Our Stories

Autobiography by Bill Smyth

As I am one of the last remaining Lancaster Bomber pilots still breathing, this tale should be most unique.

A massive daylight raid was laid on for the city of Cologne, Germany, after the Battle of the Bulge. The target was to be just one city block from the west end of the bridge. Unfortunately, that also happened to be just one city block from the back door to the Cologne Cathedral, one of the Architectural wonders of the world.

The trip over was fairly uneventful until we were a few miles from the city. The day was clear but the target could not be seen because the Germans had laid down a smoke screen all along the west side of the Rhine river, and as the wind was from the east, it covered the entire city in a blanket of dense white smoke. Unfortunately, it also outlined the bank of the river perfectly for our bombers. And since the blanket was only about a hundred feet deep, it allowed the spires of the Cathedral to stand up proudly through the smoke as if to shout, "Here 'tis". Any Bomb-aimer could easily line up on a spot exactly one city block away in broad daylight.

Because the target was so precise, and there were so many of us, our aircraft were stacked in layers about two thousand feet apart. This meant that the upper layers would drop their bombs through the layers below. A very, very, bad idea!

I told my Bomb-aimer, "Stay lined up on the spires and when you count down to 'two', I'll kick a little right rudder and that ought to put the eggs right in the basket.”… And then I looked up!

Directly above me, and a little to the left, was another Lancaster. As I watched, I saw the bomb-bay doors open and the full rack of bombs were in plain sight. "If he drops them on us we're dead meat". I looked to the right. There was a Lane just behind my right wing. I looked to the left. Same thing. Looking up, the bombs were beginning to fall like a string of beads on a necklace. By the time they reached me they would straddle my plane like a gigantic inescapable chain of death. “God Almighty, our bomber is about to be bombed!”

The string of deadly beads approached in slow motion. I could actually see the individual bombs. In the middle of the string there was a little space with one big five hundred-pounder in the center. The two little spaces on either side of the big bomb were the only possible escapes. But that was only two chances in a billion. The end kept coming but I kept focused on the two spaces.

At the last possible moment, I cranked the controls fully to the left and kicked rudder. The Lancaster responded as though it had entered a giant vortex. It turned completely over on its side and to my utter disbelief, it slipped through the space just ahead of the big bomb which fell between the wing and the tail so close I felt I could reach out and touch it. The next bomb fell on the right side exactly where my starboard engine would have been. The string of death had actually straddled the Lancaster and not one bomb had touched it. As I write this I still have trouble believing it.

Back on the level. I aimed at the spires and, at the count of 'two', I kicked a little right rudder and hoped my bombs would miss the Cathedral.

Photographs taken the next day were quite astonishing. Every conceivable structure for miles around was demolished with the sole exception of the Cathedral. Fifty years later, I was climbing the steps to the incredible building when I heard a tour-guide announce to her group that only God could have saved it on that fateful day. I thought:

The Lord works in mysterious ways
His miracles to perform
But
A little right rudder never hurts.

M. R. Smyth
 
Bill Smyth is a resident at Peninsula Retirement Residence in Surrey.

Autobiography by Audrey Yorke

I was born in England, in Bedford, in 1924.

In those days, unless your parents were wealthy and could send you to private school, you left school at age 14.

After working in a dry goods store until I was 16, I went into war work as a radio assembler for ships. A very interesting job, although I had to ride my bicycle six miles each way in the blackout during the winter. Only a small light was allowed on bicycles and there were no buses running when I needed one.

At the age of 17 ½, I decided I would join the army, the A.T.S., (Auxiliary Territorial Service) and had to get my parent's permission. My Dad said to me "You've made your bed my girl, now you have to sleep in it."

I joined the training camp in December 1941. After a couple of months, I was sent to one of the two largest Army Camps in England, near Aldershot. I was put into an office, given a typewriter and told to go to it, even though I had never used one before.

Our camp was part of several. One was the 5th Canadian Division Signal Corps, which is where I met my first husband. We were both moved to other locations, me to the other largest Army Camp in Yorkshire.

We managed to see one another at my parents’ home, on leave, usually for two weeks. Doug was shipped to Sicily, and then Italy, where he was wounded and shipped back to England in the spring of 1945, to the 11th Canadian General Hospital. Afraid that I might not be there when he came back from Canada, after the war ended, he asked me to marry him, which I did in March 1945.

He was brought to the Catholic Church by ambulance, and taken into the vestry at Slough, Buckinghamshire, on a stretcher in his pyjamas and housecoat. He insisted on standing for the marriage ceremony and walking out afterwards, back to the ambulance.

