December 2023 Newsletter

What a Great Year!

Lycia Sudama - Vice Chair

Welcome to our December 2023 newsletter.

The end of another year is approaching very soon and what a great year it has been for the GTA Lamplighter Club.

We had so many events with highlights being our Annual BBQ, where 63 attended . A new fan favourite was our outing at a Jay’s game in late August with 42 members and guests. We have received many positive reviews.

We’re excited that at present we have almost 200 members and growing.

Our club volunteered at two food banks supported by Enbridge’s Fueling Futures Community Project Grants of $500 each.

On a personal note this was a great experience. I am glad I was part of this event. Moving forward for next year we will be reaching out to the club members to be able to participate in future Community Projects.

We are in the process of making plans for 2024.

A special thanks to our Organizing Committee on a very successful year.

In closing the committee would like to extend to you and your family a very safe and Happy Holiday and looking forward to 2024.

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Social

Ros Craig - Social Chair

Your GTA Lamplighter IOC committee are hard at work. As a team we look for opportunities to bring our membership together and keep everyone up to date.

It has been a busy year of social activities with Enbridge’s 175^th Anniversary in June and Enbridge’s Retiree Reunion and luncheon in August along with our GTA Lamplighter Social activities.

We are looking forward to another momentous year of fun in 2024. Picnics, Blue Jays, BBQ, Theatre, Golf, and meals together. Thank you everyone for your support and engagement.

We would love to hear from you on opportunities to get together or ideas for events. I can be reached at rosalyncraig@rogers.com or you can reach out to GTALAMPLIGHTERS@gmail.com

Here's our year in review:

April 30 - Herongate Theatre

June 7th - Meet & Greet Wishing Well

June 15th - Annual Picnic

August 14th - Oro Medonte BBQ

August 27th - Blue Jays

September 6 - Meet & Greet Heydenshore Park - Whitby

Oct 11 - Port Perry Walkabout & Lunch

Swiss Chalet Luncheons - Markham, Whitby, Toronto and Barrie

Blast from the Past

Tea Biscuit Recipe from 1952, Betty Bright Kitchens

Betty Brights was a trade name created for our Company’s home economists. They were a key business resource for expansion of the use of natural gas in the home. They also attended schools and taught cooking classes.

Here is one of their recipes:

Tea Biscuits

2 cups of sifted pastry flour

4 tsp of baking powder

½ tsp salt

4 tbsp shortening

½ cup of milk, approximately

Mix and sift dry ingredient. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or two knives. Add milk gradually to form soft dough. Roll out on a lightly floured board to ¾ thickness. Cut with floured cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in 425-degree gas oven for 12-15 minutes.

Yield eight 2-inch biscuits.

Download Your Wild Apricot App Today

Remember that you can download a Wild Apricot App that allows you to use many Wild Apricot built in features. If you use this app for more than one club, using the same e-mail and password – you should be able to choose which club you are signing into.

What can you do with the member app?

Renew your membership
View a member directory
View another member's profile
Email your fellow members
View a calendar of upcoming events
View details of upcoming events
Add event to your device calendar
Register for an event and pay the registration fee
Specify the number of guests (if the ticket type was set up to collect the total number of guests only)
View your existing event registrations
Cancel an existing event registration (if your site administrator has enabled this option for your ticket type)
Pay an outstanding event registration fee
View and update your own member profile
View your membership card

To download the WildApricot member app for Android, tap here.

To download the WildApricot member app for iOS, tap here.

Healthy Aging

Stretch every day. Hips, Legs, Arms and Back

Walking is something we can do, enjoy a nice gentle walk with a friend.

Winter is coming, remember snow shovelling can be an Olympic sport. Take your time, even better, find someone to do the task for you.

Three Ways to Unlock Your ‘Hidden Potential’ (NYT)

In his new book, the organizational psychologist Adam Grant shares counterintuitive strategies for higher achievement.

1. Lean into discomfort. Success, Dr. Grant argues, is about growth over time more than it is about notching victories. And one of the best ways to build skills is to challenge yourself, he says.

“The feeling that something is uncomfortable is a signal that you’re about to learn something new,” Dr. Grant said in an interview. “That’s a signal we should not only pay attention to but amplify.”

You may have heard that people learn better when lessons are tailored to their “learning style.” Some people might be visual, aural, or verbal learners, and so on.

2. Keep things interesting. While we should be wary of burnout, Dr. Grant writes, it is just as important to avoid its opposite, which he calls “bore out” — the emotional exhaustion we feel when we are chronically under-stimulated.

One way to do this, he argues, is through incorporating play and novelty into your learning routines. In his book, he attributes the basketball player Stephen Curry’s rapid improvement after college to a coach who emphasized variety and games in his training sessions, rather than repetitive drills.

3. Ask for advice (and give it, too). When we seek to get better, we often ask others for feedback. But feedback may not always be helpful, Dr. Grant explains, in part because it focuses on what we have done in the past.

