Joanna Cary Vaughan

Joanna was born in 1948 to Mary and Stewart Symons in the community of St. Eustache, twenty five miles outside of Montreal.

Joanna’s dad, Stewart, worked in the sales department at Cominco. He had come from Rye, New York, but had been widowed in 1945 and was left with two small children (Joanna’s half siblings), Betsy aged two, and Frank age five.

Stewart and Mary met at the Unitarian church in Montreal. He had been a lifelong Unitarian; Mary came from a Presbyterian background in Windsor, Ontario. They married in 1946 at the Montreal Unitarian Church.

Three more children were born to the family: first Linda, then Joanna, and Paul three years later.

The whole family was involved in the Montreal church, first Sunday School, then the LRY (Liberal Religious Youth) which took them to age 18.

When Joanna was 11, The family moved to Westmount area in Montreal where she attended Westmount High school. Here, she was involved in several sports and became President of Girls Athletics.

Following high school graduation, Joanna took a year-long secretarial course at Sir George Williams University. Following this, she enrolled in nursing at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

At about this time, Cominco established their business in Vancouver, so Stewart and Mary planned to move there as well. Stewart had spent 39 years with Cominco, but soon after they moved he decided to retire from the firm. Joanna had to decide whether or not she might join them or stay in Montreal.

The Symons rented their first home on Bellevue in West Vancouver in 1970, later purchasing the property. Stewart’s sister (Joy McKim and her family) were already in West Vancouver. Joy had become very involved with NSUC .She was our church pianist for many years.

Joanna came out from Montreal after completing her nursing degree in 1971. She stayed in her parent’s home for 6 months before moving with a nurse friend into an apartment on Victoria Park in North Vancouver. She was hired by Lions Gate Hospital within two weeks of arrival in the area.

In 1972, Joanna and a friend spent three months driving in a Volvo station wagon across Canada, south to Florida, and across the United States. On returning to Vancouver, Joanna didn’t go directly back to nursing but took the Christmas night shift at the main postal depot before returning to LGH.

Sister Linda persuaded Joanna to join her to travel to India. After 6 more months of nursing to earn travel money, she and Linda took off from Greece for 3 months of bus travel to India. From there, Linda flew back to England but Joanna took the bus to Switzerland to visit with her friend Yvonne (Nuss).

Joanna went back to nursing in April of 1974 and met Bob Vaughan on a blind date in October of that year. They married in 1976. They have two sons, Andrew (born in 1980) and Graham (1983). Joanna was in the nursing field for a total of 20 years but went to part time when Andrew was born.

When the children were a bit older, Joanna worked as a special educator with the North Vancouver School Board from 1989-2007. Bob worked in management at Woodwards until that store closed. He stayed at home for 1 1/2 years, and then joined management at Pharmasave Drugs in Langley.

Both Joanna and Bob retired totally in 2007. They have 3 grandchildren.

As a family they have done trips to Hawaii, Disneyland and Mexico. Joanna and Bob later travelled to Europe touring Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland. They also did a 3-week guided tour of South America. For about ten years, they travelled with their ‘Escape’ trailer through the western U.S. and B.C.

Joanna and Bob joined NSUC in 1982. Joanna was familiar with the Unitarians from Montreal and her parents had been heavily involved with the North Shore Unitarian Church since 1971. To start, Joanna was involved with the All Ages Committee which planned family get-aways to places like Birken and Mount Baker. This involved organizing accommodations, travel sharing, and much more. Later, she took on the role of Membership Chair for a few years. She has been in the choir for many years, having joined when Kathryn Nicholson was our choir director. Our Buildings and Grounds Team needed a female on the team so Joanna took this on. The men didn’t want to be involved with the women’s washroom or the kitchen. Joanna has taught Sunday School and was a part of Hospitality offerings (including many of our past big Christmas dinner parties). FUNfest, too, was included in her résumé. (It was originally called Bid Night).

In her spare time, Joanna’s hobbies and favourite activities include Scrabble, crossword puzzles, and involvement with Beta Sigma Phi sorority; exercising with Live Well; and volunteering with North Shore Volunteers for Seniors as both a volunteer and as Chair.

What more should we ask her to do? After all, she Is a life-long Unitarian which implies she has purpose!

Historical Addendum: Joanna’s father, Stewart, served many years as our Lay Chaplain and had the pleasure for his first dedication to be that of welcoming his grandson Graham into our church community.

Her mother Mary served many years as our Board Secretary but was well known for producing her monthly Inter Alia which kept us informed of the activities of church folk, achievements and notable happenings in people’s lives.

Brian Welwood

Brian Welwood was born in 1948 to Stanley and Pauline Welwood in the city of Edmonton. Their residence, however, was in McBride, British Columbia. Brian’s father worked with CN Rail which provided the family with free transport to and from Edmonton and elsewhere on the CN line. Brian has two older brothers, Lorne (five years his senior) and Hal (one and a half years older), and a younger sister called Mim who was born a year and a half later.

When Brian was 6 years old, his father was “bumped” due to a seniority issue and the family moved to Prince Rupert where his grandparents also lived. They found accommodation in a tin roof shack in the intertidal zone near the government wharf. They shared this area with some Indigenous people and other families of limited means. Their home had only two bedrooms for 6 people.

It was an adventurous but scary time for the family. On one occasion an older boy persuaded Brian, age 6 (a non-swimmer) to go out in a rowboat with him. They ended up beyond the breakwater in a raging storm. His mother spotted them and started screaming! They returned safely but that older boy was never allowed back in their home.

After a year, Brian’s father returned to his old job and they returned to McBride. They were fortunate to have church friends who owned a small grocery store there. That family wanted to sell and the Welwoods were given a chance to gradually buy the business. Here, the whole family worked (including Brian’s mother’s younger sister). Brian remembers stocking shelves at an early age. Because the store had a contract with a Robin Hood franchise, it was necessary for them to pick up supplies from the railcars when goods such as flour and feed grains were shipped in.

Brian, along with the other children, attended the local school where the PE teacher encouraged sports. Brian took up weight lifting and at age 14 was carrying 100 lb. bags of flour and grain from railcar to their pick-up truck and to their store. His Dad decided for that reason Brian should get a man’s wage of $1 . . . up from 50 cents.

Trouble was easy to find and one of Brian’s older brothers got into a bit of bother for a short while. By the time Brian and his other siblings were teenagers, there weren’t enough productive activities in McBride for this age group, so Kelowna became an attractive place to visit . . . beaches and girls!

At age 15, Brian found a summer job in a McBride sawmill and worked in mills in both Revelstoke and Kelowna. He bought a Honda motorbike and became more independent as a result. (Note by Ruth Sherwood: Thanks to Brian, I learned what a “green chain” is as well as some other aspects of the industry which I found fascinating. It’s apparently the most labour-intensive role in a sawmill).