Two days later, he was sent home to Canada. I was still in the army until November 1945. War brides had to wait for transportation longer than those with children. I arrived in Vancouver in April 1946. My husband was still in Shaughnessy Veteran's Hospital, and was given permission to leave there for a month when I arrived. When he went beck for his check-up, they discovered that he had developed T.B. That was May 1946, and he died early August. Four weeks was all we had together.

Because of the food shortages still in effect in England, I decided to stay for at least a year.

Then one evening I met Ken at the Aristocratic Hamburgers, where he was a car hop, and to make a long story short, we have been married 58 years in October.

The only regret I have is that my parents only got to see their grandchildren once, when they spent a year with us in 1958.

My best friend, Adrienne Gayton, whom we met while we lived in Nelson, B.C., was one of the original members of Chapter A.F., Vancouver. I was invited to join in 1977, and I must admit it was one of the best decisions I've made to accept that invite. I've met so many wonderful ladies and have enjoyed all of our craft sessions, Christmas sales, and B.I.L. parties.

Thank you so much.

I am the proud owner of the 1939-45 Defence Medal and the Defence Medal.
 
Audrey Yorke is a resident at Pacifica Retirement Residence in Surrey.

The shell exploded.

Thirty-thousand feet above the ground, William Carr’s plane rocked violently as the anti-aircraft shell exploded just under his seat. Though he was not yet 22, he was certain he was going to die. A pilot in the Royale Canadian Air Force, William was flying in enemy airspace over Siena, Italy. The explosion had smashed the oil cooler radiator on the lower surface of the wing, and the plane was leaking oil.

“The loss of oil pressure in the engine made it certain failure would happen,” William said. “I put my hand under the seat, because the explosion had been there, and I pulled it out and there was some blood on my hand.”

For one horrible moment, he was certain that not only was the plane about to fall out of the sky, but that he was seriously wounded as well. He quickly realized he was still in control of the plane, and later discovered what was hanging below his seat was actually his ruined parachute and not part of his anatomy.

“The blood later proved to be a minor wound in the bum,” William said.

But with his parachute in tatters, there would be no escaping if the plane failed. He was going to have to fly back to base and land safely if he wanted to survive.

Home base was about 500 km away. The flight took over an hour.

“I made it, even though I had no oil in the engine, it kept on,” he said. “I survived.”

Within a few days, William was back in the air.

Born in Grand Bank Newfoundland on St. Patrick’s Day 1923, William joined the air force at the age of 18. He had just gotten his Bachelor of Arts and Commerce degree from Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, and felt it was his duty to help the war effort.

“I joined because of the war, we all joined because of the war. It was our duty,” he said.

During the war, William flew photo reconnaissance in a Spitfire plane. Unlike other planes in the war, Spitfires designed for photo reconnaissance did not have guns, armour or bullet-proof glass. Some did not have radios, and if they did they were expected to maintain radio silence, leaving the pilot very-much alone on a mission that could last up to seven hours. Spitfires were single-engine propeller planes designed to fly faster and higher than any other. They could reach speeds of over 630 km/h, and flew at an altitude of about 10,000 meters. Seventy-six years later, today’s commercial planes usually fly at about 869 km/h and at an altitude between 11-12,000 meters.

“Looking back on it, you wonder…” William said. He went on to speak about the time he was asked to fly out to Malta, a small island off the coast of Italy, from Oxford, England.

He was to fly there via Gibraltar. The nearly 5,000 km trip took him three days. “Well that’s a hell of a long way in a single-engine airplane… and looking back on it, I was 19 years old. I was told to work-up an airplane and fly it to Malta, and that was the extent of the briefing I was given. That’s the way it was. I did what I was told and I went to Malta,” he said.

By the time he was 22, William had flown 142 Spitfire missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. In 1944, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.
 
Mapping the Canadian North
In the summer of 1945, William was sent to help map the Canadian north, knowing that at any time he could be called to fly east and fight against the Japanese. At the time, more than half of Canada’s north was unmapped.

“Many of our… aeronautical charts were pages with little or no topographic detail, but with horizontal and vertical lines printed on them to indicate Latitude and Longitude,” he wrote in an article published by Vintage Wings of Canada titled ‘A Lake Called Victory’. “Coupled to this lack of navigation help was the decreased reliability of magnetic compasses as one headed north toward the Magnetic Pole.” 

It was hard memory work and took a certain knack, according to William. He knew of a few people getting lost while mapping.

William and a group of other Royal Canadian Air Force pilots flew float-equipped Norseman aircraft, which were more of a work-horse than a speed devil, like the Spitfire. Most of the time, William was alone in the plane, only surveillance equipment for company, but at least no one was shooting at him.

“It made me realize what a vast and beautiful country we live in, and made us realize how little we knew about it,” he said.