When Dr. Grant once asked for notes after a presentation, he was told that his “nervous breathing sounds like Darth Vader.” The comment was “a crash course in demoralization by useless criticism,” he writes.

He points instead to Harvard Business School research that found it’s more helpful to ask for advice, which focuses on what you can do better in the future. Plus, advice is typically framed positively, shifting your mind-set to what you can do right.

Lighter Side of Life

I have started telling everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes.

It is all about raisin awareness.

Member Updates

For each newsletter, we reach out to members for their stories of what they have been up to. Whether its travel, spending time with the grand kids, volunteer work or what ever, we provide their short summaries. Its a great way to hear about colleagues we haven't seen for awhile.

Iris Forsey

Hello, fellow Retirees!

We all know the saying “Every day is a gift.” Since I retired in 2012, I have been receiving this gift, and there are all kinds of great things inside the box!

I have a wonderful family with two amazing granddaughters, ages 11 and 8, and I truly adore them. They have given us so much love and fun.

I volunteer at the Toronto Zoo and WindReach Farm, a fully accessible hobby farm in Ashburn that enriches the lives of individuals with disabilities and other special needs. I love animals and people, so it is a great combination.

I am the membership contact for the Probus Club of Pickering, a social club for older adults. We have 457 members, and it is a vibrant club offering many wonderful speakers, activities, and trips.

My hobbies include pickleball, golf, painting, knitting, fibre art, reading, movies, and theatre. Gardening is another favourite pastime of mine. You could say my garden is whimsical; I find interesting pieces to include among the flowers and shrubs. There is always something new to discover among the flowers!

We love travelling and visited Portugal and Spain last year. We also enjoy our local community and love playing euchre and day tripping with our wonderful group of friends. (Oh - I hear the doorbell ringing, got to go! Would not want to miss an opportunity to have fun.)

Enjoy all the good things we have. Be kind and share with those you can. Surround yourself with positive energy and laugh!

Cheers, everyone!

Sandra Ball

I left Enbridge as part of the transition to Customer Works after serving 25 years. Customer Works was taken over by Accenture around 2001. In my positions at Accenture, I continued to support Enbridge along with other clients. By 2009, I was able to work from home in Ayr (near Kitchener/ Cambridge) and retired from Accenture in 2012.

We are enjoying small town life here in Ayr (away from the busy big city of Toronto), where our daughter, Rebecca Yates also lives (she had also worked for Enbridge as a student back in the 1990’s). She has four children, all in university specializing in different health related fields; two are engaged to be married in 2025. Our son, Matthew Ball and family live in Elmira. Matt serves on the Guelph police force, and they have two younger children who are heavily involved in hockey. My husband Gerry retired from the Toronto Police Service in 2009, then served on the North Dumfries Fire Department as a volunteer fire fighter until 2019.

I started a small home based business in 2016, called San’s Tailored Designs (sanstailoreddesigns.com). I specialize in making Skating and Dance costumes for competitions and performances, but from time to time have also done sewing alterations. I design and make custom costumes. Having a small business helps to keep my business, customer and sewing skills up to speed.

I have spent a lot of time doing ancestry research. I successfully located my birth father’s family thanks to finding a written note on the back of an old photo, online city directories and Ancestry.com! I have five new siblings that I did not know I had before 2019 and we are developing new friendships. We recently sold our trailer on Miller Lake and purchased a cottage in Wasaga Beach, which gives me the opportunity to be closer to my new sister.

We have had the opportunity to do travelling in retirement. Our son Matt and wife Julie married in Maui in 2010. We are fortunate to have been able to return there several times, and to also visit Scotland a few times to discover more about my maternal ancestry roots.

In 2022, I became care giver to my mother, taking over from my brother. She moved to Ayr to live with us and recently passed away. Over the past 2 years, I lost my father, brother, and mother to cancer. Being the primary care giver, I have learned a lot about the legal and financial aspects of estate planning, and all about retirement homes, hospitals, and hospices. It has absorbed my life and now I am trying to get back to my former normal. Thank God I was retired!

Looking forward, we are hoping to get away south to catch some rays.

Sharon DiPasquale

I have been retired from Enbridge for 8 years now and while having health issues with my husband, my kids and grandchildren keep me very busy. I recently went on a European River Cruise on the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Switzerland and visited many great castles. My favourite was the Black Forest Region of Germany and enjoyed homemade black forest cake and bought a cuckoo clock. I am turning 70 in November and will be celebrating with my family and Enbridge friends. In 2024 I am going to a Mexican resort and to England in May.

Bill Castellan

Retirement has been most fulfilling for Gabrielle and me. We have two beautiful grandkids, and we spend loads of time together. It is safe to say that we have opened a daycare in our home. It is convenient that they only live minutes away from us.