In McBride, the family had been associated with the evangelical Pentecostal church but their take on Christianity wasn’t exactly comfortable for the Welwood family. Church membership included a tithing requirement. At one point, Brian’s father was chastised by the minister (whose education consisted of maybe Grade 12 plus 2 years of Bible College) for not tithing 10% of their gross store sales, as opposed to what should be only 10% of net income. As it was, their family was struggling to get by — partly because Brian’s parents were generous in giving credit to their customers.

In 1963, Stanley and Pauline asked their older children where they would like to move! Before this time, Brian and one of his brothers had gone to Bible camps in the Okanagan for a couple of summers. The family decided to move to Kelowna to work and live. Fortunately Stanley and Pauline obtained several good janitorial contracts there, and the children could finish their high school years (which included grade 13 for Brian). During his time in Kelowna, and until age 18, Brian worked at the sawmills in the summer and in winter months helped with his parents’ janitorial duties. On weekends, Brian worked in a gas station.

It was in Kelowna in 1966 that Kay and Brian met at the beach and started dating. As he still had to grow up and acquire a career, they dated for four years, marrying in 1970. Brian moved to Vancouver and took 2 years at BCIT studying financial management (a heavy load of 8 courses all at the same time). He found accommodation first with his oldest brother’s family until Lorne, who had become a lawyer, moved his family to Prince George. For the remaining time, Brian found room and board with another family.

In 1970 the Bank of Nova Scotia offered a management training program for which Brian was accepted. At the same time, he was taking Certified General Accounting studies at UBC at night! Overall it took him 5 and a half years to complete that program, as he had received credit from his earlier studies. In 1971, the Bank of Nova Scotia sent him to be their accountant in the Kerrisdale Branch. It was a great gig but he found that the income potential as a future in management was not really significant. For that reason, he left the bank and found work in the income tax field with Revenue Canada (now CRA). Here there was far greater opportunity for career advancement.

He went from doing field audits to working with estates and trusts. The sought-after job in the department was SI (Special Investigations) for which Brian was selected. This involved working with police and the drug squad who were dealing with tax evasion on drug profits. These were complex and often long-term investigations.

Brian worked on one project for literally years. It involved a hashish importer . . . a man who knew Brian as just an auditor . . . but ultimately the man gave himself away to Brian during a casual conversation. The man was murdered before the case went to court.

After this project, Brian had the opportunity to go to Iran to work with Dillingham, a Canadian construction company which was brought in to complete a stalled project that included a pulp and paper mill, sawmill and plywood plant. Brian worked in the accounting department and was responsible for getting tens of millions of dollars of purchases approved by the auditors for Chuka, the Iranian government company that owned the project. Brian says that he was a “clapper” when the Shah came to officially open the mill in 1978. He was not high enough up in the chain to shake the Shah’s hand (“the shakers”)

When Kay and Brian were first married, they rented In Burnaby and in 1976 bought their first home in East Vancouver. Because the Iran job came up quite suddenly, they had to rent their new home quite soon after they’d acquired it.

Work in Iran was challenging for Brian with 6-day work weeks and 9-hour days. Nonetheless, he found it exciting. They lived in a housing complex with other expats. As a woman, Kay couldn’t get a work permit, so she and Brian decided it was a good time to start a family. Clayton was born in Tehran in 1978.

There was increasing political chaos around this period and many people in the company were leaving the country. Brian, Kay, and baby Clayton were evacuated on an American military transport plane in February of 1979 , the day before the Ayatollah Khomeini arrived to challenge the Shah’s regime. They returned to their home in Vancouver but soon bought their current home in North Vancouver. Brian continued working with Dillingham for about 15 years. During those years, they were moved to Montreal in 1987 but returned to Vancouver in 1989. They were now a family with four children. Aimee, Jennifer and Denyse had arrived.

When their children were entering teenage years, Brian and Kay did a lot of church shopping. Kay had come from a French Canadian Catholic background and the couple were seeking a youth group similar to what they had experienced in their Montreal parish (where the priest there was a bit of a rebel). That community had suited their family well. Here in Vancouver, they investigated not only Catholic but several other churches including Alliance, Baptist, United and Anglican — but none suited because of the dogma. Finally on the last church service before summer break, they arrived at the North Shore Unitarian Church. Harold Rosen was preaching and they met many people of their age group. They’d found a place with no dogma!

Importantly , there was an active youth group where Clayton, at 13 years, could be involved as well as a thriving children’s program for the younger children. They joined and within the first year Brian became the Treasurer and started going to Board meetings. He is on the Board again currently.

But this is definitely not this family’s only claim to fame in our community. Kay, too, immediately became involved with the Finance Committee as she had taken 2 years of business and finance training at BCIT. She did bookkeeping for our community for 22 years. Between them they coached new Board Treasurers as needed.

Brian has always been on the Finance Committee and is heavily involved with Buildings and Grounds. (He was basically Project Manager for our recent renovations). In addition, Brian was the point person for the Partner Church Team. He and Kay maintain connections with that church community in Hungary called Hodmezovasarhely. They’ve made four trips there, along with some other church folk, on behalf of our community. This included two wonderful choir tours led by Alison Nixon. On top of this, Brian has done for himself something he loves! For 30 years he has sung in our choir.

Brian and Kay operated their own business for 30 years doing accounting and personal taxes. There’s no question that Brian and Kay Welwood have contributed hugely to our beloved community!

Alice McSherry

Our ever-cheerful Alice was born in 1950 in a cottage hospital in the community of Johnston located near Glasgow, Scotland. Her parents, Sheila and James Kirwen, resided in Glasgow at that time. James was Scottish and Sheila was from Yorkshire.

Alice had three older sisters: Jill (8 years her senior), Jean (4 years older) and Margaret (3 years older). Alice says that later in life, lacking any brothers, she recruited her sister’s boyfriends to pretend they were related. She had always wanted a brother.

Jill was actually a half sister born to her mother during a previous marriage. Tragically, her mother’s first husband, Kenneth, had been killed in a wartime training accident in Saskatchewan.

Sheila and James had known each other previously and were actually engaged but then Sheila fell in love with Kenneth (the man who had died). James and Sheila subsequently reconnected and married. . . eventually adding Jean, Margaret and then Alice to their family.

James worked full time and studied engineering at night school, becoming a certified engineer. He was then hired by the major Scottish engineering firm of Redpath Brown. Alice was only 9 months old when her father was recruited with several other engineers to come to Canada to work with the firm Western Bridge. This firm took over work on the Second Narrows Bridge rebuild before and after the disastrous fall of the first structure that had been built by Dominion Bridge.

Arriving in Vancouver, the family were housed in the Sylvia Hotel until they could find their own lodgings. Their father continued working for Western Bridge for many years, ultimately becoming chief engineer. Eventually, though, James decided to start his own engineering firm called Kirwen Engineering. Sheila remained a housewife looking after her young family.

The family lived in several different areas of Vancouver including Narvez Drive, Kerrisdale and Oakridge. Alice attended school at Maplegrove Elementary (starting at age 6), Point Grey Junior High School, Magee High School and finally Churchill High School.

