The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

10 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 7, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com Make Your First Impression - A Statement. A lifetime of memories Continued from page 6 Custom Doors, Stone-Cast Mantels, Original Art, Fine Millwork, Granite, Limestone and More. 407 Speers Rd, Unit C, Oakville ON. PH. 905 845 4195 · TF. 1888 444 5606 Mon - Wed 10:00 - 5:00, Thurs - Fri 10:00 - 7:00, Sat 10:00 - 5:00 w w w. s t a t e m e n t s d e f i n e . c o m after before We can transform your existing cabinets with new doors and laminate in your choice of style & colour. Select complimentary hardware & have the kitchen of your dreams. rules for Joan and accepted her as one of my best and dear friends. She welcomed me into her `pub club.' We `meet' every Friday to `solve the world's problems' over a drink and dinner. I've met hundreds of fabulous ­ far too many to list here ­ but I'll give you a sampling: John Straiton, an advertising executive who wrote Of Women and Advertising, a book about how sales pitches are geared to women, is quite the artist and filmmaker. Recently, some of his films were shown at the 30th annual Ottawa International Animation Festival. Although he hasn't produced a film for 20 years, Straiton is heralded as a pioneer in the Canadian independent animation scene. He also creates his own Christmas cards. I knew the late Pat Smith, Oakville's Bird Lady who lovingly tended to the town's feathered friends, I've written about Otto and Maria Jelinek's championship skating career, I followed Terry Fox on his run from Port Credit to Oakville ­ I ran beside him until being told I was breaking his stride. I also met his driver Doug Alward, who I interviewed. As for an interview with Terry...well, luckily, our freelance reporter at the time, Kelly Frank, was able to get a face-to-face interview with the runner while I was stuck in the crowd. Years later I met his younger brother Darrell Fox, national director of the Terry Fox Foundation, who has spoken in Oakville for seven years ­ and every year, he's come up with different stories about Terry ­ some poignantly sad and others funny. I've met the late Pierre Berton ­ I always loved his books ­ when he spoke at the Oakville Central Library during its Meet the Author nights that ran for 10 years, organized by the late Christine Mander, herself an author. I met and interviewed my favourite radio personality, the late Tom Fulton, when he arrived in Oakville to help launch AM740 in January 2001. He died minutes after his morning show on Dec. 9, 2002, of a sudden heart attack. It was all I could to stop myself from crying on the day I was sent to AM740 to interview my friend Michael Caine, president, to write Fulton's obituary. He was a big man with a big heart and a big hearty laugh. I first heard him on the former CKFH 1430 in 1971 when I started at Sheridan College. That was one of my toughest assignments, next to interviewing the late Daryl Thomson less than a year before he died of Hepatitis C, the result of a bad blood transfusion. He did not qualify for the federal government's ill-conceived $1.2 billion compensation fund for victims of tainted blood that covered only those infected between 1986 and 1990. If you were a victim of a taint- Wilma Blokhuis ed blood transfusion earlier or later, you were out of luck. Thomson was infected in early 1985 and died in 2003. Despite his suffering, he went public to create awareness of the unfairness of the government's compensation package. I interviewed the late Hagood Hardy of The Homecoming fame, a tune that started life as a Salada tea commercial that became his signature piece. Hardy was an opening "After more than 31 years in Oakville, the time has come for me to move on into a new chapter in my life. Thank you and Happy Trails." Wilma Blokhuis Oakville Living Editor night performer at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts more than 25 years ago. Prior to its opening, former local personality Richard Moses, chief librarian at the time and a musician, performed at the construction site with his small band of jazz players. And, I've interviewed Sally Armstrong, human rights activist, author and documentary filmmaker, the award-winning journalist who broke the stories about the Taliban's maltreatment of women in Afghanistan and wrote a book about this horror, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan. I'm looking forward to reading her new book, The Nine Lives Of Charlotte Taylor: The First Woman Settler Of The Miramichi, the life story about her great, great, great grandmother who came to New Brunswick in 1775. An outstanding and entertaining speaker as well as a hard-hitting journalist, she's worked at Homemaker's, Maclean's and Chatelaine. I am in awe of this woman. In my opinion, she's one of Canada's top journalism personality. Last year I had the pleasure of hiking through parts of Oakville. I must give credit to those with vision for building the town's spectacular network of walking trails. Their natural beauty was the inspiration for my Happy Trails series last summer. I never thought I would get paid to hike across Oakville ­ it was a plum assignment, a real gem, an award winner. Over 31 years I've covered awards galas ­ everything from the Ray McConnell Award to Athena, Oakville's Senior Citizen of the Year and the Community Spirit Awards where deserving people receive recognition ­ in some cases long past due. Early on I covered both boards of education. The issues included the building of a French school by the Catholic board and banning The Diviners by the late Margaret Laurence for the public board. At the time , Laurence was a Meet the Author speaker at the library. It was interesting to note she wrote all of her books in longhand and she couldn't understand why The Diviners was being banned. For about 11 years I had an assistant at the Beaver, my good buddy Barb Joy. She was about my age when she started ­ 55. Prior to her arrival and after her retirement, it's been a `solo flight' for me as community editor for the past 25 years at least. It's been an interesting ride ­ and it included a hot air balloon ride courtesy of the Brother Colour Tour. The company was promoting its new colour printing technology by taking three balloons, red, yellow and blue, on promotional flights. The ride was a photographer's delight. Photography is one of my passions, as are the aforementioned hiking, cycling, kayaking and cross-country skiing. I pursued these passions in my spare time and enjoyed many day, weekend and week-long trips with my friends from the Halton Outdoor Club, particularly Jayne Swanson for her great sense of humour, Renee Smith ­ who recruited me to edit the club's newsletter for a few years, Joe and Carmel Lechner, Joan Shewchun, Al and Barb Hutchison ­ Al has kept my two bikes in good repair for at least a decade, Heinz Jaeger for his `you-can-do-it' inspiration, Betty Creasey and the late John Katan who patiently taught me how to ski some 15 years ago, new Brunswick native Dorothy Rideough who introduced me to the joy of kayaking, and Janice Bradbeer who twisted my arm ­ literally ­ years ago and signed me up as a member. I would be remiss in not mentioning by life-long friend Heather MacDonald-Archer, a married mom of two who works at The Toronto Star as does her husband Paul Archer. Our paths crossed 32 years ago at The Packet and Times and a strong friendship was forged. I thank her for introducing me to St. Andrews so many years ago on a wild weekend away ­ the weekend Leeder called my old boss at The Packet and Times to say he was an old friend of mine wanting to reconnect ­ hire ­ me! Saying goodbye is never easy. I'm leaving family and friends behind in Ontario to reconnect with family and my new friends in New Brunswick.