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President’s Report
What a surprising year this has been so far! I was approached along with Carol McConnell, our Past
President, to share the duties of the First Vice President when that position became vacant. With
Carol’s experience, we were able to see that all of the responsibilities of the position were carried out.
During this time I continued my role as Treasurer and prepared for the year ahead as President. I can’t
imagine how I would have managed it without the support of the Executive. A special thanks, goes to
Gerrie Khalid our President at that time and Past Presidents Carol McConnell, Phyllis Robson and Louise
Joyce who were always there to answer my numerous questions and guide me along as I assumed this
new role.
On May 16th I officially became the President of the Mississauga Branch for the 2012 – 2013 year. My first duty was to head our delegation at Convention 2012 in Sault Ste. Marie. It was a great experience watching our delegates participate in the debates prior to the passing of the resolutions. In June I held the first of my seven Executive meetings and have had another two since then, at our new location of St. Christopher’s Church Hall. After our September Executive meeting, we hosted our Meet and Greet for potential new members. The afternoon was a great success and we had the opportunity to meet and welcome many new members, eager to participate in our interest groups and excursions.
I hope that this year will be enjoyed by you as much as I have enjoyed putting together our meetings and entertainment. I look forward to meeting many of you at our next four luncheons during the year and Penta this month.
Johanne Dalton
Mississauga Branch Newsletter Caring For Our Past - Sharing In Our Future Fall 2012
October Luncheon A Great Success
The 10th of October was the first of our General
Luncheons for the year at Le Treport. Our guest,
Phyllis Robson, the new Area 12 Director and a
former President of our Branch, welcomed the new members that were present by presenting them
with the RWTO members pin. After an enjoyable
lunch, we met the Real Women of RWTO Missis-sauga as they modeled clothing from Nygard
Heartland. What a great fashion show and how
professional they looked. They all deserved the
round of applause given them at the end of the show.
New Luncheon Format
This year we are going to try a new format for our
luncheons. Members can begin to arrive at 10:30 to mingle, have a coffee and look at the informa-
tion on the vendors tables. This is one area where
we are able to raise revenues for the Branch and we hope the material presented will be of interest
to the membership. At 11:00 the doors to the din-
ing room will be closed for the business meeting to begin. Those who wish to attend can remain and as
members arrive, they can quietly enter to get their
name tags. The business meeting will adjourn at
11:30 giving members time to continue to social-ize, sign up for trips and interest groups. Lunch
will begin at 12 noon followed by the entertain-
ment scheduled for that meeting. This new format was tried during our October meeting and was
positively received.
Johanne Dalton, Pres.
Caring for Our Past - Sharing in Our Future 2. Fall 2012
Christmas Fundraiser Needs Your Help We hope all our members will come out to our Christ-
mas luncheon on Wednesday December 12th. It has always been a particularly enjoyable event. We
are requesting donations for our traditional Christ-mas Raffle which takes place at the luncheon. Members are asked to donate new items only: in-fant to children’s clothing, games, books, candles, wine/spirits, glasses, non-perishable foods, interest group donations ( jewellery, knitting etc.), gift cer-tificates or any other items you will find useful or interesting.
Donations are accepted up to December 1st Drop them off to Linda Kenny (905-278-6185) or Carolyn Venus (905-820-7820) at their homes.
Sales of Raffle tickets began in October, will con-tinue into November and will be on sale at the December luncheon. The lucky tickets will be drawn at the December 12th luncheon.
All proceeds go to the Mississauga Food Bank
WANTED:
CANNED GOOD, POP TABS, USED
GLASSES AND SOUP LABELS.
Our luncheons are an opportunity to give back to our community in a very real way. It is traditional
for members to bring donations of non-
perishable food to our Food Bank collection bin
at the Christmas luncheon.
Used glasses of all kinds are also collected and donated to Third World countries.
Pop tabs are also collected at all luncheons, to be
used toward the purchase of wheelchairs.
So put aside a bag now to gather up all of your do-
nations for the luncheon….and thank you in ad-vance for your generosity.
L.P.