Here is a mystery that was never really solved. Authorities at Magee insisted that Alice couldn’t really graduate Grade 12 with a full certificate because, supposedly she hadn’t passed one of the courses … a course she had not even taken! She did attend graduation events there, though.

At this time, Alice was sent for a summer holiday and when her parents picked her up from that vacation, she was told the family had moved to the Oakridge area. Next she was told she had to take Grade 12 again — this time at Churchill High School. Unfortunately this became an unpleasant year for her as it was not a very welcoming community. Alice did not feel that she fit in as the students seemed cliquish. So athough Alice received her transcripts at year’s end, she didn’t bother to attend grad ceremonies at Churchill.

Following her second year of grade 12, Alice worked for a couple of years at what was then the office of the Medical Services Association in Vancouver. She wanted to go to Vancouver City College to take Early Childhood Education but she had to be 21 in order to do so. Later when enrolled in that program, Alice took certificates related to various age levels. Some of her training was also done at Capilano College.

During her lifetime, Alice has spent 16 years caring for children in daycare or in preschool care. It was during a practicum for infant care that Alice suddenly experienced what she calls a “nervous breakthrough”. She had begun to experience mental visions outside of her body and needed help.

Her sister Margaret was working in the field of Ayurvedic medicine and did some work with Alice. Alice also attended spiritual events seeking answers. Finally she was directed to a sessional counselor at Family Services. His name was Dr. Jim Browning, a psychologist. With his help, Alice came to understand that her emotional distress was related to sexual abuse. He later directed her to a Dr. Brasfield, a psychiatrist as well as a psychologist. Consequently, Alice has undergone a lot of intensive counselling over many years, learning to function again and developing her bright personality.

Unfortunately, many years have passed since two of her sisters were in touch. Alice had reached out to them, but finally gave up. They were resentful of what had evolved within the family after her nervous breakthrough. However sister Margaret surprised Alice recently by visiting her on her 74th birthday at Churchill House. Sister Jean is in Quebec and now is in contact on line.

For a period of about 5 years in the early 2000’s Alice worked as an executive assistant to the Executive Director of the BC Psychological Association. Later, after taking courses on lay counselling and with the mentoring support of psychologist Dr. Jim Browning, she established a practice of counselling women who had been sexually abused. She always referred clients to qualified psychologists if their situation was more complex.

In 1995, Alice began experiencing Multiple Sclerosis (MS) symptoms, but it was four years before she was actually diagnosed with the disease.

Alice had a brief marriage with an amicable divorce. Following their separation, Alice returned to the dating world and had some other great friendships.

She has lived on the North Shore for much of her life, renting and then purchasing her own apartment. Because of increasing physical difficulties, she moved into Churchill House 18 years ago but still manages to retain a great deal of independence.

How did Alice arrive at our NSUC door? She met Jasha working at the Serenity Shop. Jasha told of our then minister Stephen Atkinson, who liked to pair his sermons with movies. Intrigued, Alice visited and felt she had come home! She became a member in 2010 and still has the certificate hanging on her wall.

Showing great inner fortitude, Alice once presented at our church on the topic of Courage and explained some of her life at that time. Over the years, she has attended many church events and participated in various meetings. She was even on our Board for a year but found it too physically demanding.

Alice’s heart is with us, but increasing fatigue related to MS limits her involvement. She does love to chat though!

Ruth Sherwood

Ruth Sherwood was born in 1934 in Manitoba. For the earlier years of her life, she lived on a family farm that was originally homesteaded by her great-grandfather. Her paternal grandfather was not just a farmer, he was also an ordained United Church Minister and represented the region as a Member of Parliament in the late 1920s. With this, and a farm background, Ruth was exposed at an early age to political discussions and community values.

Ruth had a happy childhood under the watchful care of her parents, two sets of grandparents, and two maiden aunts. Ruth had a brother three years older — and later, a younger brother as well.

Early memories include standing and rolling on gasoline barrels on the lawn to improve her balance; raising chickens; and climbing her favourite maple tree in the pasture near her house so she could read in her little “nest”.

Food was plentiful on the farm. The family had an orchard and a large garden, so fresh fruits and vegetables were plentiful. Canning the surplus ensured a steady food supply during the winter months. Ruth’s Grandpa had dairy cows, so they had fresh milk and churned their own butter. They picked berries during the summer. During the war when sugar was rationed, Ruth’s father tapped some of their Manitoba maples. The children collected the sap for their mom to boil down to maple syrup in an outdoor kitchen.

Ruth was surrounded by cats and kittens while growing up (and still has a cat today!) At age 10, she inventoried the cats in her family — and there were about 30 between her grandparents house, her house, and the barn! She remembers helping her aunts hide newborn kittens from her Grandpa, afraid he might drown them.

During the winter months, Ruth and her siblings rode a neighbour’s horse-drawn sleigh for the 3-mile drive to and from their 1-room schoolhouse, which had a total of 13 students (grades 1-9). The same building served as a church on Sundays, where her grandfather preached.

In 1945, Ruth’s family moved to Winnipeg where she attended a larger “city” elementary and secondary schools. In Grade 11, Ruth received the Governor General’s medal for academic achievement, leadership, and involvement in sports. Following high school graduation, Ruth enrolled at the University of Manitoba, earning a degree in Home Economics. This helped launched Ruth’s career as a dietitian.

Ruth did her internship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and then went to work as staff dietitian first at the Victoria General Hospital in London, Ontario, and then in the medical ward of University Hospital in Saskatoon. For fun, Ruth enjoyed playing badminton, which is how she met her future husband (Edwin “Ed” Sherwood) while living in Saskatoon.

Ruth moved with a friend to London, England for a year and a half where she worked as a dietitian at the Paddington General Hospital. Ruth kept in touch with Ed during this time by mail. Ruth returned to Saskatoon in 1961, working at University Hospital as a staff dietitian in the surgical ward. She and Edwin were married in 1963.

Ruth and Ed’s family grew as they welcomed two children born 20 months apart: Richard in 1967 and Gillian in 1968. As a new mother, Ruth quit her full-time job but continued working part time doing research work for a doctor. Ed’s training was in making custom orthopedic shoes and other devices to help people with mobility issues, but he specialized in arch supports. His work led to him and a partner setting up a business making and selling custom arch supports in North Vancouver. So they relocated here in 1970. Ruth worked as a dietitian in Surrey Memorial Hospital to support the family while Ed’s business grew. In the 1980s the business was picking up — but their relationship was deteriorating. Ruth and Ed separated, and then later divorced.

Ruth continued working as assistant dietitian at Surrey Memorial Hospital, where she had a 17-mile commute to/from work. There, she and another staff nurse set up a diabetes program. But Ruth longed to be more hands-on in community work. So she changed jobs becoming a Nutritionist in the Burnaby Health Department’s continuing care program — eventually retiring in 1999.

In 1982, Ruth joined NSUC in 1982, serving at various times over the years as Board Secretary, Membership Chair, on the Hospitality Team, and Usher/Greeter coordinator. Through her NSUC friends Gary and Sandra Robinson (who had an healing clinic at that time), Ruth learned about energy work in a 6-month intensive program. She later also took a Reiki course and used it for friends, as needed.

