Cecil Seaman was an enthusiastic contributor to the Thunder Bay community and served many organizations including the Boy Scouts of Canada, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Trinity United Church. He served as secretary for Lodge 650 and as founding President of Lodge 10. He also volunteered in the community with Meals on Wheels and the Cancer Society. Cecil worked at Saskatchewan Wheat Pool for 49 years before he retired from the position of Director of Electrical Services. While working at the company as an electrician's helper, Cecil designed/invented a trough bending design used in grain handling. Whether he was successful in receiving a patent for the design is unclear. Cecil died in Thunder Bay at the age of 90 on Jan. 14 2003.
Karl Olafson was born in Sioux Lookout, Ontario in 1930, the son of Swedish immigrants. His father had come to Canada for employment with the Canadian National Railways, and Karl spent his early years as one of the 'railway children'. He left home to obtain his early schooling in railway school cars, and then schools in Winnipeg and Sioux Lookout. Following bouts of illness which delayed his schooling, Olafson had only achieved a grade seven education by the age of 16 when he was forced to leave school after his father became ill. Olafson contracted tuberculosis at 17 and spent months in the Fort William Sanatorium and later the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Winnipeg. It took him eight years to achieve his goal of working for the C.N.R. which he accomplished by bypassing the mandatory company medical examination. Prior to working for the C.N.R he worked as a taxi driver in Winnipeg, a Forest Ranger in Northwestern Ontario, and a drapery installer. He spent 30 years working for the railway and later wrote his memoir A Sentimental Journey.
Thomas Henry (Harry) Smith was a teacher at Port Arthur Collegiate Institute who had a strong interest in the history of local education at the Lakehead.
Joseph Placide Theodore Bertrand was born in the Ottawa Valley in 1880 and came to Thunder Bay in 1900. He became an active member of the lumber industry and travelled Northwestern Ontario extensively. He also had a passion for history, shown in his published book Highway of Destiny, as well as the posthumously published book Timber Wolves, which was a mixture of history and his firsthand knowledge of the lumber industry. Bertrand died in 1964 at the age of 84.
Basil Ellery was born in 1914 and died in 1998. During the Second World War he worked in the Great Lakes shipping industry, mainly in Thunder Bay and Owen Sound/Midlands. After the war he moved into one of the various neighbourhoods built by the War Time Housing Initiative.
The Sjobaks were a Swede-Finn family living in Thunder Bay. They arrived in the early 20th Century, with three second-generation sisters born during the Great Depression. The Sjobaks were closely involved with several Thunder Bay institutions.
Benjamin Cowan was born in May 1911 in Fort William to Jacob Cowan, the eldest son of his father's second marriage, and sixth of nine children. The Cowans were early members of Thunder Bay's Jewish Community, their father was an immigrant from Odessa and their mother's sisters from England. Cowan attended school in Port Arthur before going to the University of Toronto where he received a BSc in 1932 and a MSc in 1933. He worked in the pulp and paper industry from 1927 to 1942, before he served as a Lieutenant with the 1st Canadian Medium Artillery Regiment during WWII. Following the war Ben Cowan and Eli Cowan founded E&B Cowan, an engineering consulting firm for the pulp and paper industry. The firm later grew to an international scope and was the source of many innovative improvements to pulp processing. Following a long career in engineering, Cowan died in Thunder Bay on February 25 2000.
Gordon Burkowski is a Thunder Bay native and second-generation Canadian Car employee, having followed in the footsteps of both parents. Educated at Lakehead University, McMaster University, and Oxford, he served in both union negotiations and human resources.
James Peter Lyzun was born August 9 1945 and spent his childhood growing up in Oshawa, Ontario. He graduated as an aeronautical engineer from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1967 and worked for Dehavilland Aircraft for several years on projects such as the Buffalo Aircraft and the Hydrofoil. He moved to Thunder Bay in 1970 to attend Lakehead University where he met and married his wife Denise in 1972. In 1973 he began a new career in teaching elementary shop classes for the Lakehead Board of Education. Lyzun retired in December 2002. Of his many interests, Lyzun was notably an aviation historian with a high degree of knowledge for the field. He published numerous works in aviation magazines and through other local organizations. He completed a manuscript for a book on Thunder Bay's aviation history in the late 1990s, but died prior to its publication. His book was later updated and organized by Dr. David Kemp of Lakehead University and published in 2006 by the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society. Lyzun died on January 28 2003 from cancer at the age of 58.
The Toronto Ornithological Club (TOC) was established by Toronto area birders in order to facilitate cooperation and communication concerning ornithological studies within the Toronto area and between Toronto and other ornithological centres. The club maintained records of bird sightings each year in Toronto and adjoining areas until 2011. Present records by members are now submitted to E-Bird. Meetings generally include a short paper on an ornithological topic by one of the members or a guest speaker.