NEWS:
RWTO Gather Pop Tabs from All Over
You often see little bags of pop tabs dropped off
at our luncheon. What started out as a small pro-
ject to make use of aluminum pop can tabs that
are usually disposed of in the garbage has perhaps
broken a record. (Ripley take note). Recently,
RWTO member, Joan Command, who was visit-
ing Sydenham, Ontario, was contacted by a
neighbour who had gathered a 45 gallon drum full
of pop tabs from surrounding outlets. This
weighed in at 69.1 kg. or 152.4 lbs. The tabs were
transferred to 8 boxes that could be carried by
Joan and placed in her car to be passed on to Bell.
They will be used to purchase wheel chairs for
those in need. A thank you note was sent to pass
on our thanks to the people in Sydenham. We ap-
preciate all the effort so many put forth to help in
this project. Keep up the good work and try to
beat this record. Shiela Williams
Issues and Concerns
Caring For Our Past - Sharing in Our Future 3. Fall 2012
This year’s Convention took place in Sault Ste. Marie at the
Delta Waterfront Hotel and Conference Centre. Our delega-
tion of seven, Johanne Dalton, Gerrie Khalid, Joan Anne
Ziolkowski, Linda Kenny, Phyllis Robson, Louise Joyce
and Judy Putherbough, were warmly welcomed by the friendly and well organized members of the Algoma
Branch. Mississauga Branch members, Barb Johnston and
Karen Simmons, also attended as observers.
Of interest to our Branch was the New Business arising
from the 2011 Convention minutes. Owen Sound and Area
Branch had submitted a request that the Board and all
Branches consider, for the 2011-2012 Conference year, the
possibility of extending membership in RWTO/OERO to
include all retired women who worked in a professional
capacity in the field of education, e.g. educational assistants,
college or university professors. A committee reviewed and
discussed the many implications of this proposal. The con-
clusion was that our focus should not change. The consen-
sus of the RWTO Board of Directors was that our member-ship continues to be for Women Teachers.
There were only four resolutions presented this year, com-
pared to eight in 2011. This meant that we were able to
complete all business within the time frame. Resolution #1,
that RWTO/OERO establish a membership fee for new
members who join after March 1st that is one half the an-
nual rate set at the most recent Annual Meeting, was with-
drawn.
Resolution #2, stated that Provincial RWTO/OERO provide
branches with a free membership pin for each new member.
Distribution was determined: Area Directors would receive
the pins and pass them on to the Branch Presidents.
The third Resolution, that the preamble to the RWTO/OERO
Constitution be amended to include: Motto: Caring and
Sharing, sparked an amendment to add Having Fun. Al-
though no delegates opposed our focus on amusement in our
various member activities, the amendment was defeated
because delegates felt it detracts from our purpose of Caring
and Sharing. The original resolution passed unanimously.
Attending the Convention helps delegates from large
branches like Mississauga to become more aware of the
challenges of our eight small Branches of 50 or fewer mem-
bers. When our Mississauga delegation met to review the
Resolutions, we felt that the wording and rationale of Cold-
water Branch’s Resolution #4, that Provincial RWTO/
OERO fund a lump sum grant (e.g. $100.00) to small
branches to assist with their RWTO/OERO programming
successful in obtaining funds. With Johanne Dalton and
Judy Putherbough’s support, Coldwater delegates sub-
mitted two Amendments, the first to change the word-
ing from “lump sum grant (e.g. $100.00)” to “fund
$100.00” and a second amendment that added the word “annually”. Both of these amendments were passed.
One of the issues addressed at the Convention concerns
the RWTO/OERO newsletter, Connections. Over 5000
copies are printed and mailed through Canada Post, at
considerable expense. Just over 200 are emailed. Email
and website versions are posted once the newsletter has
gone to print. Members are asked to sign up for the
email version, but those who continue to receive Con-
nectios in the mail are asked to keep addresses up to
date.
Keeping our Membership strong and growing is another
issue as past President Annette Rhodes’ remarked about
in her closing address. Annette travelled throughout the
province posing key questions to the Branches. She discovered that RWTO/OERO is the “best kept secret”
in the province. We need to attract teachers before they
retire. In the spring, RWTO/OERO will be advertising
in several professional publications put out by OECTA,
OSSTF, ETFO and RTO. Attractive posters will also be
distributed this fall and posted to raise awareness of
who we are. Annette also emphasized the importance of
personal invitations, a variety of interest groups, keep-
ing business meetings short, allowing time to socialize
and keeping the focus on our motto of Caring and Shar-
ing.