It seems that wherever Ruth goes, she ends up forming friendships. She joined two women’s groups (one in the building where she lives and another at NSUC). For about 5 years, Ruth participated in a support group that was an offshoot of an event sponsored by the Unitarian Church of Vancouver. She even tried setting up a singles group at NSUC, but said it was tough because “You can’t dance on carpet”.

Ruth volunteered at the BC Mills Museum (in the Lynn Headwaters regional park) for a number of years, participating in activities with them. She also joined the Vancouver Hiking Association, meeting new friends through hikes and overnight camps — often in groups of 40 or so people!

She joined the Keep Well Association (a group started by 5 nurses), which included doing mild group exercises followed by blood pressure checks, shoulder massages, coffee and conversation. Ruth served on their Board and as a volunteer for them in an administrative role at the North Shore Neighbourhood House. She continued her work with them until right before the Covid pandemic.

In 2015, Ruth bought an iPad and joined a class to learn how to use it. She struck up friendships with some of the other participants. They formed an iPad social group that still meets weekly at the Parkgate Rec Centre.

In the 1990s, Ruth went on an adventurous trip to Ayrshire Scotland to track down the gravesite of one of her ancestors (John Brown, who was murdered in 1685 for being a non-conformist lay preacher). Her travels over the years have taken her to other countries as well, including Italy, Austria, Portugal, Bali, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands.

Ruth has no grandchildren, but remains in close contact with her two grown children and their spouses. She talks with her son by phone every few days, and sees her daughter regularly for lunch and other meet-ups. Beau, her cat (formerly owned by Karen Patrick) keeps Ruth busy and provides endless entertainment. (Ruth says she is addicted to jigsaw puzzles on her iPad; she can’t do REAL puzzles because of her cat!)

Earlier this year, Ruth celebrated her 90th birthday. In spite of the essential tremors (which she inherited from her mom), she is still going strong! She has enjoyed getting to know some of our congregants more deeply through the “Mini Bio” program she launched recently, and is doing a fantastic job of helping us all get to know each other better.

Thank you, Ruth, for all you do to bring people together. You are an example and inspiration to us all!

~ Janni Kretlow

Nora Coates

Nora was born in the early 1930’s in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. Her father was an electrical engineer and was Director of the city’s electrical power plant. Nora’s mother came from a successful and respected merchant family. In fact, the patriarch of that business was so successful that as each of the children matured, the patriarch gave each of his offspring a store of their own to run . . . except Nora’s mother! She had run away to get married, despite parental disapproval.

Nora’s only sibling was Doris, five years her senior. Initially, the girls they were sent to a private French school. Nora was only there for 2 years before the Russians invaded the Baltic states and put a stop to any private education (although her sister was allowed to continue in their school because she was close to graduating).

The Russians were greatly feared for their brutal ways, so Nora and her family fled to eastern Germany for sanctuary. During the following years they had had to flee their homeland several times. The Germans would liberate the Baltic states and the Russians would again invade and occupy.

The Russian invaders were illiterate and trusted no one with an education. Even wearing glasses marked you as an undesirable as it meant you could read. Nora’s own uncle was sent to a Siberian prison camp where he died. A close girl friend of Nora’s was also sent to Siberia simply because she was a social elite. She eventually returned but was never the same person again.

When Estonia was under Russian control, people were starving, living on potatoes three times a day plus any mushrooms or blueberries they could find. Nora hated the Russians and described them as looters, rapists and pillagers. The Germans, on the other hand, provided food and were considered gentlemen for providing protection to the population.

Nora was 10 years old at the start of the Second World War. While their family was in refuge in Germany, she attended school. But with such constant interruptions in their lives, it was impossible to obtain adequate schooling. Nora actually lived in Germany until age eighteen.

In 1947, immigration for Europeans opened up and Nora’s sister Doris made her way to Montreal (since she could speak French). In that period, new immigrants had to be at least 18 years old and were expected to work in Canada for a year before becoming independent. Females had to work as maids in a household, and men had to go into logging or mining.

Sister Doris was assigned to a family in Westmount. It seemed a good system as you were housed with a family, had food and shelter, learned the language and culture, and were made familiar with the community. From there, Doris went on as a student at McGill. One of Doris’ teachers in Montreal mentioned to the Symons family that she had a very bright student who had won scholarships and bursaries to McGill, but that this girl had no place to live. Frank and Betsy Symons (grandparents of Joanna Vaughan and her siblings) immediately offered their home to Doris while she was studying.

Nora had to wait to turn eighteen before entering Canada. She was very fortunate, though, because she took over as a maid with the same family where her sister had been. When Nora first arrived in Canada, she was severely malnourished and unwell as a result of wartime deprivation. While working as a maid, Nora did a little cooking but the lady of the house did most of it. Apparently her menu was simply a rotation of the same seven items and any leftovers were simply thrown out. This waste definitely went against Nora’s principles, considering how she had lived in Europe. Consequently, Nora taught her mistress how to make potato pancakes from leftover mashed potatoes. This recipe became another staple in the household rotation.

Because of Nora’s poor health, she was finally tested and found to have an overactive thyroid requiring major surgery. Her physician said that she needed a year’s rest, but of course Nora had no resources to enable this. The Symons family generously came to the rescue and invited Nora to be a guest in their home during recuperation, as they already were hosting Doris while she studied at McGill.

While working as a maid, Nora studied shorthand and typing at night school to earn qualifications as a secretary. Frank Symons was the Canadian president of an American Insurance brokerage (Johnson and Higgins) with its Canadian head office in Montreal. He arranged for Nora to become secretary to the that company’s treasurer. It was at this firm that Nora met Garth Coates, a marine insurance adjuster that had been transferred from their Vancouver office. They lived in the same neighbourhood of Westmount, and both travelled to and from work by streetcar. It seemed natural that they should start to date.

When asked about her European religious background, Nora describes their family as being lukewarm Lutheran. While living in the Symons household, they invited her to the Unitarian Church ,which she soon joined.

Nora and her sister lost their father during the war. (He was buried with honour in the Tallinn cemetery). Again through Frank Symons’ aid, their mother (at age 50) was sponsored to enter Canada.

Nora and Garth Coates were married in 1953 with the bride being ‘given away’ by Frank Symons. In those days husbands and wives were not allowed to work in the same office, so Nora worked at various temporary or part time jobs in Montreal. Later, she worked with her mother in the Registrars printing department of McGill University. Nora recalls with delight the tea parties at McGill where the various professors came to talk and to flog their autographed books. She bought 13 of them! Later, she had to move and sold them — but she discovered the autographs were more valued than the books.

After Nora and Garth bought a house in the suburbs, Nora no longer needed to work. The couple adopted two girls: an infant they named Maris and later a nine-month-old child called Gwen. Nora became an active suburbanite with children, dogs and a garden. She took pottery lessons and still has some of her pieces today. When Nora’s mother wasn’t working at McGill during the summers, she stayed with Nora and Garth and their children.

