cards with our contact information are available at all General Meetings.

If you are not receiving RTO Lambton e-bulletins,

please send your e-mail address to petelayc@cogeco.ca

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March Warner French Karen Duchene John Stewart Betty Fitchett Douglas Dew Sherrill Hext Beulah Brennan Ivan Ford Barbara White Shirley Slatterie Anne Wilton Helen McGuire Lorne Hunter Jean Irvine Eleanor Vargo Donna McQuillin Pauline Bourassa Nancy Jacques Dorothy Shea Germaine Lepage

April Frances Harper Donald Sawyer Albert Davidson Marjorie McKay Jame Kaempf Emmy Wassenaar William Metcalfe Marilyn Garrett Lois Marley Mary Williamson Janice Baker M Forgues Wanda James Eleanor Forsyth Verna Johnson Dorothy Acton Shirley MacMillan Mary Edgar Virginia Hunt John WalkerMargaret Kuenzig

May Esther Tebbens Wilfrid Chapple Margaret McPhail George Allan June Chaput Kendall Dennis John Laudenbach Mary Jean Gardiner Patricia Baldwin Barbara Connop Eula Evans William McCall Lorraine Erickson Donna Moore Doris McArthur Barbara Sheppard Joan McDonald Charlotte Berry Helen Farrar

June George Bice Ruth Kernohan Kenneth Gurr Donald Hutcheson Wayne Walker Kenneth Eyre Shirley Perriam Neil Campbell Rosemary Pudner Von Parking Edmund Tighe Allan McKay Wilmer McLinchey Helena Hudac-Irwin Doreen Cassin Phyllis Crich Margaret Nicholai Joyce Tisdale Kathleen Mitchell June Bannister Helen Mutton

July

Alexia Gladdy Barbara Shaw Shirley Hawrelak Eugene Nishimura Derek Brazier Elizabeth Virgin James Cassin Glenn Goff Bonnie Lester Charlotte Rutledge Ramona Kinchsular Eva Dalrymple Mark Gorth Leah Kelly Francis Graham Stevens Floris Wilkie

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More Birthdays to Celebrate!

August

Lloyd Eyre Fred Moss John Clarke Eilene Patterson James Brough Eleanor Ritchie Albert Braekevelt Barbara Feaver

Nadyne Dell James McArthur Guy Charbonneau Joseph Matz Barbara Porter T Loosemore Audrey Wagner Wilfred Pole John Beaton Shirley Seller F McLean Vera Johnston Robert Griffin Pauline Levey Julius Szabo Jeanne Bergeron Mary McArthur Wilma Love Evelyn Ball

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In Memoriam

We mourn the loss of several of our members and we offer our sincerest sympathy to family and friends. We know that treasured memories will help to ease the pain in time.

Irene Watson Joannne Pollack Ron Stevenson Helen Farrar Donna Moore Frank Peaslee Al Davidson

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Staying Connected Have you moved? Do you have a new mailing address? Have you changed your name, your phone number or your email address? Please update your information with the provincial office of RTO. The contact information is below: The Retired Teachers of Ontario Membership Database Administrator 18 Spadina Road, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M5R2S7 Phone: 1-416-962-9463 or 1-800-361-9888 or email: membership@rto-ero.org

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. Personal Development Workshop # 1: Enjoy a special art exhibit – WITNESS – Canadian Art of the First World War. We will have a guided tour through this exhibit on Nov. 2, 2017 at the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery beginning at 1:30 p.m. This workshop is limited to 20 people so register early. This event is for RTO members only because of subsidized cost. If you are interested in going for lunch at Wagg’s Restaurant at 11:30, please mention it at the time of registration.

To register contact:

Joan McPhedran at 519-336-4913 - jandjmcphedran@cogeco.ca or

Gail Gilroy at 519-869-8694 – cgilroy@sympatico.ca

Pension and Retirement Concerns

The move to replace Defined Benefit Plans with Target Benefit Plans is growing. The movement will hit Ontario and we need to be prepared. Our committee in Toronto recognizes that we need a policy to support Defined Benefit Plans and the members have started that work.

