Classes of ‘58 Zoom Meeting Sept 4, 2025

Top row: Sheila (Brown) Ward, Bill Wedley, Bill Riddall

2^nd row: Nina (Genjack) Kurrle, John Bartok, Sylvia (Jones) Enga

3^rd row: Marion (Humphrey) Marsden, Glennis (Hart) White, Diana Davidson

Bottom Row:  Bill Huxham, Rob Hohert

This zoom meeting was extremely interesting! Attended by the 11 people mentioned above.

 Bill Riddell reported that since he had a new shoulder addressed last year, he is back to playing tennis (with John Bartok among others). They play at the North Shore Tennis Association. He continues to be active in his garden. 

 Diana has suffered the loss of a dear sister who was a prominent tax person living in Tsawwassen. She established a firm of all women Chartered Accountants. She also told of an honor she and her husband Mark were given regarding their publishing accomplishments on B.C. literature. She promised to post the write up on our class website.

 Bill Wedley provided a review of a wonderful road trip he took for 2 ½ weeks along with his Australian grandson.  They went as far as Edmonton, Calgary, Banff and Lake Louise. En route they visited Bill Redmile and Treva (Spurging) Hinchcliffe in Penticton, Bob Dempsey in Edmonton and several relatives along the way. He experienced “glamping” when his grandson replaced two hotel costs of $500 per night for a less expensive option. In rain and near zero temperatures, it was comfortable but basic! After that trip, they returned to Vancouver and were joined by Bill’s son, Warren, for another, shorter trip to Powell River and the Sunshine Coast. Bill wanted his grandson to have some familiarity with Canada’s best places.

 Nina recovered from a bad fall that broke her wrist and by mid-July only needed a brace. She did the recommended exercises 3 times a day which took her an hour but earned kudos from the doctor that she had recovered so nicely. She also reported about their apple tree falling over that was full of apples. Fortunately, there were gardeners nearby who were able to respond quickly and take care of business. She is looking forward to a Rosemaling painting trip to a nearby island with her painting group. Her husband is not doing very well physically but she is getting help from her family.

 Rob is still on board his yacht “Enchantress”, docked on the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Georgia. He has been on his boat since Easter. He is working on a project/program to provide continuity over several generations of his family.  It provides features such as financial security and education. His immediate children are all well situated and he wants to assure that that will continue with his grandkids and beyond. His project involves setting up trusts that use AI and for which he has long conversations with a computer being. He has had guests of various relatives and friends over the weeks he has resided on his boat. He also spent a couple of months in Denver with his children. 

 Sylvia also had apple adventures this summer. She reports her tree had 1000 pounds of apples for which many creative solutions had to be developed. Fortunately, they had Air B&B house guests for a few weeks who enjoyed picking up the windfalls. Her eldest granddaughter got married August 23^rd at a fruit winery in Prince George. She and Eric drove to the wedding which had 120 people. She and Eric also enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise to Gibraltar as well as time at Camp Artaban.

 John Bartok spoke about the fishing this year. It is the best that he can remember in his life time. He could catch and release 30 salmon in 2 hours. They opened up the airport flow for fishing but only 1 salmon was caught there. The catch off the coast of Washington was much thicker.

 Marion quietly told us that she is taking it easy. Her little dog had ended its days and she is not wanting to get another because of all the work involved. She is still quilting and recently had a visit from a grandson who lives in Edmonton. He brought Marion’s 7 month old  great granddaughter for a visit. She has 7 grandchildren and 1 great grand.

 Bill Huxham also talked about his love for fishing. He showed us a photo of his boat which he no longer takes out because Vicky, his wife, says she doesn’t know how to drive the boat if something happens to Bill. As a diabetic, he had lost the use of his legs at a previous time.  But with muscle operation and proper medical care, he was able to rebuild his nerves and now can walk fairly well. He uses a walker or a cane sometimes for safety. They live at Black Creek on Vancouver Island and have 420 acres of land. His son had raised cattle for a time but now just has an abundance of hay.

 Glennis has the assistance of her husband, Bryan, because she has Parkinsons which affects her movement and her speech. Nevertheless, she recalled an incident in high school in Mr. Stevenson’s classroom. Mr. S. was a racist and at one point, Diana Davidson called him out directly. That made him so angry he was going to crash a book over her head but she ducked out of the way in time and left the room. The amazing recall of this event was shared by Nina who sat behind Diana and remembered that the book Mr. S was going to smash over Diana’s head was pink! Now what are the chances of 3 of 11 people on this zoom meeting recalling the same traumatic event!

 Sheila talked about her recent trips to New York. Folks usually expect that anyone going to New York will attend a lot of Broadway plays. That doesn’t happen very often and there are a lot of other things to do. This time, Sheila’s daughter danced in an outdoor festival in Kingston, New York. The dance is produced on Sheila’s facebook page if you wish to view it.

 Long walks, and visits to parks are shared with friends. One friend (a retired professor of philosophy) had just sent the last pages of his recent book off to the publisher (Trends in Logic, by R,G. Taylor, Springer) and the same day we walked out to the East River. Diana thought her husband, Mark (also a philosopher) might be interested.

 

            Bill Huxham’s boat                                      Rob Hohert’s boat