Not surprisingly, Nora organized a small library in a hockey shack. It grew and finally was taken over by local authorities as a proper building was being established.

Separatist troubles in Quebec ultimately led to Garth’s transfer back to the Vancouver office. Here, they bought a family home in Kerrisdale, where the girls attended school. Soon Nora became involved with the Vancouver Art Gallery — and for 10 years she was the Executive Secretary of their volunteer committee.

Nora and Garth attended the Vancouver Unitarian Church, where Nora became involved in issues of recycling and conservation. Their daughter Gwen went into the field of nursing, married, and continued working in that practice once her children were older. She and her husband built a large home in Seaside Place, a gated community, with an inlaw suite for Nora and Garth. Gwen still lives in an apartment in West Vancouver, and her two sons also reside in West Vancouver.

Maris married and has two daughters who also live in the Vancouver area. Maris and her husband built a secluded home on Quadra Island where he works online.

With Nora and Garth living in West Vancouver, it was logical that they join the North Shore Unitarian Church. One of Nora’s early activities at NSUC was starting our library with donated books, as there was no budget for this.

The couple continued their interest in recycling, conservation and the environment. In fact, Nora has been our chief recycler for many years. Nora ran our church’s grocery receipt program for many years (taking over where Marie Bensley had left off), collecting grocery slips from a West Vancouver store in exchange for a small refund from the store. This program has raised thousands of dollars for NSUC over the years and is still going strong! Nora still collects grocery receipts to contribute, although she doesn’t attend church personally anymore. (She recently handed Ruth Sherwood an envelope full of grocery slips when she visited!)

Sadly, Garth passed away in the 1990’s. For a number of years, Nora lived alone at Tudor Gardens in West Vancouver where she hosted several church social events. As well, sister Doris died a few years ago. Her life had taken a different path. As a highly educated professional, she married another intellectual and produced two equally bright sons.

Nowadays, Nora lives in the Westerleigh which has an abundance of activities for seniors. She makes good use of the available programs such as Scrabble, exercise, and lectures. One of the church activities that Nora really enjoyed (and led for many years) was the Cronies (later known as the “Lunch Bunch”) which provided opportunities for women to socialize and share their stories.

Although we don’t see Nora at church much now, we are obviously still in her thoughts. She declares she is truly Unitarian at heart and she has certainly done her share for our community!

Jutta Wiedemann

Jutta (pronounced “You-tuh”) was born in the German town of Bad Salzuflen. When she was 3 years old (in the early 1930s), her family relocated to a place called Lemgo. The move was forced upon them as her father was a judge (and therefore, a civil servant) who refused to join the Nazi party, so he was demoted to a lesser jurisdiction. Jutta’s mother was a nurse midwife.

Jutta and her two older sisters were schooled in Lemgo from ages 6-10. From there they were sent to a semi-private high school called Lyceum where both Latin and French were taught. Jutta graduated in 1945 at the age of 17. To further her employment possibilities, she then enrolled in a high-caliber trade school where she learned Spanish as well as typing, dictation and shorthand.

The expectation in her social milieu was that she would ultimately employ a housekeeper/cook once she had her own home. Jutta’s mother insisted she should have practical experience in that sort of role. However, in postwar Germany, there were few families that could afford such a servant.

In that same period, Sweden was inviting German youth who were impoverished after the war to come to their country to live and to work. Through a neighbour, Jutta learned of a Swedish family with 5 children who were desperate to have a housekeeper. She immediately wrote to them and applied for the position. Within a week she had the job and a train ticket to Stockholm. Her plan was to stay in Sweden for just one year.

Of course things changed for her when, while working in Sweden, she met a German fellow named Wolf at a party. The lumber company he worked for in Germany had sent him to Sweden — but he ended up working for a Swedish company in Stockholm instead.

Jutta and Wolf dated. Though living accommodation was scarce, they finally found a place to rent: the lower level of a house with a fireplace and garden access.

Their marriage was planned for 1953. They returned to Germany to be married in the Reformed church where her grandfather had once been the minister. This was 25 miles from her family’s home but a bus was rented for family and guests. As the car carrying the wedding couple was spotted from the church tower, the bells started to ring out long before their actual arrival. This made it an even more festive celebration!

The couple returned to live in Stockholm for the next three years. Jutta worked in an office where she created her own Swedish version of shorthand as she had also become quite fluent in spoken as well as written Swedish.

Wolf knew a German fellow who had visited British Columbia and talked in glowing terms of the lumber industry in Vancouver. Wolf and Jutta decided to try working in Canada for two years. Once in Vancouver, though, Wolf was unable to find any work other than basic factory work in his field. Though he checked for the potential to work back in Germany, the industry there was failing.

Circumstances finally changed for them when they met some immigrants from the Baltic states. They socialized with these friends at parties and camped together as well. Their support was instrumental in Jutta and Wolf finally settling in Vancouver.

Wolf took an aptitude test with results indicating that he could become either a mathematics professor or an accountant. He went to night school, studying to be an accountant and did some accounting work at the Vancouver airport. From there he applied to work with the Canadian Pacific Airline. He was hired and ultimately progressed to become Assistant Vice President of that Airline.

Because of his employment with CPAir, he and Jutta were able to travel over the years — often to Germany, as well as places like India and Brazil. By this time, the couple had two children: a boy and a girl (both of whom were born on the North Shore, attending Cyprus Elementary and then Sentinal High School in West Vancouver).

In the meanwhile, because of a slipped disc, Jutta visited a yoga specialist for treatment. This person then encouraged her to become a yoga teacher herself as there few instructors in the area at that time. Jutta embraced the idea, as yoga was becoming increasingly popular. She taught yoga for 40 years up to the age of 73.

In 1982 there was a sudden change in their marriage relationship which precipitated Jutta and Wolf’s divorce. This was an emotionally challenging time for her and the family. Under these changed circumstances, Jutta decided she should go into the real estate business — but she needed training.

Her son happened to pass the Real Estate Board’s main office at 10 o’clock one evening, saw a line up of people outside and inquired as to what was happening. Because the housing market was hot at this time, these folk were applying to become realtors. Jutta’s son phoned to tell her of this, and then stood in the line-up until she could get there herself. Once she arrived, her son set her up with blankets, coffee and a place to sit. It was going to be an overnight wait.

Jutta stayed there all night, put in her application, and was accepted! The next challenge was eight weeks of intense study and training at UBC in the real estate field, but she was up for it … and she passed! Jutta spent many years in that business.

For her mother’s 85th birthday, Jutta planned a visit to Germany. Soon after her arrival there, she suddenly developed a violent headache. Fortunately a niece contacted a surgeon whose time was available. They discovered a tumour at the base of Jutta’s skull! She had had absolutely no awareness of anything amiss until the sudden headache developed. Jutta underwent immediate surgery in Germany and required 5 weeks of convalescent care before returning home. Her children had flown to see her after the surgery as her condition was considered grave.