Bill C-27, a Federal Bill to amend the Pension Act to allow existing pension plans to be converted to Target Benefit Plans in federally regulated private companies like banks, railways and airports and in Crown Corporations such as Via Rail and Canada Post, has not moved beyond first reading in Parliament. The government continues to receive and consider input from all concerned parties. Go to our RTO web site www.rtolambton.on.ca , the pension and retirement concerns section, and read more about this Bill and what you can do to stop it.

Personal Development Workshop # 2

Somewhere down the road…

We all face it, but most of us avoid thinking about it: our final preparations. If you plan now, you can save money, reduce your taxes and protect your estate. Most importantly you can ease the stress and confusion on your family during a difficult time.

We will spend some time discussing the benefits of pre-planning or pre-paying your funeral arrangements, as well as looking at what options are available and how making some of the hard decisions now will alleviate some of the stress from your loved ones.

This workshop will be presented by Scott Smith from Smith Family Funeral Home at the O.S.S.T.F. office on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. A lunch reservation will be made for those wishing at Olive’s Restaurant following the presentation. To register, please contact Gail Gilroy at 519-869-8694 or cgilroy@sympatico.ca.

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William Danylchuk

William (Bill) Danylchuk grew up in Toronto. He fondly recalls playing baseball at Christie Pits and football for the University of Toronto Blues First Team in 1948. Bill began his work life at the age of nine. As a youngster he had many jobs including delivery boy for a drugstore. During the war he worked in a factory that made Lancaster bombers.

Upon graduation from university Bill was hired by the Sarnia Board of Education to teach at SCITS but he had a summer job teaching and caring for a child with cerebral palsy. This was a dream job with a wealthy family in Costa Rica. Bill and Betty had planned to marry. The employer convinced them to marry in Costa Rica which they did. The employer wanted the Danylchuks to stay on in September but teachers were in such high demand that Sarnia would not release Bill from his contract. Betty and Bill decided to come to Sarnia and stay until the new year when Bill could legally resign without spoiling his reputation in case he ever wished to return to Canada. However, by Christmas the Danylchuks wereenjoyingSarniaanddecidedtostay.Bill taught and coached at SCITS and Northern. Bill was the assistant coach of the Sarnia Imperials, that famous footnote in Sarnia history. Bill coached championship teams in basketball, football, volleyball and track while at SCITS and Northern.

Bill retired as a vice principal at LCCVI. He has spent many hours on the golf course and he and Betty are world travellers. To celebrate his birthday this year Bill, Betty and their two daughters have travelled to Calgary, Banff and Jasper areas. Here is hoping Bill did not talk Betty into tenting this year. Years ago, their first and last tenting experience involved Betty’s encounter with a moose!

Eva Dalrymple

Eva was born in Hants County and was the only child in a farming family. Eva attended Truro Normal College before beginning her career in Windsor Junction. Her husband was temporarily transferred to Procor in Ontario. Eva supply taught for a year before landing a job at Murray Street School in Corunna where she taught for many years. Eva and some of her coworkers have continued the tradition of getting together by meeting at her current home, Fiddicks in Petrolia.

Every summer Eva and her husband travelled back to Nova Scotia to visit parents and relatives. Her oldest son lives in Nova Scotia. He has 4 daughters. Eva’s daughter is a nurse in Richmond, B.C. Her youngest son and his wife live in Sarnia. They have 2 daughters.

Eva lived in Corunna including time in her apartment in Thompson Gardens before moving to Petrolia. She has always enjoyed reading and activities at her church, Corunna United, which has been very good to her

Best wishes from RTO to Eva on her special day!

Service to Others Our District is able to apply for funding up to $4000. If you belong to or know of a project that has specific funding needs, has RTO/ERO members, and is willing to complete an application by next May, this is your chance. This year the Sarnia Concert Association is awaiting news. Members with students completing their last year of a qualified college or university may apply for a $1000 scholarship by February. That student is chosen in the summer. Check the website because there are many ways the young person can be related and there are many fields of study that qualify. Our winner this year was Michelle Wong, daughter of Ann, retired from St. Clair Separate School Board.