“It was all new. You’re young, and it was exciting,” William said. “I think I was very lucky to have the opportunities to do the things I was able to do.”

There was a main base camp, where supplies were replenished and a powerful HF radio station was maintained by ground crew. William’s job was to survey the surrounding area, looking for a lake big enough for him to land on. He would then bring the surveying crew there, where they could do their observations.⁽¹⁾ He never imagined that one of those lakes would later be named after him: Carr Lake.

“Thinking back, it is a wonder to think how isolated we really were and how little we realized it or worried about it,” he wrote.⁽¹⁾

On August 15, 1945, William woke up to news that would change everything.

“The BBC’s shortwave News service came in loud and clear, but much to my surprise, the BBC’s usual staid reporting was missing and a very voluble and excited announcer was talking about the surrender of the Japanese.”⁽¹⁾

He quickly woke the surveyors in their tent, who, due to their late-night work, had slept in. From then on, the lake they had camped on would be known as Victory Lake.⁽¹⁾

World War II was over. It had claimed the lives of over 17,000 airmen and women in the Royale Canadian Air Force.

 “I guess a lot of us, subconsciously, were relieved that you made it [out of the war], because a lot of your buddies didn’t,” he said.

William would spend two more summers surveying the Canadian North.
 
Peace Time: Piloting the Queen, Leading the Air Force, and Earning an Honourary Doctorate at 93.

After the war, William was offered a full-time position with the air force and decided to stay. He continued to practice photo mapping. He also flew delegates, including Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Charles De Gaulle and Prime Minister Diefenbaker.

While at the Air Force, he got his Master of Science Degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1949.

In 1960 he established the United Nations Air Transport Operation in the Congo, which was a huge UN peacekeeping mission during the Cold War. In 1974, at the age of 51, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General, and the following year he helped establish Air Command and became its first commander.

William retired from the military in 1978, and immediately became a vice-president of Canadair and Bombardier. He worked as a marketer, selling airplanes around the world, and is credited with helping to save the aerospace industry, a feat he is particularly proud of, and for which he won a C.D. Howe Award.

“I’m very grateful I had the opportunities I had,” he said. “I particularly enjoyed my peace time employment with Bombardier and selling airplanes around the world.”

An extraordinary Canadian, some of William’s many accolades include: the Venerable Order of Saint John, Commander of the Order of Military Merit, the Legion of Merit, and induction into the Veterans Hall of Honour.

He has been inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame and is widely considered the father of the modern Canadian air force.

Now 93, Lieutenant-General William Kier Carr continues to achieve extraordinary things. While at his retirement residence in Kanata, he received the news of having been awarded an honourary doctorate of law from Memorial University “for his achievements in both military and civil aviation, along with his proven leadership and organizational abilities and their outstanding benefit to Canada” ⁽²⁾

Although he wasn’t able to attend the service, William said he “felt humbly honoured” about receiving the honourary doctorate. “I’ve won awards before, but this is particularly humbling at my age,” he said.

“Memorial will always respect and remember the legacy of [William’s] generation, and those who went before,” said Annette Staveley, deputy public orator at Memorial University, who gave a speech at William’s convocation. “…In our minds we can simultaneously conjure that day in 1942 when… Billy Bishop, awarded William Carr his wings; and today, in 2016, a mere 74 years later, we can salute William Kier Carr and vow that At the going down of the sun and in the morning we shall remember him, and all, who like him, inspire this new generation of graduates to take up the fight against ignorance, hatred and violence in our century.”
 
(1) Carr, William Kier. "A Lake Called Victory Vintage Wings of Canada." A Lake Called Victory Vintage Wings of Canada. Vintage Wings of Canada, n.d. Web. 21 July 2016.

(2) Cook, Mandy. "University Gathering." Gazette Memorial University of Newfoundland. Memorial University Gazette, 08 Apr. 2016. Web. 22 July 2016. https://gazette.mun.ca/student-life/university-gathering/


  To learn more about General Carr, click on one of the stories below.

There is a short period of time after a cancer diagnosis in your child where life stops, if only in your mind. For you there is nothing, only a vain struggle to somehow dispel the accumulating darkness. But, outside, in the real world, there is still a job to go to, bills to be paid, groceries to be purchased and now medication ordered as well as numerous hospital visits.

"You kind of feel like somebody's hit you with a baseball bat," Edwina Eddy, founder of the Childhood Cancer Foundation Canada, said. "You try to get up and figure out what to do next and how do you manage it?"

Bryan, Edwina's son, was diagnosed with AML Leukemia, which is a form of blood cancer, at the age of 13. In May of 1976, Bryan and other members of Canadians for Health Research, marched to Ottawa to protest the federal government's bill, which would reduce the medical research budget. They were successful. The only discussion in parliament at the time was on capital punishment, and so Bryan made his own picket sign and led the group. Unhappily, he died that August, but he felt good about the work he had done in May. He continued to encourage Edwina with the work she was doing.