When asked about her outside interests, Jutta shared that she volunteered for 40 years on the board of Friends of Chamber Music. However, when asked specifically about hobbies, her quick response was “People!” She just loves to talk with the variety of people she meets.

It was from her many social connections that she met June Hahn and her family. June introduced her to our North Shore Unitarian community during the tenure of Stephen Atkinson as our minister. Jutta has been a faithful and interested pillar of our church since then — and still attends regularly.

Jim Bensley

Jim was born in Hartlepool, Durham, a seaside area of northern England in June of 1934. He has one older sibling, Betty Macmillan, who is also a Member of NSUC. Their father, James served in the army in the First World War. Their mother, Florence (who was known as “Nellie”) had experienced severe bombing of their small community by the German navy in WW1.

When WW2 came to Britain, their mother Nellie evacuated them to the countryside to live with one of their grannies (who ran a pub), and a nanny. (Jim remembers his mother instructing Betty to “look after your little brother” -- and maintains she still does to some degree!)

James (Jim & Betty’s father) did electrical work. The family also ran an arcade business. Both children were involved in the business and were allowed to help by counting the large English pennies from the various rides and shows, and scooping ice cream.

During her growing-up years, Nellie’s family had lived in a caravan and had moved around a great deal. As a result, she had been illiterate but was taught to read by her husband. She then became a voracious reader and would give the children 10 books at a time at Christmas to further their interests.

While the war was still waging, they were returned to Hartlepool as they needed to carry on with their schooling. Their parents had just bought a new home. Ten days later, their previous home was totally destroyed by a bomb! Jim says he’s been called “Lucky Jim”. He says this was one of several circumstances when the term seemed valid.

Both children had written the traditional 11+ exams and done well, so at this point, Jim and Betty were sent to separate “better” schools: one for boys and one for girls. Jim describes his experiences there as absolutely brutal! He will never forget the abuse.

The children’s father had a sister who had been widowed prematurely. She really craved travel but wanted company so asked Betty, age 13, to be her companion. Their tour was a long one via Cape Horn but finally they ended up in British Columbia in Langley, where lived some people known to the family.

This was 1947 and times were tough in Britain, so Betty didn’t want to return to England . The family finally decided to sell up and move to Langley B.C. The parents set up a candy manufacturing business here and ordered candy-making equipment from England. This business prospered and the family eventually moved to New Westminster. Jim was 13 and Betty 4 years older, and they attended the local high school. Jim thought he was “in heaven” after his previous school experience!

Jim started in Grade 8 but soon advanced to Grade 10 by Christmas and finished Grade 12 at age 16. From here, he went to UBC where he’d been encouraged by a mentor to take architecture since he had exhibited artistic potential. As he was younger than the usual university entrance students, it wasn’t ideal for him socially. However, he remained in the architecture academic field for 3 years. He then switched to Commerce. After two years in that field, a professor who had done an assessment on him told him “Don’t go into sales”.

During his summer breaks, Jim had found work as a deck hand for two years and then worked on the huge Kemano project at Kitimat, living in a camp of 5000. He says he learned more from those experiences than from his university years.

Once he gave up on university, he went to the unemployment agency seeking a new job. Luckily for Jim, he was hired by a well-established British firm, Grosvenor-Laing Developers, where he was given training to become a project manager. From here, his work life took off and he was involved in many large projects, first to Powell River for an office building for the company and later construction projects were with Woodwards and then the Vancouver airport.

While at the airport site, the carpenters went on strike and he was able to take time off from his management responsibilities to have some essential surgery that required hospitalization at the Royal Columbian Hospital. Lucky Jim struck it lucky again! He met and fell in love with a nurse in training named Marie. They were engaged within 4 months and married in a year.

Jim’s working life seemed to just flow from one major company to another. He didn’t apply but was head hunted to work in roles such Assistant Personnel Manager for a chainsaw factory and later as Advertising Manager and VP at KVOS (which was for 14 years) where he was in charge of advertising and sales with the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Jim and Marie’s first home was in Norgate, where they raised three children: a girl and two boys. They have 4 grandchildren. They moved to Calder Ave after 6 years at Norgate. All of their children live in the North Vancouver area.

Initially, Marie attended the Anglican Church in their area and had been active there. Jim wasn’t so keen as this was a very “high” Anglican service.

At this time, Marie was doing private nursing care and had time to do a lot of knitting for charitable projects. She obtained the wool for free from the Vancouver Unitarian Church — and they donated the knit items to the Unitarian Service Committee.

In 1967, Marie heard of a meeting to be held at the West Vancouver Rec Centre. They were planning a new Unitarian fellowship on the North Shore. Jim & Marie attended meetings held at North Shore Neighbourhood House, joining NSUC when the Mathers property was purchased.

Jim served as the NSUC Board president in 1987. He and Marie were instrumental in organizing the Save the Lot Committee. Marie has always been heavily involved in church matters and in fund raising projects.

Outside the church, the Bensleys operated a business that organized conventions and special events all over North America. (Jim’s early days of arcade experiences obviously paid off!)

In visiting Jim and Marie in their new abode, Ruth Sherwood (the author of this Mini Bio) learned that Jim has a genuine talent for art. His subjects are various but ships figure prominently.

Jim and Marie are now retired in the Amica Care Home in Edgemont area. They come to church when someone (usually Malcolm Mallory) can drive them. Both Jim and Marie have contributed significantly to our UU community.

Sonia Mackrow

Our beloved 100-year-old Sonia was born April 21, 1924 in the small community of Whitley Bay, Northumberland. She was the only child of the Bell family. The Bells moved to Newcastle on Tyne  when she was about 5 years old, where Sonia started her schooling. A nasty incident occurred  when Sonia was 11. She was unfairly “thumped” by a teacher — and consequently her mother moved her to a private school.

In 1940 with the war underway, Sonia (then 15) obtained her school leaving certificate. In those days, it was expected that youth begin working at that age, so Sonia took a course in shorthand and typing and went to work in her uncle’s accounting firm. Her clerical experience here also taught her to do auditing. As the war was on, everyone took extra roles. Sonia became a volunteer with both the Red Cross and St. John’s Ambulance services. Twice weekly she served at these posts, as well as once  a week at the hospital. She wished she had become a nurse!

Because of its shipbuilding facilities, Newcastle was heavily bombed in the early part of the war, but later London became the major target. How did Sonia’s family deal with the bombing? They didn’t have room in their garden for an Anderson Shelter, but they had a steel table to protect them — or Sonia would hide with her mother under the stairwell in their home. (Sonia’s father, a veteran of the First World War, was out doing Warden duty). Despite these hardships, Sonia grew up finding pleasure in her young life.

Sonia’s old passport photo

Sonia met her first husband, John Atkinson, in 1940. He had been in the army but was invalided out due to pneumonia (which was then a more serious disease as treatment was so limited). They married in 1944 and had their first child, Penny, in 1945, followed by son Michael in 1947. That same year, like many Britons who were finding their country depleted, emigrated to Canada. They found transport on a cargo ship carrying only 12 passengers and disembarked in St. John, New Brunswick, on December 13, 1947. (The St. Lawrence river was frozen, hence their arrival in the Maritimes). From there they flew to Montreal where a couple they had known in England found them a place to live in Cartierville, Quebec.