The formation of the TOC was first proposed in the fall of 1933 by Jim Baillie, Ott Devitt, Stu Downing, Bill Emery, Hubert Richardson, and R. Art Smith, who met to discuss the purpose of such a club, its proposed constitution, and to draw up a list of possible members. The first meeting was held on January 5, 1934; in addition to the founders, the meeting was attended by Albert Allin, Ed Deacon, John Edmonds, J.H. Fleming, Paul Harrington, Cliff Hope, Bob Lindsay, Thomas McIlwraith, Ross Rutter, Terry Shortt, Lester Snyder, Herb Southam, Murray Speirs, and Stuart Thompson. The charter members immediately voted to make J.H. Fleming an honorary member.
The TOC was managed by an Executive Council, with the secretary-treasurer responsible for collecting membership dues, paying bills, attending to correspondence, reading the roll-call at meetings, and appointing a chairman for each meeting. Women were not permitted as members until 1980, when Phyllis E. Mackay joined the Club. The TOC did not have a president until Hugh Currie’s appointment in 1991. It was at this time that Currie rewrote the by-laws creating and defining the post, as well as setting out the roles for the rest of the executive. Currie served until January 2000. He was followed by Marcel Gabhauer (2000-2002), Don Burton (2002-2005), Bob
Carswell (2005-September 2007), Margaret Kelch (acting President, 2007-2008), Kevin Seymour (2008-2013), Anne-Marie Leger (2014-2016), John Nishikawa (2016-2019), Justin Peter (2019-2020), and Emily Rondel (2020-present).
The Toronto Ornithological Club was incorporated by Ontario letters of patent of incorporation on November 23, 1987 and holds Ontario Corporation Number 741676. The original letters patent were amended by supplementary letters patent dated July 28, 2004, giving the organization charitable status so that it could receive donations and issue tax receipts to donors.
In 1934, the TOC ran its first ‘Fall Field Day’, during which the members went birding in different areas of York County. By 1944, the Fall Field Day was being held in the Durham region. The Field Day traditionally ended with a social gathering; from 1944-1979, the ‘round-up’ was held at Alf Bunker’s home in Ajax.
In 1958, the TOC took over the management of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) from the Brodie Club. The purpose of the CBC was to count as many birds as possible within a 30-mile radius of the Royal Ontario Museum. In 1989, the area was reduced to 7.5 miles, centred on the ROM.
The first Reporting Guidelines were issued by the Bird Records Committee in 1989-1990, establishing the format for sending in monthly bird sightings to the editor of the Newsletter. Early attempts to start a TOC journal had been unsuccessful, but in 1990 the first TOC newsletter was issued, with George Fairfield as editor. It published the monthly bird records as well as other articles.
The first Bird Checklist for the GTA to be published by the TOC was issued in 1996. In 2000, the checklist and reporting guidelines for bird sightings were updated by Glenn Coady & Roy Smith, and published as the Greater Toronto Area Checklist and Reporting Guidelines.
A short-lived journal, Toronto Birds, was produced by the Bird Records Committee from January 2007-February 2011, and incorporated the ‘Greater Toronto Area Bird Report’ that had formerly been included in the Newsletter. The journal also included more scientific articles on bird sightings and populations.
The TOC held its 700th meeting in November 2002, and on January 5, 2009, celebrated its 75th
anniversary.
The TOC Historical Membership List, 1934-2008, compiled by Joan Winearls and Barbara Kalthoff, was issued in electronic form for that anniversary.
The 800th meeting of the Club was celebrated on November 12, 2012
After completing postgraduate studies in dermatology at Columbia University, Dr. Ricky Schachter joined the staff of Women’s College Hospital (WCH) in 1946. She operated two weekly dermatology clinics out of the hospital’s outpatient department. The clinics proved to be so successful that a division of dermatology was established within the year with Dr. Schachter as its head.
Under her leadership, the WCH’s dermatology program grew from a small outpatient clinic to Toronto’s largest and most diverse academic dermatology program. When WCH achieved its status as a fully affiliated teaching hospital with the University of Toronto, Dr. Schachter became the first woman to head an academic division of dermatology in Canada. Former colleague Dr. Neil Shear explained, “Her energy, commitment and vision stimulated students to enter the field of dermatology.”
Dr. Schachter is also remembered for her commitment to developing new and innovative approaches to patient care. Her greatest professional success came in 1976, when she established the Phototherapy Education and Research Centre (PERC) at WCH. It was the first program of its kind in Canada to provide complete psoriasis care in an ambulatory setting.
Dr. Schachter was also a founding member and first president of the Toronto Dermatological Association and in 1978 she became the first woman in Canada to lead specialists in dermatology when she was appointed President of the Canadian Dermatological Association. During her career, she also received the Lifetime Achievement Award of Merit from the Toronto Dermatological Society in 1989, the Order of Canada in 1998 and Canadian Dermatology Foundation Practitioner of the Year in 2005.