Aside from starting support groups across the country with some assistance from the federal government and members of the Canadian Cancer Society, Edwina made sure that the families and professionals could receive any information that they required. Communication between families and their children got started, along with some funding for research, and the scholarship program for survivors who wanted to further their education after they finished secondary school. This year over 150 applications for survivor scholarships have been received and all of them will be accepted.

Another program recently amended was the EI compassionate leave bill. Families with seriously ill children will now receive longer benefit periods to care for their child. “My only regret,” Edwina said, “is that of all the money raised for Cancer Research, only three per cent of the total is given to childhood cancer research.”

Though long retired, Edwina is still quite involved in the organization. For her hard work and dedication, she was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, which is given to civilians who have performed a deed in an "outstandingly professional manner, or with uncommonly high standards. The activity is often innovative, sets an example for others to follow, improves the quality of life of a community, and brings considerable benefit or honour to Canada," according to the GG website.

Edwina, a resident at Red Oak Retirement Residence in Kanata, was astonished that she was being given this award, but on reflection felt that if she had done something worthwhile, she was pleased that Canadians honoured her work. The motto that it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness resonated through the country and now many "candles" have been lit and there is a bright light bringing assistance to families who up to now had to suffer in silence.

For more information about the Foundation, visit http://www.childhoodcancer.ca/
 

The smell of baking cakes, fruits and sugary icings permeated the air, rising over the chaotic chatter and music that filled the room. Residents hung over decorating books, or crafted a culinary masterpiece, elbow-deep in their ingredients. Others took furtive swipes of unguarded toppings, or abandoned discretion and began feeding them to one another. They danced across open swatches of floor and laughed until their sides hurt.

None of them knew they were designing a cake that would win its region.

“We know the residents love deserts,” said Bambie Joseph, director of dietary services at Woodhall Park Care Community in Brampton. “Residents love our baking programs through the programs department. So we modified the cake challenge poster.”

Modified it how? By changing the audience. No longer did the poster call for dietary staff to design cakes, instead it called for residents to have a direct hand in their menu. They were invited to a two-hour program in the large multipurpose room, there they would have a chance to design a cake for the Sienna Cake Challenge. All submissions for the challenge will appear on the new Sienna menu, meaning that in this case residents were designing their own desserts.
On top of helping residents craft their challenge submissions, the event also let them make regular cakes. Because these cakes did not fit the requirements for the challenge, they were available for immediate enjoyment, and residents took full advantage of that.

 “We refrigerated the untouched cakes and we put them out for our staff showcase as well,” Bambie said.

The staff showcase coincided with Woodhall Park’s internal judging. Four cakes that fit the cake challenge requirements were made during the baking event, but only one could be submitted for company-wide judging. So Woodhall Park let the residents decide.

Blueberry Layer Cake, Sweet Cherry Sprinkle Cake, Vanilla & Strawberry Torte, and Pineapple & Coconut Delight cake went head-to-head in a competition to win the residents’ favour.

Elsie, president of the residents’ council at Woodhall Park, wasn’t able to attend the cake-baking, as she was off-site. However she was at the home’s judging, and said that all of the cakes were amazing, and that it had been almost impossible to choose a favourite.

“I was amazed at how [my peers] were able to put these cakes together and see their vision come to life,” Elsie said. She also said that she “loved” the Pineapple Coconut Delight cake. “I love pineapple and coconut.”

At the end of their judging, Pineapple Coconut Delight was declared the winner. It later went on to compete in region 6, where its deliciousness was confirmed by the residents and staff at Tullamore Care Community.

“I was really elated and so happy,” Elsie said about finding out they’d won the region.  “I’m really happy for that.”

Bambie and Elsie are both looking forward to possible future competitions.

“Oh yeah, that would be nice,” Elsie said. When asked what she’d like to design next she admitted to being a “sweets person,” and thought pies might be a nice addition.

“Our residents are very, very involved with our menu input,” Bambie said. “Whatever they want, let’s have it. If it’s within our grasp to make them happy, why not? The kitchen has always been the heart of the home.”

 

The halls erupted with whoops and shouts.

“The residents were cheering for us almost before they even found out why we were cheering,” said Christine Ramdeo, director of dietary services at Altamont Care Community. “There was loud cheering up and down the hallways.”

Altamont Care Community in West Hill won the Sienna Cake Challenge, earning themselves a desert catered by Sara Lee. The cake competition challenged care communities to design a cake. Although submissions had to use Sara Lee pound or sponge cake, they all vary greatly. Everything from pumpkin-pie trifle to banana-split cake made an appearance, and all submissions will be available on the new menu.