Sonia’s husband John was an accountant and was quickly able to find a job, ending up at Price-Waterhouse. Sonia found her schooling in French paid off in Quebec as she could make herself understood well enough to get by. But John seemed to be restless, though. He found a job in London, England, and moved the family back to Britain in 1952 . Their son Richard was born there. They first lived in Dulwich Village and later in Romney, Kent, in a newly-developed housing estate.

In 1953, John was offered a job as a national director of finance at African Oxygen in Johannesburg, South Africa — which led to yet another family move. As Sonia said, in those days you just followed your husband wherever his job led him. But Sonia loved this new setting. She had a lovely home and a nanny/cook to help with the children, as well as a houseboy for the outside work.  Sonia’s daghter Margaret was born while they lived in Johannesburg. Sonia was fond of their nanny Martha, and took her to family gatherings where Martha would be the only black person present.

For reasons not shared with Sonia, her husband’s job was not working so the family returned to England. Things were tight financially but eventually her husband got a job working at Trevelyan Estate run by the National Trust. They lived at Wallington Hall village in that area. The two older children took jobs: Michael as a farm labourer, and Penny as a dental assistant. Sadly, John was let go from that job, and the family went back to Wallsend. Sonia now needed to work — and she found a clerical job in a clothing factory.

Early one morning in 1966, Sonia found police at her door who told her that her husband had committed suicide in a park nearby. He had taken an aspirin overdose. She had to then tell her children this awful news. This was, as Sonia stated, the lowest point of her life. After the death of his father, Sonia’s son Michael emigrated to New Zealand.

Sonia had good friends in Vancouver and they encouraged her to emigrate — so she and Penny with the two younger children moved yet again. Friends in Vancouver helped them find a rental apartment. Almost immediately, Sonia found a job working for an international importing company. Her role involved dealing with their many financial transactions. Penny at age 21, headed off to New Zealand.

Sonia attended the Vancouver Unitarian church in the 1970’s and knew Isabelle Ennis. It was through her Unitarian connections that Sonia was invited to the dinner/dance event where she met Don Mackrow who worked with the Grosvenor Development firm. They connected immediately and were married in 1980. He had two teenage daughters from his previous marriage who were very welcoming to Sonia .

This marriage was a very happy time for the couple. Sonia’s family managed to stay in touch despite geographic separation. Sonia’s beloved Don died suddenly in 2009, after a very happy 10 years of marriage.

Sonia’s son Richard was engaged in the oil business working out of Brazil. Sonia and one of her granddaughters visit him and his wife in their home near Rio. Then came the shattering news that Richard had been murdered in his own home! Despite efforts made to find the people responsible, no one was ever identified. Richard was brought to Canada for burial in a West Vancouver cemetery. Daughter Penny died in New Zealand in early 2024.

When Sonia celebrated her 100th birthday on April 21st of this year, her son Michael and his family came from down under to celebrate.

Sonia has withstood so many challenges in her life but she continues to live with the pleasures she has found in her present life. She lives alone in her lovely apartment, having help only from a cleaner and someone to drive her for groceries. She cooks for herself and socializes at church and with the NSUC book club. She still has her piano, which she learned to play in her childhood years. When the church pianist was absent, Sonia was a ready stand in. Sonia says “ I must get back to playing it” That’s our Sonia!

Inge Bachrich

Inge was born in Hamburg in 1928 of non-practicing Jewish parents.  She had only one sibling, a sister Ilse, five years her senior. They lived in what was considered the red light district of  Hamburg, an area near the docks, where her father had established a  medical practice. He had become a well respected and popular physician. Although Jewish, her father had no interest in religious practice. Her mother was half Jewish but her maternal family had adopted Protestantism.

Inge and her sister attended a small school in this area until Hitler started closing local schools down. Following this closure, Inge and many other children were instead being taught in what were family home settings. Also, at this time her father was no longer being allowed to work as a physician, so their main source of income was jeopardized.

In 1938, Inge was 10 years old when on November 9th the terror known as “Kristallnacht” (the Night of Broken Glass) besieged Jewish-owned properties. Someone had managed to warn her parents just prior to that night, so they managed to flee the  family home.

Previous to this, her parents had been told of a secure evacuation process established by the British called Kindertransport. Through the auspices of this organization, Inge’s older sister left on a ship for England. Shortly, thereafter, Inge was taken by train via Holland and ultimately arrived in Liverpool. (Inge remembers that in the Netherlands, Queen Wilhelmina greeted the children from this train and provided them with lemonade).

When the girls left Germany, there had been no discussion as to when their family would ever reunite. The girls found later that their parents had died apart, in different concentration camps.

In Liverpool, Inge (with her name tag attached) was one of several children picked up by strangers who had previously offered their homes. She was taken by ferry to Ulster in Northern Ireland to a boarding home run by two elderly ladies. Here, she was finally reunited with her sister. These two women provided food and lodging but were very strict in their care. They  were staunch Methodists and required all the children in their home to attend religious services every day and twice on Sunday.

They had arrived in this small community of Bangor just three weeks before the Second World War actually began. Inge has memories of the kindness of the teachers in that village school, enjoying her school experience more than life in the boarding house.

Because of the war, the entire school had to be evacuated to a more remote area of Ulster. As this school taught children only to age 17, Ilse had left  at that age to attend Queens University in Belfast. There was a Jewish refugee committee in Ireland at that time; through their auspices, Inge was also able to attend Queens University. Her interest was to work in the field of community care. Inge graduated in 1948 with a General Degree.

Inge found employment with the Housing Trust in the Ulster region. This involved working with families needing homes and following them to ensure the assigned housing was adequate and that the families were doing well. Her role included picking up their rent — but it was really an early version of social work. Before fully qualifying in this role, however, she was required take courses in subjects as diverse as accounting, legal matters, and surveying. Inge even had to be knowledgeable about plumbing!

After 7 years of this work, Inge wanted a change from Ulster so she applied and got a similar position in Tunbridge Wells in Kent. However, after two years here, she relocated to London where she took a 3-month secretarial course and found a job with a publishing firm. The company found, however, she was much more useful to them translating German articles. She even translated the book Heidi as part of her work.

Inge found herself under a lot of stress in that role, which affected her health. She was given an incorrect diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (a diagnosis that was later disproved in Canada).

In London, Inge met an Austrian engineer called Jascha. He encouraged her to come to Canada where he was going to work in the lumber field. They were married in 1959 and have two sons, David (who lives in Ontario) and Simon (who works at BCIT). Initially in Vancouver, Inge did some tutoring and other volunteer work until she earned her teaching certificate at Simon Fraser University. She was a substitute teacher for ages K-12 for two years, and then taught an adult upgrading program at a the vocational trade school associated with BCIT.