Beyond this we try to get away when we can, having most recently returned from a 2-week vacation in Portugal. If anyone is thinking about doing this, it is a wonderful country to visit and I strongly recommend it, particularly a visit to the Algarve region. Also, a visit to Porto's Douro Valley where the famous Port wine comes from was most educational, not to mention mildly intoxicating.

Other than that, it is the usual getting together with friends and trying to squeeze in as many golf games as I can.

Hope everyone is well. Stay healthy and have fun. Life is good.

In Memoriam

ANTHONY "TONY" ANDREW COXALL

February 4, 1965 - October 2, 2023

It is with deep sadness that the family announces the passing of Anthony "Tony" Coxall. Tony was the beloved son of Aldwyn and Ermine Coxall, and cherished older brother to Anslem Coxall. Tony's presence and warm grin will be sorely missed by his family, friends and colleagues.

Tony spent much of his career as a Business Continuity Specialist, however when he was off the clock, you could find him swinging clubs (and irons) on the golf course.

Tony will be remembered as a kind, gentle and humble soul. May he rest in peace and his memory live on through those he loved and the lives he touched.

Ramsay Sankarsingh

Ramsay Sankarsingh, aged eighty-nine, passed away peacefully at Albright Manor in Beamsville on October 13, 2023. He is predeceased by five brothers and one sister. He was a beloved husband to Marilyn (née Clarke), a father to Jennifer (Jason) and Sara. Ramsay was also a dear brother to Whidden (Brent) and a brother-in-law to Doug (Jodi) and Debbie (Jim). He leaves behind many nieces, nephews, and cousins, all of whom he held close to his heart.

Ramsay's warm, friendly, and kind-hearted nature made him a cherished presence in the lives of his family. He was a compassionate and selfless individual who held a deep and abiding love for his wife and daughters.

Jerry O’Hearn

Jerry O’Hearn passed recently. Some of you may know Jerry, he was with the company for more than 12years. Jerry was a Corrosion Prevention Inspector in Distribution Protection.

Frank Harris Oct 2023

Frank Harris (pensions administrator) passed away on October 2, 2023 while living at Spencer House in Orillia. Frank loved talking about the “good old days” at Consumers Gas!

Nora Agnes Roberts (nee Jenns) 1924-2023

Nora passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at Peterborough Regional Health Centre on October 7, 2023. Nora was born June 11, 1924, the eldest of six children to Wilfred ‘Toot Toot’ Jenns and Margaret ‘Nanny’ (Hann) at 50 Eaton Avenue in Toronto. She was the beloved wife of the late Harold Roberts. Predeceased by siblings Margaret ‘Peggy’ Farquhar (Bob), Wilfred Jenns (Marilyn), Gerald Jenns (Bessie), Catherine ‘Nancy’ Routley (Don) and survived by sister Mary 'Corrine' Mills (Bill) and sister-in-law Marilyn Jenns. Nora leaves behind her devoted family.t,1962 - Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023

Eric Jorgensen

Eric Jorgensen passed away on October 3, 2023. He was born December 11, 1962, in Etobicoke, Ontario. Eric passed away surrounded by the loving embrace of his family. Known to all as "Eric," he leaves behind a legacy of warmth, love, and cherished memories.

He was the beloved son of Marian Jorgensen and a devoted husband to Carol Ann Jorgensen (nee Carney). Eric's pride and joy were his children, Emma (Shawn) and Peter (Leah), and he reveled in his role as an amazing grandfather to Mason and Liam. He was also a dear brother, and brother-in-law to Randy (Sue) and a beloved uncle to many. Predeceased by his father, Ken Jorgensen, and brother,
Philip Jorgensen.

Eric's dedication to his work was unwavering. For 32 years, he excelled in his career at Enbridge Natural Gas Distribution, retiring as a Quality Control Supervisor. His commitment to excellence was an inspiration to all who knew him.

Ann Kilpatrick

Ann Kilpatrick passed away peacefully with her family at her side Thursday September 21, 2023, at Peel Manor where she resided.

After many years of medical challenges which Ann so bravely battled through; this challenge was just too much for her.

Ann was well known in the Mississauga office of CG/Enbridge and held opportunities in VPC as well.

Heather Mills

Heather worked in Customer Service for many years, loved by all who knew her, passed away quietly surrounded by family Sept. 18th.

Her family is having a private service for her but if you would like to add your name to her Guest book or a memory, go to Newcastle Funeral Home on Mill St in Newcastle.

Dave Gardener

We are deeply saddened to inform you that our friend and colleague, Dave Gardener, passed away on Sept. 30, 2023. During his more than 46 years with legacy Union Gas and more recently Enbridge Gas.

Dave held a number of positions in Sales, Construction and Human Resources before making the transition to Operations. His most recent role was Supervisor, Operations in Hamilton Operations. Dave will be deeply missed by everyone who knew and worked with him. In Dave's honour, the flag at our Ontario facilities has lowered the flag at half mast.