“I think it was such a great idea to get everybody involved,” Christine said. “Residents knew this was happening, the program staff were really involved with it ― even staff in the building kept asking when the competition was, and when I came back everybody was congratulating us.”

The cake challenge was inspired by a desire to freshen-up the desert menu. Christeen Read, Dietary and Environmental Operations Partner & Menu Analyst at Sienna, said that while all of their desert options are tasty, they wanted more options, and they wanted to somehow involve residents in the process.

“Vanilla-swirl cake is awesome,” Christeen Read said, but she wanted to put newer options on the menu, and she got her wish. While the new submissions include familiar favourites, such as carrot cake and apple crumble, there’s also a caramel brownie with a pretzel crust that Christine from Altamont is excited to hear residents’ opinions on.

“I’m sure residents will like it, I mean it’s a sweet and salty combination, who wouldn’t?” Christine from Altamont said. “But it’ll be interesting to hear what they think.”

“We also want to develop recipes that are Sienna specific, recipes that have come from our community,” Christeen Read said. Doing the challenge, rather than simply adding to the menu, gave residents a real say in the deserts on their menu.

Altamont’s submission was their Dream Cake Trifle, and it lives up to its name, being wildly colourful and as much a treat for the eyes as for the stomach. Altamont, like many homes in the competition, had an internal judging prior to submitting a recipe, giving residents a chance to vote on which cake they’d like on the menu. The home’s final submission then competed against other homes. Residents and staff came together to choose 7 regional winners, and then, finally, a single winner was chosen.

“It was just like a really fun experience and we can’t even believe that, out of all the homes in Sienna we won, and I think that’s so gratifying,” Christine said. “So I think that was really great, and brought really great moral to everybody.”
 
While the competition was fun, and brought everyone together, the residents are now setting their sights on the upcoming party.

“They’re really excited about it,” Christine said. “Desserts, hands down you’ve got everyone’s attention.”

There are plans for more recipe competitions in the future, though specifics have yet to be released, Christine is excited to get started.

“Oh I think it’s exciting. It really brings everybody together, and it gets everybody excited, and a little competition is always fun,” she said.

 

The door locked behind them.

The room was dark, luminescent skulls watching them. The residents gathered round, excited to hear the first clue, to let the games begin.

“We had a lot of people come out… so that was really exciting,” said Shannon, a co-op student at Cedarvale Lodge Retirement Residence in Keswick. “It was really fun.”

Cedarvale Lodge’s first attempt at an Escape Room was a huge success, with about 20 residents joining in. Shannon, a student in the therapeutic recreation program at Georgian College, came up with the idea with Emily Curcuruto, Cedarvale Lodge’s lifestyle consultant.

“I have a lot of family members and friends who have gone to escape rooms and absolutely loved it, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring into the home,” Shannon said. “The residents were super pumped.”

Escape rooms arrived in America from Japan around 2012, and quickly gained popularity. Today, there are over 20 escape rooms in Toronto.

A real-life action adventure game, escape rooms lock players in and challenge them to solve riddles and clues in a race against the clock. Most games last under an hour, with the key out of the room as the grand prise. Cedarvale Lodge’s escape room featured pirate Captain Jean Benoit-Aubery, whom residents had to help find her lost treasure to escape the room.

“No one had done an escape room and they had no idea what it was about,” Shannon said. “So it was a treat for them to come and see what it was like and they all enjoyed it. I had people come and tell me on Monday that they had such a good time on Friday, so that made me really happy.”

Residents began in the ship’s dark mess galley and had to work their way through the riddles and to the bow of the ship. Eventually, they were led to the key, which was tied around a pirate telescope.

At the end of the challenge residents gathered together and shared the spoils - Captain Jean Benoit-Aubery’s treasure chest cake, which was delicious.

 

Robert and Irma Merrill were married on July 31, 1946. It was a Wednesday, and they were due to leave for their honeymoon the next day, a trip up through the lakes that they’d been gifted. They were both 21 years old and madly in love.

Though it’s been 70 years since then, Irma says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“We’ve had many good years together,” Irma said. “It was always good.”

In 1941 Toronto, Ontario was a completely different place. The Star Weekly was 10 cents, the first TV ad had just made its début, the CN tower had yet to be conceived, and Canada had just decided to enter WWII. It is against this backdrop that Bob and Irma first met.

“One day my girl-friend and I had to go down and see a friend’s mother about something,” Irma said. Irma was 16 at the time. As they were walking, the two girls passed Bob and one of his friends, who were busy washing cars. The four began talking, and by the end of the day they were scheduled for a double date. Irma with Bob’s friend, and Bob with Irma’s friend.