Inge and Jascha separated in the 1980’s. He chose to live in their place on Saltspring Island, while she remained in their  family home in North Vancouver for 63 years so far. She has become the neighbourhood grandmother as she is close to two families with young children. One end of her dining room table is covered with kids toys for the benefit of her youngest visitors.  

Inge is an artist known within the North Shore artistic community. She once held retrospective of 45 pieces of her work in our church.

Inge first found out about NSUC from Jewish friends in the Vancouver Church. In the days before we had a minister, she volunteered in the children’s program as well as helping with program development.

There’s no doubt Inge has made her contribution to our church, as well as to BC’s education system.

Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin was born in Prince George, but her family moved to Nanaimo in 1973 where she lived for 7 years. Her parents parted and in 1980, she moved to Vancouver at age 15 to live with her father. She attended Britannia high school and since then, has lived in East Vancouver. She is currently working as a library assistant at the Vancouver Central library.

Kathy’s family includes a younger sister who lives on Vancouver Island. Kathy herself is married with one adult daughter, and has a 2-year-old granddaughter for whom Kathy and her husband are devoted babysitters.

Her family has always been musically inclined. Kathy’s mum was a professional pianist who played in high-end restaurants; her specialty was jazz standards — everything from the ‘20s to the ‘80s. Kathy’s father enjoyed harmonizing with herself and her sister; his preferred style of music was primarily from the ‘60s and ‘70s. All kinds of music, though, was enjoyed by the entire family. From a very young age, Kathy tells me she harmonized to all sorts of sounds whether it was a train whistle, radio jingles, or even a plane overhead!

Kathy started playing guitar when she was 11 but only had a couple of lessons as she learned to play entirely by ear by playing along with songs on the radio. Her singing journey, however, didn’t start until she was an adult and joined her first choir — an a cappella folk/world music choir that sang in over 20 languages.

Since then, she has sung tenor or baritone in countless folk groups, choirs, and choruses. In 2011 Kathy was introduced to Barbershop quartet singing — famous for their style of harmony which certainly fit with her natural talents. In 2012, she was invited to join an all men’s choir: "The Vancouver Thunderbird Chorus”. She was the only woman in the chorus and she sang baritone. It has now become a mixed choir and she still sings with them.

In 2013, she joined an a cappella quartet called “Second Inversion.“ Her quartet placed 1st in the 2018 Barbershop Division contest representing BC and Washington. They continue to do performances around the lower mainland.

In addition, she belongs to a folk trio called "Fraser Union" which has a strong emphasis on vocal harmonies, guitars, and mandolin. Their repertoire draws heavily from Canadian sources which focus on people's struggles, triumphs, and social justice. They have a strong presence in the Vancouver folk scene, and encourage audience members to sing along with them!

A significant change in her life was at age 47 when she quit her full-time job in order to devote the next three years to study music full-time at Vancouver Community College School of Music. At age 50 she graduated, college diploma in hand. Interestingly enough, even though Kathy had voice lessons for three years at school, she will still occasionally take singing lessons, since she recognizes that over the span of one’s lifetime, the voice can change.

How did Kathy arrive in our midst? In 1996, she joined Alison’s Summerchor as the only female tenor (this was a bigger deal back then!). It was there where she met her husband in 1997 . . . and, of course, Alison then asked if she’d like to sing with our choir as our tenor section leader.

We’ve had Kathy with us since 2022. We hope she remains as part of the NSUC family!

Diana Diaz

Diana grew up in Tampico, Mexico, the youngest of four daughters. She left the family home in 1994 to study at the University of Guadalajara where she took four years of Biology followed by another four years to obtain her Music degree.

Diana auditioned and won a chance to pay for another year at the Royal Toronto Conservatory of Music. Consequently, she and her husband moved to Toronto for the year.

Her husband was keen to emigrate permanently to Canada , but she preferred to return to Mexico . (She wasn’t keen on Toronto’s winter weather!) Nevertheless , her husband had made application for them to immigrate. It was when she was away on an opera tour that he notified her that their applications had been approved! To complete the process, they then had to go back to Mexico and return over land via Buffalo to the Canadian border crossing. There was a 6 month grace period for them to confirm their desire to remain in Canada as landed immigrants.

Diana’s husband wished to remain in Toronto, but in 2009 Diana chose to leave him and set out Vancouver with only two suitcases. Initially she stayed at the ‘Y’ in Vancouver, but since it was suggested she would like North Vancouver as a place to live, she found accommodations and a job at Home Hardware in North Vancouver.

Diana admits to being a handy person who likes to repair things. It obviously has suited her well as she has been at Home Hardware for 13 years, working her way up to the Manager position. Diana has been seeking a change though and will start as a Home Support Worker with VCH in a few weeks.

How did Diana end up as our church’s lead soprano? When first settling in Vancouver, Diana sought out a music connection and first took voice lessons. From there she was referred to audition with the Vancouver Jewish choir where she sang for 11 years. She spent a year, as well, with the Vivaldi choir and then joined the St Andrew’s choir under Daryl Nixon (husband of our Music Director). From there, of course, she met Alison and joined NSUC’s Vox Lumina choir.

Sadly, in the midst of the Covid pandemic in 2022, Diana’s mother died, leaving her father alone in Tampico. With that tragedy — and having a full time job plus many singing engagements — Diana felt the pressure was too great, so she stepped down from many of her previous activities. Fortunately though, she swears that she is ours to keep, as she has found not only great friendship here but finds our beliefs align with hers.

Catherine Tseng

Catherine joined us as our pianist and choir accompanist in 2019. Prior to this, she has had a long history of musical training and accomplishments.

Catherine moved here from Taiwan at age 12 with her parents and younger brother. In Taiwan, her mother felt she had musical talent and sent her to audition for a school for talented children. She had been playing piano already from the early age of 5.

At this school, she was required to learn three instruments so besides piano, she was taught violin and another instrument called Er-hu.

In Canada, she attended Semiahmoo secondary school grades 8-12, but from age 12 was also attending the Vancouver Academy of Music — and then later, UBC School of Music. From there she received numerous scholarships and awards including first prize at the Canadian Music Competitions at age 13.

Catherine performed as a piano soloist at the 2010 Winter Olympics and also has performed with various symphonies and concerts in major venues in Vancouver.

Currently, she is a professional pianist who accompanies instrumentalists, singers, ballet performances as well as ballet lessons and exams. She also teaches piano and accompanies two other choirs besides our own.

Asked if she practices much, she replied, “Only if it is a particularly difficult selection.”

Does she get nervous before preforming? “Not really, as long as I have my music organized.”

In her personal life, she likes yoga and is a strong swimmer (60-80 laps!) She reads a lot, and enjoys occasional movies.

How did we get so lucky at NSUC? Another pianist mentioned to her we were seeking an accompanist. She applied and auditioned with Alison. We are fortunate indeed.

Something I found charming was that during Covid when we held Zoom services, Catherine made a point of dressing in her formal gowns when she played for us!