At the final luncheon, we were delighted to see our own
Phyllis Robson installed as Area 12 Director. Phyllis now assumes her responsibilities for the Burlington,
Lydia Snow North Halton, Mississauga, Oakville and
Peel North Branches. We wish her the best in this chal-
lenging new role!
All in all, the North to Algoma 2012 Convention was an
exciting, challenging, dynamic and interactive experi-
ence. It provided many opportunities to meet members
from all over Ontario, to network, to better understand
our organization at the Provincial level and to develop a
fuller understanding of the challenges other Branches.
Great leadership was demonstrated by Mississauga
Branch delegates who didn’t hesitate to make our
voices count.
Next year’s RWTO/OERO Annual Convention is
closer to home, in Hamilton, from June 4 – 6, 2013.
It should prove to be another affirming experience.
Report on the 56th Annual Convention - North to Algoma June 5-7, 2012 by Joan Anne Ziolkowski, First Vice-President
Volunteer Appreciation Social On June 19th our Volunteers were appreciated at a social hosted in the Ireland Supporters Club of Mississauga. All the committee chairs, interest group convenors and executive were
invited. The executive wished to recognize the important contribution of these women. With-
out them, the RWTO/OERO Mississauga would not be the vibrant organization we are to-
day. Thanks again to those members and especially to those involved in organizing this won-derful event.
Caring For Our Past - Sharing In Our Future 4. Fall 2012
Membership Report
Marie Solarski Membership Convenor
RWTO – OERO Mississauga is well and growing as we now have 355 members, a new high! Listed below are our
newest members. Please welcome them warmly to your groups and events.
Frances Bazerghi Judy Bernard Darlene Brooks
Evangeline Chelak Mary Connelly Claire Devlin
Kathy Dillabough Dani Earnshaw Susan Franceschini
Mary Gilkinson Stephanie Grant Barbara Ann Guppy
Jeanette Hamilton Marie Harasymchuk Karen Hartling
Karen Higgins-Biss Ruth Hopkins Catherine Howitt
Lorrie Isbister Katherine Jansen Irene Lyroy-Syed
Filomena Lettieri Lorraine Lys Kairy Macaulay
Debbie Maltas Dina Masson Sandra McDonald
Linda Mills Teresa O’Brien Tidy Lynn Opre
Gul Paul Elizabeth Pomeroy Barbara Richardson
Pat Rudan Nancy Sainthill Fae Samuels Nancy Schmidt Linda Silvestri Elizabeth St. Onge
Sue Talmage Elaine Thompson Amanda Towe
Dianna Tyndorf Jan Venditti Madge Walters
Louise Young
New members are recruited through brochures and fliers distributed for us by OECTA and ETFO to retiring teachers
and schools, through local newspaper ads, and through information displays set up at other group’s events such as the
recent RTO meeting. But, the best recruitment comes from our own members who spread the word about the good
times to be had as an RWTO Mississauga Branch member. We accept new members at any time throughout the year.
Applications can be found on our website. So keep spreading the word, and encourage your retired teacher friends to
join.
Membership packages, which included an information brochure, your membership card, and members’ directory
were distributed to those who attended the October 10 luncheon and mailed out to everyone else. Please let me know
if you did not receive your package, or if there are any changes to the information in the directory.
The following are the additions to and changes to the members’ directory:
Judy BERNARD 905-824-7686 3142 Cambourne Cres Miss L5N 5E7 [email protected]
Ruth HOPKINS 905-822-2797 1540 Wembury Road Miss L5J 2L9 [email protected]
Filomena LETTIERI 905-567-0486 5421 Edencroft Cres Miss L5M 4M9 [email protected]
Amanda TOWE 905-842-1174 1136 Leewood Drive Oak L6M 3B7
Linda Castelino should be 647-606-8895
Stephanie Grant should be [email protected]
Kathy Machnacky should be 416-248-4765 34 Shipley Road
Brenda Parker should be 519-833-9553 [email protected]
Louise Pivato should be [email protected]
Sharon Wrathall should be unit 307 1300 Bloor St. E.