“We went roller skating, and by the time we got home again we’d switched partners,” Irma said with a laugh.

Their relationship took off, but before they could get married Bob was pulled into WWII where he served in the Canadian Air Force. He did most of his training in Quebec, and was scheduled to go overseas, making it nearly impossible for him and Irma to see each other.

Irma often worried, and shared that once when Bob was scheduled to go overseas his plane was destroyed by ants. At the time, many planes were made of plywood.

Irma wrote to Bob regularly, and looked forward to the letters he wrote back, which let her know where he was and how he was doing.

Not even a year after the end of WWII, Bob and Irma were wed.

Bob worked a variety of jobs. In 1963 they moved from Toronto to Bracebridge. Irma mainly stayed home and looked after their five children: Scott, Kim, Jim, Greg and Lee. Later, Bob drove a tour bus, and Irma would often travel with him.

“They were just extremely devoted to each other, and they really figured out how to make their marriage work,” said Lee Coles, one of the Merrill’s five children.

Bob and Irma enjoyed playing golf and curling together. Irma believes that trust, love and spending time together is what made their marriage so successful.

Today, the Merrills’ family has grown to include 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, plus extended family.  Bob and Irma are both 91 and living in Muskoka Shores Care Community in Gravenhurst, where they celebrated their 70^th wedding anniversary with friends and family.

“We’re in the same place, which is good, so I can still see him,” Irma said. “We’ve had many good years together.”

When asked if she had any advice for young couples, Irma said there was no secret.

“I don’t think I have a recipe, honestly,” Irma said with a laugh. “We just loved each other.”

When the sun goes down, the paint comes out. Brilliantly bright or dark and mysterious, the colours swirl across the white canvas in a variety of lines and patterns, bound to reason only by the limits of the creator’s imagination.

“When they paint, they don’t keep track of time. I just want them to get lost and to complete a project that they can feel proud of, and at the end they can just look at it and say, ‘oh, I did that,’ like they didn’t realize,” said Josephine Lopez, activation aid at Fountain View Care Community and the artist behind Art Escape.

Art Escape started at Fountain View about a year ago. Unlike other arts and crafts programing, it focuses on painting. Taking place in the evening, it has a steady following of residents and has branched off to include family and resident painting sessions. Josephine says she calls families to schedule these sessions about once a month, and that it has been a huge success.

“Family members always ask me when the next one is, and there’s one family where the four siblings all take turns to do painting with their mom and me,” she said. “One family sent an email to the executive director of Fountain View about the family art project, saying that it was wonderful and that I put them at ease while they were making their masterpieces.”

Josephine is a mainly self-taught artist who has been featured in art shows, and now so have her students in Art Escape. Recently Fountain View put on an art exhibit to showcase the work done by residents in the program, and their work is also featured in the care community’s multi-purpose room, so that it can be enjoyed by everyone.

“They were so proud and they took pictures with their painting,” Josephine said of her Fountain View students who were featured in the art show. “I love [doing Art Escape]! I always take pictures of their work and send it to their family members.”

Tina Hercules, director of resident programs at Fountain View, said that some of the upcoming projects in the program will include working on a gallery wall leading to the auditorium and chapel area with a second art show upon its completion.

 “Painting, in itself, is really therapeutic. It’s the act of creating something, and art is a form of self-expression, so all around it’s just a fantastic program,” Tina said.

Residents attending the program are regulars, and rarely miss a session. Palmina Vatale, a resident at Fountain View, had art in the art show. Palmina has never done art before, and she doesn’t believe she is the best painter; however, she says Art Escape is one of her favourite programs.

“I enjoy it very much,” she said. “I want to learn new things, and I find I learn doing this.”

The group of residents have been walking for nearly an hour, ever searching, knowing that the moment they take their eyes off the device their prey could evade them.

Pokémon could be hiding anywhere.

“It was great, I loved it,” said 91-year-old Kay Bergrie, a resident at Cedarvale Lodge. “I found two Pokémon. One of them just as I was coming out of the building, and the other one was around the building – and Tina [another resident] was just so devastated because she went all the way around and she never got one.”

Pokémon Go, the summer’s smash-hit smartphone game arrived at Cedarvale Lodge Retirement Residence in Keswick only nine days after its release in Canada. Since then, it’s gained popularity and found its way onto the activities calendar. It’s also been added onto group outings, such as a recent picnic.

“Everybody who tried it was talking about it,” Kay said.

Emily Curcuruto, lifestyle consultant at Cedarvale Lodge, first thought of introducing the game after residents asked her about it.

“They’ve been asking about it because they keep hearing about it in the news. They were really, really curious about it, and I was just like ‘alright, let’s go Pokémon Go-ing’.”