Dr. Schachter remained head of WCH’s dermatology program until her retirement in June 1985. Her passion for the field was apparent through her outstanding ambition and care for her work, students, and patients. In recognition of her leadership and contributions to WCH, the Ricky Kanee Schachter Dermatology Center officially opened on November 1, 1991.
Dr. Florence Marguerite "Peggy" Hill was born in Toronto on May 24, 1919. In 1936, she enrolled in the University of Toronto on a scholarship to study Arts. In 1941, she graduated with a Master's in Psychology. She then worked for a year as a psychologist in the Juvenile Court system.
In 1942, F. M. Hill joined the Canadian Women's Army Medical Corps, where she was in charge of personnel selection. While in the military, she achieved the rank of Captain, and in 1944 she served a tour overseas in England.
After being discharged in 1946, F. M. Hill returned to the University of Toronto. As a veteran, she was entitled to a free education and could now afford to attend medical school. She graduated with a medical degree in 1952 and was awarded that year's gold medal for the highest academic standing in the Faculty of Medicine.
From 1952-1957, Dr. Hill completed postgraduate training in internal medicine, specialising in kidney disease. In 1957, she became the first woman to be appointed Chief Resident at Toronto General Hospital. She also became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Canada in 1957.
Dr. Hill joined the Department of Medicine at Women's College Hospital as a staff physician in 1958. In 1965, she became Physician-in-Chief of the Department of Medicine. She would remain Physician-in-Chief until her retirement in 1984. During her time at Women's College Hospital, she turned the Department of Medicine into a strong clinical and teaching unit. She also served on the Women's College Hospital Board of Directors (1966-1982, 1990-1997).
In addition to her activities at the hospital, Dr. F. M. Hill was appointed to the University of Toronto as an Associate Professor in 1965, and was promoted to full Professor in 1968. She was named Professor Emeritus upon her retirement in 1984.
Dr. Hill became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1958 and served for many years as an examiner in Internal Medicine for the College. She was a founding member of the Canadian Society for Nephrologists and was a member of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada and the American College of Physicians. In 1968, Dr. Hill was the first woman appointed to the board of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
In 1994, Dr. Hill was awarded the Order of Canada for her work in teaching and patient care.
Dr. F. M. Hill died in her home on January 15, 2012, at the age of 93.
It is believed that the Guelph Fountain Committee operated in the early to mid 1980s. Originally referred to as the Guelph Italian Fountain Committee, the group was charged with raising money for a fountain and statue called the family located today at St. George’s Square in Guelph. The Guelph Fountain Committee was believed to have been headquartered on Victoria Road. There pledge cards, publicity kits, and receipt forms were distributed. The Guelph Fountain Committee was a registered charity. It is believed the committee ceased operations once its fundraising goals were met.
Wally Duffield was a member of the Lakehead Search and Rescue Unit for 40 years. Duffield was the second president of the Lakehead Search and Rescue Unit.
Marion Poutanen hails from Northwestern Ontario. Having attended high school in Fort Frances she later moved to Thunder Bay. She co-authored with Elsie Di Blasio, A Time and Place 1909-1970 History and Memoirs of the General Hospital of Port Arthur School of Nursing.
Pat Eisenbach and her husband, Bob, were friends of Wendell Beckwith and Roselyn Chaltry-Minar. Living in Thunder Bay, the Eisenbachs were closer to the Beckwith Camp than most other associates of Beckwith’s after the latter’s death. Some of the responsibility for maintaining the camp shifted to them.
Robert K. Dewar was born in Calcutta, India in 1898 to a Presbyterian minister, and moved to Canada in 1912. Dewar graduated from Truro Nova Scotia's Agricultural College in 1916, then received his B.Sc. from Edinburgh University in 1920. He received his MD from Manitoba University in 1923. As a young man Dewar served in WWI in the 47th Infantry Battalion (Nova Scotia Highland Brigade) and was stationed in France from 1916-1920. He practiced medicine and served as Fort William Alderman from 1951-1956 and was active within the Liberal Party. Dewar passed away in 1965.
Ralph H. Parker became "Canada's youngest announcer and radio-operator" in the 1930s when he worked as the first official broadcaster of the CKPR radio station located in the Royal Edward Hotel in Fort William.
Roy H. Piovesana was born in Fort William, Ontario in 1942. He was educated at Fort William Collegiate Institute and Lakehead University where he received his Master of Arts in History in 1969. He taught history at both Westgate and Hammarskjold High Schools, and lecturer at Lakehead University. Piovesana served as president of the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society from 1979-1983, and was the archivist for the Thunder Bay Roman Catholic Diocese. From the age of 15, Piovesana played the saxophone professionally, later joining the Roy Coran Big Band. In 2015 he came a Fellow of Lakehead University during the school's 50th anniversary. Roy passed away on Jan. 20 2020 at the age of 77.