Members are invited to send in their stories to this newsletter:
Interest Groups: tell us what is happening in your group or simply send us a picture
with a caption.
Applause Board : Share your achievements & those of your friends with fellow
members.
Travel Stories: Share your travel adventures, preferably trips you took on your own,
telling us of ideal itineraries and exotic destinations. Send your story to L. Pivato
TRIPS AND TOURS . . . . . . at a glance
Tuesday, October 23-2012
“42nd Street” at the Stratford Festival Theatre.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Christmas at St. Jacobs- Farmer’s Market and Outlet Mall , lunch , play “Love List “ at St. Jacob’s
Schoolhouse Theatre
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Mame at the Meadowvale Theatre, Matinee
Wed. February 13, 2013
Under the Big Top –Famous Players Dinner and Dream Theatre
Wed. March 20, 2013
Fiddler on the Roof at Stage West
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Tommy at the Meadowvale Theatre, Matinee
April, 2013 - (tentative)
Wright on the Water, tour of Buffalo estate with some shopping
May, 2013 Theatre at Stratford
June, 2013 Mystery Tour
October, 2013 Theatre at Shaw Festival
Call Judy Putherbough, Trips & Tours Convenor
at 905– 822-9581
Caring For Our Past - Sharing in Our Future .5. Fall 2012
42 Had a Fabulous time at 42nd Street ! ! ! This October, forty-two of us boarded a coach
to attend the Stratford Festival Theatre’s pro-
duction of 42nd Street. After seeing a fabulous performance, we tapped, stomped, and shuffled
our way home with the sounds of the music play-
ing in our heads. It did not matter that outside it
rained all day. This musical was sunny and bright.
The play itself had all the ingredients of musicals
of a bygone era. It had spectacle with the bright
lights of Broadway as its backdrop and it had nos-talgia as the large chorus of “kids” reminded us of
the Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930’s. In
fact, the first time 42nd Street came out in film version in 1933, it gave Depression Era audiences
hope that one could succeed against all odds even
when you are a nice person, like the unknown Peggy Sawyer from small town U.S.A. Even a
bankrupt producer, like Julian Marsh succeeds in
this one. This film musical saved Warner Bros. from bankruptcy and the world saw many more
film musicals after this.
Stratford’s choice of this musical seems to mirror our society’s obsession with celebrities and the dream that
anyone can make it in show business, as we have al-
ready seen in shows such as So You Think You Can
Dance, The Voice, and America’s Got Talent. It was a smash in both 1933 and later in the 1980 Broadway
musical with the famous choreographer, Gower Cham-
pion and it has been revived many other times in thea-tres on this continent. In this sense it was a “safe”
choice on Stratford’s part. Let us hope that this popular
musical helps Stratford’s bottom line.
In another sense, the struggles and triumphs of the
characters, the memorable music and tap dance num-
bers, in this escapist and nostalgic work, let all of us forget our troubles for two hours and, to use a cliché,
transports us to a world that few of us have had the
chance to live.
This was another very successful outing organized by
our Trips and Tours co-ordinator, Judy Putherbough,
whose attention to detail and concern for our comfort is astounding. On behalf of all those in attendance, thank
you, Judy.
Louise Pivato
Caring For Our Past - Sharing in Our Future 6. Fall 2012
We Discover Buffalo’s Many Attractions
On Thursday, April 19 a group of adventurous members
coached down to Buffalo, New York to see the Albright-Knox
Art Gallery and to tour the lovely city of Buffalo. The first
part of the day consisted of a detailed and extensive tour of
Buffalo’s downtown by our local guide, Mike. We learned
about Buffalo's early history: its "captains of industry", its
architecture. We found out that Buffalo is the second most
populous city in the state after New York city. It grew quickly after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. The city had the
first electric street lights in the United States in 1881.
Art
Buffalo is home to over 50 private and public art galleries,
most notably the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, home to a world
-class collection of modern and contemporary art. The Al-
bright– Knox Gallery overlooks Delaware Park, all part of
Buffalo’s large interconnected park and parkway system, de-
signed in 1969 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.