Emily downloaded the game onto her smartphone and approached Kay and her friends the next day. The five friends were quickly drawn into the game, and all of them took a turn catching Pokémon.

“I really wasn’t that interested in the game until the residents were asking me questions about it and seemed really eager and excited when I said we would play,” Emily said. “Then I thought about what a great learning and bonding opportunity it would be for the residents and myself to conquer this game together.”

One problem they ran into with conquering the game was that there isn’t a PokéStop close enough for the residents to get to. In Pokémon Go, PokéStops are places where you can pick up essential Pokémon items, such as Poké Balls, which you throw to catch Pokémon. If you don’t have any Poké Balls, catching Pokémon is impossible. Luckily, Emily has a PokéStop just outside of her condo, so she can pick up Poké Balls on her way home.

Pokémon Go features the same 151 characters that appeared in the original Game Boy games, giving it a high nostalgia value for anyone who grew-up in the 90’s. Due to its popularity, the original game had a variety of equally popular adaptations including various movies, comic books, a trading card game, and a cartoon series that is still running today.

Emily played the game when she was younger, and her favourite Pokémon was Squirtle. She’s been trying to find Pokémon hotbeds for the residents to visit, and hopes that as they go on more outings they’ll find more.

“I think it’s more interesting,” Kay said when asked how Pokémon Go compared to the games she played as a kid. “Because you have to seek first. You have to find the Pokémon first... So it makes it more interesting. I was just fortunate they stayed around the building.”

 “I like to play it when there are a few people and we’re all walking together,” Kay said. “You see the Pokémon come up on the phone and it’s great fun.”
 

The eggs didn’t move.

“It was very nerve wracking actually,” said Diane Toth, Lifestyle Consultant at Peninsula Retirement Residence in Surrey. “We all kind of congregated throughout the day, but they just didn’t hatch.”

Diane said some staff even came in on their day off to see the chicks hatch, but left disappointed. It had been 21 days since their arrival, they were due to crack, but the eggs looked content to stay eggs.

Then, a little after 9 p.m., Lady Cluckalot came into the world and began to live out her namesake by clucking… a lot.

“She was the noisiest,” Diane said.

The rest of the chicks were born the next day. Residents and staff visited the incubator often, and a few residents pulled up chairs and waited for the chicks to hatch. The chicks’ station is decorated with egg-shaped information cards and reminders that Peninsula’s newest members are still growing.

“It’s been kind of a focal point,” Diane said. “The chicks are just off our main dining room, so as residents go in and out of lunch they check on the chicks.”

“It’s been great, and sort of like an icebreaker,” Diane said. She said that while residents watch the chicks they start talking, often finding out that they have things in common. Two residents discovered they’d both grown up on farms in Saskatchewan, and many others have traded farming stories or exchanged tales about life in the city versus life on a farm.

A pot of names quickly formed for the five chicks, and it only grew as they developed. Along with Lady Cluckalot, Peninsula was happy to welcome Larry, Curly and Moe, as well as Geronima, who was originally named Geronimo, but as it turns out, is a girl.

“I love it! I’m going to do it again next year,” Diane said. She added that she may have ducklings instead of chicks, but that the program will be back in some form. “I just see so much benefit in this. I’ll definitely do it again.”

Residents and staff have both loved the experience, especially getting to pick the chicks up and hold them. Their only question now is what will become of them.

“One of the residents was like, ‘we’re not going to eat them are we?’” Diane said with a laugh. The answer is no. The chicks will go back to the farm and live free-range, not in cages.

 

Today, the world is at our fingertips. A few swift clicks can deliver our photos to all our friends and family, no matter where they live… But what happens if you can’t navigate the internet?

“The understanding is that nobody prints off photos anymore,” Krista Hazelwood, lifestyle consultant at Island Park Retirement Residence in Campbellford said. “The family all have photos, and they share them through email.”

Most of today’s seniors grew up without the internet, sending letters and postcards rather than emails and instant messages. Bridging the information gap is a challenge Island Park is working to meet.

Six residents made the trip from Island Park to the local high school, all of them filled with first-day jitters. They are the first to participate in Island Park’s Cyber Seniors program. Once at the school, the residents met their new teachers: 12 high school students greeted them, ready to start teaching a course they could do in their sleep — Computers 101.

The Cyber Seniors program was introduced to Sienna Senior Living in 2014, since then the program has grown, and it is now offered at all of Sienna’s retirement residences. The goal of the program is not only to teach seniors about computers, but also to bridge the generation gap between seniors and students.

“The seniors absolutely love it,” Krista said. “They all talk about it when they get back. It’s quite a hum in the home.”