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Your 2017 – 2018 Local Executive President Ian Cryer icryer@cogeco.ca 1st Vice-President Newsletter Chair

Bert Phills bert.phills@sympatico.ca

2nd Vice-President Vacant Past President Public Relations Chair

Bill Davidson wdavidson10@cogeco.ca

Secretary Michele Vilcsak vilcsakm@gmail.com Treasurer Jane Stevenson Janec.stevenson@hotmail.com

Committee Chairs Membership Sandra Marshall smarshall111@cogeco.ca Goodwill Audrey Hendrickson

Sandra Marshall staddonlea@xcelco.on.ca smarshall111@cogeco..ca

Health Services Insurance

Roberta Buchanan roberta.buchanan@icloud.com

Pension Retirement

Roseanne Orcutt rosieo@cogeco.ca

Personal Development Gail Gilroy cgilroy@sympatico.ca Webmaster Peter Laychak petelayc@cogeco.ca STO Theresa van Koeverden tvk@bell.net Social Ann Hines ahines3@cogeco.ca Archivist Gavin Hall gavin.hall@sympatico.ca Christmas Holiday Dinner and AGM

Where: Best Western Guildwood Inn When: Wednesday, December 6, 2017 Social: 11:00 Business Meeting: 11:45 Dinner 12:30 Cost: $25.00

Send checks to Carolyn Minielly 1032 Errol Road E., Sarnia N7S 2E7 by Friday, December 1, 2017. It is handicap accessible and has lots of parking.

Please mark June 12, 2018 on your calendar. That’s the date of our spring AGM and dinner. It will be held once again at the Legion.

Also, if you know of someone planning to retie in the next 5 years, tell them about our spring Retirement Planning Workshop. It is scheduled for April 4, 2018.

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Membership Report

The annual No Bell Breakfast was held at the Sarnia Golf and Curling Club on Tuesday, September 5, 2017. Thanks go to Kathy Bandla who called to remind people about the event and the deadline and helped set up the display. Thanks to Alan Campbell and Bill Davidson for greeting attendees at the registration desk. We had 29 people attend this year. There were seven RTO members who helped welcome their newly retired colleagues. There were ten new retirees who were able to take time out of their busy schedule to attend. We welcomed: Steve Bird, Kathy Brown, Darlene Ceci-Pileggi, Lyn Druiett, Pam Graham, David McLean, Marie McNally, Tim Mellanby, Linda Quinn-Kennefick and Pamela Seaton McLean. Four of our guests have already joined RTO!

The current Privacy Act has made it difficult to obtain the names and contact information of retirees. Although we still have the help of the school boards and the affiliates, there are still a large number of retirees missing our information.

We need your help with planning of future breakfasts and Retirement Planning Workshops. If you know of new retirees or people who are planning to retire within the next five years please forward more than a name. Contact information like a personal email address and/or phone number are critical. School email addresses are not the best method of contact.

Health Insurance Update

The Health Insurance Services Committee has been active during the summer months.

In June, all District Health Representatives, including Roberta Buchanan, our District’s Health Representative, attended a Conference where much information was presented and discussion groups were held.

In July and August, a small subcommittee of the HSIC has held biweekly teleconference calls with Sun Life, our new insurance carrier. The focus of these calls has been on a new service with a focus on Wellness, which will soon be available to District Health Reps and then to all members. There will be an online service that will focus exclusively on all aspects of wellness. It will be rich with information and resources. Ian Cryer who is part of this subcommittee, has had the opportunity to be involved with planning and modifying this resource.

If you have not yet moved to processing your benefits claims online, it is a relatively simple process, saves paper and postage, and you will see your reimbursement more quickly!

VENNGO & TELUS PERK

Looking to save money on your monthly cell bill…read on. Ian is pleased to inform you that the Telus Perk, which is available online, has been matched by Spectrum Wireless on Confederation Street in Sarnia. He worked with the staff to apply the 20% reduction to his own monthly cell phone plan. At Spectrum,you will receive personalized service rather than dealing with someone over the internet. You will first need to go through the process of applying for ‘the perk’ online, and then print the email that you receive from Telus. Take it, along with your RTO Membership/Benefits Card to the Spectrum Wireless location.