Our visit to the gallery was made more enjoyable by gallery
tour guides who pointed out some of their key pieces of mod-
ern art.
Shopping Our tour included a stop at Elmwood Village for a visit to
some interesting boutiques in an area that reminded me of
Toronto’s Yorkville in the 60’s and 70’s .
Architecture Our tour guide gave us a very informative tour of Buffalo’s
great architectural landmarks. It is one of the top cities in
America for its architecture. All of the major American
architects of the 19th and 20th century built masterpieces
here, most of which are still standing. * Buffalo City Hall is a spectacular art deco skyscraper.
* The Ellicott Square Building (1896) named after sur-
veyor Joseph Ellicott, opened and was for the next 16
years, considered the largest office building in the world.
* Guaranty Building (1895) was one of the first true sky-
scrapers and one of the first steel-supported.
*The Hotel Buffalo (originally known as the Statler Ho-
tel) was the first hotel in the world to feature a private
bath in each room.
* Buffalo Central Terminal, a massive 1929 Art Deco
railroad station designed by Fellheimer and Wagner.
* Kleinhans Music Hall and Albright-Knox Art Gal-
lery, a world-renowned repository.
* Grain Elevators were invented here in 1842 and Buf-
falo has the largest collection in the world.
Frank Lloyd Wright Left His Mark
There are several building by this famous architec-
ture, including the Darwin D. Martin House,
George Barton House, the William Heath House,
Walter V. Davidson House, the Graycliff Estate,
as well as the now demolished Larkin Adminstra-
tion Building. Buffalo has more Frank Lloyd
Wright buildings than any other city except Chicago.
The tour ended with a brief stop at the Galleria Mall
for some shopping before we left for home. The
highlight for most of us was the city and gallery tour.
April 2013 Buffalo Trip:
Members have the opportunity to attend an-
other Buffalo trip this coming Spring. Judy
plans a city tour similar to last year’s and a
visit to the Graycliff Estate, mentioned above.
For Our “Feather in Your Cap” Recipient Our honoree, Louise McKay, was unable to attend our
October Luncheon where she was honoured with this
award. Since her retirement, Louise has been devoting a
good part of her time to her family. Her odometer is con-
stantly on spin cycle, as she travels between Peterborough
and Mississauga where her grandchildren live. She has also been a great support to her mother who has just turned 84
and who still lives in her own home. Louise has handled
the loss of her loved ones with remarkable strength and
courage. She is what you would call “a real trooper”.
Susan, her sister-in-law accepted the award on her behalf.
Louise is a caring and selfless individual who is very de-
serving of this”feather in your cap” award.
Carol Gibson
Past President’s Remarks As outgoing President, my year of leadership was quite busy
and passed so quickly. There certainly was much to do in the Branch and for the Provincial RWTO body. I would urge and
encourage all our Branch members who have an interest in, and
enjoy the skills of leadership, decision making, creative think-
ing, planning and more, to step up and join our local Missis-
sauga RWTO Branch Executive committee. You will experi-
ence fun and collegiality within the shared environment of your
Executive sisters.
I’d like to thank the five key members of the Core Executive :
Carol McConnell, Johanne Dalton, Joan Anne Ziolkowski,
Phyllis Robson and Joan Gingras for their individual leader-
ship and help over the year, making my work much easier.
My thanks also to all the Convenors and Assistants who keep
the organization going so smoothly. Many have served for several years and still keep on doing so. Lastly, my thanks to
you, the members, who placed your confidence in me for the
year. I met many of you in my term and hope to continue do-
ing so in this new RWTO year.
Looking back, we enjoyed successful luncheons at LeTreport,
our new meeting / dining venue. Our Branch held wonderfully
successful fund raisers for worthy causes. Members enjoyed
the energizing camaraderie that comes with membership. I am
grateful to you all for this unique opportunity. As we welcome
Johanne Dalton to the 2012 - 2013 presidency, I know you will
give her the same fine support that I enjoyed. Have a wonder-
ful year in the spirit of Caring and Sharing…..and Having
Fun !! Gerrie Khalid, Past President