Each resident was paired with two students for the 16 one-hour classes. Armed with a lesson plan and a computer or iPad, the team began exploring the World Wide Web. But just because there was a plan, that doesn’t mean it was always followed.

“I sat down with each resident and I asked them what their goal for the program was,” Krista said. “The program has to be adapted to each person’s needs. We want the residents to feel successful.”

For some residents Google was a huge priority, because they wanted to learn new things and be able to explore the world through Google Maps. For others, Skype and the ability to connect with far-away relatives was more important. For some it was email, and the ability to view family photos instantly.

“It’s like going to the mail box and getting a letter that’s not a bill,” Krista said. “The excitement in opening it and reading it is one thing, but the excitement of being able to do this themselves is another.”

Krista emails the residents after every lesson and throughout the week.

“I think they’re all doing really well,” Krista said. “For them it’s not just two hours a week, it’s I go to class and I come home and I play. I continue to learn. I play on the computer and I continue to learn about it, and to me that shows that they want to learn.”

Although Island Park has a computer in the lounge, and iPads for circulation, many of the residents in the program preferred to purchase their own iPads.

“They’ve really taken it to extremes,” Krista said happily. She added that the residents who have their own laptops and iPads are encouraged to bring them to their lessons.

At the end of the program, the residents were given a small graduation ceremony at the high school. Dressed in cap and gown, they received their graduation diploma. For many, it was the only graduation they’d ever had.

“Many mentioned that they never had a chance to graduate,” Krista said. “One resident said, ‘It was straight to work at 16.”
 

Fifty years ago, Altamont Care Community opened its doors. 

“I think this is a real family,” Debbie Rivett, executive director of Altamont Care Community in West Hill, said. She’s sitting in her office with Saira Haq, the resident relations coordinator, exchanging pictures from the day’s festivities.

She couldn’t be more right.

From the receptionist at the front desk, to the residents, personal support workers (PSWs), families and the chefs in the kitchen, Altamont screams family. The walls are teaming with stories as thick as the ivy in the garden, and it seems everyone is smiling.

“If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t stay here,” Amy, a PSW at Altamont, said.  “I love the residents. I love looking after them and taking care of them.”

Amy has been a PSW at Altamont for 43 years. She began working at Altamont after coming to Canada from Jamaica. She said she got all her experience here. It was her first job in Canada.

“So many things have changed with time,” Amy said about Altamont. “Yet it’s almost the same.”

Muriel, a resident at Altamont for 44 years, has the same view. “Just the people have changed,” she said from her customary seat by the front desk. Muriel has been at Altamont longer than any other resident, and often sings. A plaque on a wall near the entrance dubs her the ‘Altamont greeter’ and claims she knows the words to any song.

Just across the hall from Muriel sits Linda, who has been the receptionist for 27 years. Linda often gets to enjoy Muriel’s tunes.

“I think it’s exciting,” Linda said about the 50-year anniversary. “It’s all about the good care provided over the years, and the fact that we’re still here!”

Linda can still remember her first day of work. She started as a casual receptionist, and wasn’t sure if she’d want the position, but by the end of her first day she was hooked. “I loved being here and being with the residents,” she said with a smile.

Altamont held a party in honour of their 50^th anniversary. All of the residents, staff and some family gathered around to enjoy cake, snacks and hear a few words about the community.

Lois Cormack, CEO of Sienna Senior Living, spoke at the event and congratulated Altamont on their achievement of providing excellent care for so many years, saying, “You make it a very special time for all the resident’s while they’re here.”

During the celebration, Altamont received a congratulatory certificate from a representative for Tracy MacCharles, MPP for Pickering-Scarborough East, in acknowledgement of their milestone anniversary.

Patty Write, vice president of operations at Sienna Senior Living, also spoke at the event, and reminded everyone that back when Altamont opened in 1966, it was an entirely different world. The first ATM machine had just opened, Star Trek was making its premier and the CBC became the first Canadian station to broadcast in colour. “Thank you for honouring our seniors’ voices,” she said.

Elinor watched the proceedings from in the crowd, a small smile on her face. She’s been a resident for less than a year, but says the care community is just like home.

“Everyone calls everyone by their first name, and if they see you in the hallway they always stop to say hello,” Elinor said. “It feels like home.”

When Elinor moved in, she had no idea that an old friend would be preparing her meals.

Charlene and Elinor worked together as cooks for years. Charlene was fresh out of high school at the time, and Elinor well into her career. The two hadn’t seen each other in 27 years, since Elinor’s retirement in 1989. Now, Charlene works as a cook at Altamont, and the duo were reconnected when Elinor moved in.

“I’m glad I chose to live here,” Elinor said with a smile, Charlene at her side.