HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-10-22, Page 25Wednesday, October 22, 2014 • News Record 25
Retired teachers celebrate 40th anniversary
The District 9 Retired
Teachers Huron -Perth
marked their 40th anniversary
at the community centre in
Clinton on October 8. Presi-
dent Clare French honoured
and recognized Past Presi-
dents of the Huron -Perth RTO
and of the former Huron and
Perth Units at this celebratory
banquet. Those so honoured
were Arn Mathers, Ila
Mathers, David McClure,
Dianne Josling, Florence Keil-
lor, George Wicke, Ross Err-
ington, Annie Dozois, Ron
Patterson, Mary Moffatt,
Lorne Rideout, Gary Jewitt,
Bob Moorehead, Sheila
Jankowski, John Mann, Linda
McKenzie, Glen Queren-
gesser, Jane Cousineau, Gwen
Patterson, Marian Pullman,
and Joan Anderson.
Dixie Lee Arbuckle also rec-
ognized Jean Hodgert, Ron
Fischer, Ron Kelterbom, Hans
Dekker, Bernice Dekker, Jerry
Ingram, Argelyn Strote, Gerald
Cullen, Kay Roberts and Dor-
othy Leitch as Quarter Cen-
tury Club members - those
who have been involved with
RTO for over 25 years.
The District 9 Exemplary
Contribution Award for 2014
was awarded to long time
member Jane Cousineau for
her many years of service with
District 9 RTO and for her
work at the Provincial level on
behalf of retired teachers
across the province.
From 2004 to 2006 Jane
acted in various executive
chairs and served on the con-
stitution, publicity and Service
to Others committees. She
served as District President in
2006. As past President she
chaired the nominating com-
mittee. From 2008 to 2012
Jane chaired the Pensions and
Retirement Concerns Com-
mittee and ran the retirement
planning workshops for
teachers and education work-
ers
orkers considering retirement. At
the same time Jane also
served on the Provincial
Retirement and Pension Con-
cerns Committee for three -
years. She was an acting liai-
son officer for 9 districts. She
led many workshops and
was available as a knowl-
edgeable resource and men-
tor for members. Her efforts
were instrumental in the
writing and delivery of
highly successful RTO/ERO
resource materials or fact
sheets related to retirement
concerns such as health,
wills, local resources for
elder support, and travel,
Retirees all over the province
can access these materials
online everyday to assist in
decision-making and retire-
ment planning.
In her former life, Jane
served as Science Head at
Northwestern Secondary
School in Stratford for many
years. She and husband
Jacques reside in a charming
stone house north-west of St.
Marys. They have a family of
four - three boys and one girl
- but are now empty -nesters.
Jane seldom misses a local
auction sale and is an avid
antique hound.
Also at the annual general
meeting the executive for
2015 was selected.
Clare French of Mitchell
will act as President, Joe
Hogan of Exeter is Vice
President, Willi Laurie of
Varna is Secretary and Marty
Bond of Goderich is
Treasurer.
District 9 RTO contributes
every year to service to oth-
ers projects. For over 20
years John Mann and his
wife Marg have assembled
20 teacher boxes of materials
for shipment overseas to
Nicaragua and to other third
world countries through
Samaritan's Purse. Individ-
ual RTO members make
donations to the teacher
boxes each year and RTO
also donates funding. Every
year, 20 third world class-
rooms receive much needed
materials for their students
from District 9 alone. Dis-
trict 9 thanks John and Marg
Mann for their 20 years of
service. They will be turning
the job over to Wingham
member Pat Evers after this
year.
Two other Service to Oth-
ers projects were also
awarded funding at the
meeting.
Janice Ward received a
cheque for Hope Commu-
nity Centre. Located in a
rural area outside of Nai-
robi, Kenya, the centre
cares for abandoned chil-
dren or children perma-
nently separated from their
families. What started with
one woman taking a home-
less child into a one room
apartment now is a com-
plex covering 15 acres. The
centre includes a garden
and working farm of about
200 children, with a high
school, a medical centre
staffed by a doctor and
nurse once per week and a
baby nursery for 50. Janice
and her friend Ruth have
worked tirelessly to raise
funding for this project and
have volunteered on site
several times.
Lorene Ayres received a
donation on behalf of the
Temwani Foundation. She
has volunteered on the site
as well. The purpose of the
organization is to help with
the education and well
being of aids orphans in
Lusaka, Zambia.
Provincially the Retired
Teachers of Ontario donate
many thousands of dollars
each year to charitable
organizations. RTO's Chari-
table Foundation also sup-
ports the University of
Toronto Chair of Geriatric
Medicine - the only one of
its kind in the country.
The Retired Teachers of
Ontario comprises over 70
000 retired teachers and
educational staff in the
province with two districts
in British Columbia. Dis-
trict 9 RTO Huron -Perth
has 1085 members who are
former teachers and educa-
tion workers from public
and separate, elementary
and secondary schools in
Huron and Perth.
Photo submitted
Jean Weigand, centre, awards Service to Others funding to Lorene Ayres for the Temwani Foundation for aids
orphans in Zambia and to Janice Ward for the Hope Community Centre for homeless children in Kenya. Every
year the Retired Teachers of Huron -Perth donate funding for worthy projects with retired teacher involvement.
President Clare French of the Retired Teachers presents Jane Cousineau with the
Exemplary Contribution Award for 2014.
Patrick
NAGLE
Councillor
Central Huron- West Ward
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