OVANIN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-06-24 published
Many saw
TRETHEWEY as 'a member of the family'
By Vera OVANIN,
Sun▼
Media,▼
Sun.,▼
June▼ 24, 2007
While John
TRETHEWEY was talking on his radio show about the
tragic death in Saint Thomas of Jumbo the elephant, a colleague
in the studio waved his shirt sleeve about like an elephant trunk,
trying to get
TRETHEWEY to laugh on air.
The unflappable pro didn't even chuckle.
"My father didn't skip a beat. He never lost his composure. It's
a testament of his professionalism," said his youngest daughter,
Nora TRETHEWEY.
TRETHEWEY died May 11 of congestive heart failure with his family
at his side at University Hospital in London.
He was 83.
The broadcaster left university before getting his journalism
degree to accept a job at CFPL Radio in London as a staff
announcer.
"He actually had to audition for Walter Blackburn (then-owner
of CFPL and The London Free Press) and then make sense of
the text," said
TRETHEWEY's older daughter, Margaret
TRETHEWEY.
TRETHEWEY married his Stratford high school sweetheart, Jacqueline
HIDER, in 1947. They had three daughters -- Margaret, Elizabeth
and Nora.
They later moved to Montreal, where
TRETHEWEY joined Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation Radio and launched his daily morning
classical music program, Concert Time.
He went on to host the show for 18 years.
"We received e-mails from his listeners saying he was like a
member of their family. Dad was in their home Monday to Friday
every morning at breakfast," Nora
TRETHEWEY said.
In 1977, TRETHEWEY moved to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's
Radio Canada International, where he kept listeners around the
world up-to-date with the latest national and international news.
Though he lived in Quebec for more than 30 years, he and Jacqueline
visited Southwestern Ontario every summer.
"Listeners often commented after meeting my dad in person that
he sounded taller on the radio," Nora
TRETHEWEY said.
"He was five-foot-10 but he had such a deep resonant voice that
it sounded like it came from his toes."
When he retired in 1986,
TRETHEWEY and his wife moved back to
London.
But TRETHEWEY's love of broadcasting didn't end with retirement.
When visiting daughter Elizabeth in Phoenix, Arizona., he would
get behind the microphone with her and together they would read
the daily news on the Radio Reading Service for the Blind.
Back in London,
TRETHEWEY volunteered with the Kiwanis Music
Festival, which has established a scholarship in his name.
"My dad told me that during the Cold War, he and one of his colleagues
at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had been thoroughly
investigated by the government and were deemed two people that
would continue broadcasting in case of the nuclear holocaust,"
Nora TRETHEWEY said.
"As a kid, I thought it was kind of neat that my dad was kind
of a secret spy."
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OVANIN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-06-30 published
PHILBRICK's laps around stadium legendary
The University of Western Ontario professor began his treks at
football games in '73.
By Vera OVANIN,
Sun▲▼
Media,▲▼
Sat.,
June▲ 30, 2007
A scholar, local sports legend, painter, pianist, Canadian and
American.
Allen Kellog
PHILBRICK, who died Wednesday, was a renaissance
man.
For 27 years, he ran a lap each time the University of Western
Ontario Mustangs scored a touchdown.
And Western fans chanted with every lap.
"There was a Canadian Tire ad that had a theme, 'Albert, Albert,
Albert.' Someone picked it up to praise Allen and it became a&hellip
ritual," said former head football coach Larry
HAYLOR.
"I remember Homecoming games where the noise of the chant was
so extreme, but he would continue running and pointing to the
players on the field. He did that, not just at Western, but after
every game they played outside of London."
PHILBRICK, who taught geography at Western, died at University
Hospital from pulmonary fibrosis.
He was 93.
PHILBRICK's wife wasn't thrilled when he began running laps at
football games in 1973. He hung up his track shoes in 2000.
"I wasn't so enthusiastic about it initially, but over time,
I learned to appreciate what he was trying to do," Elaine Bjorklund
PHILBRICK said yesterday.
"He wanted athletes to learn to apply in academic studies the
same strategy they employed in football."
PHILBRICK was born in Chicago in 1914. His father was a painter
with the Art Institute of Chicago and his mother was a pianist.
Both passed on their talents to their son.
Sketching and painting were a common theme in the many different
jobs he held and his family says composing at the piano was a
signature of his personality.
Before teaching geography, the multi-talented
PHILBRICK was also
an art teacher, labour organizer, early civil rights activist
and city planner in different cities and towns in the U.S.
He served in the Second World War as captain in the U.S. Army
Air Force
PHILBRICK joined Western in 1965 and retired in 1979.
HAYLOR described him as a wonderful Canadian who was loyal to
his birth country.
"He was a great Canadian-American,"
HAYLOR said.
PHILBRICK is survived by his wife, his son, Allen James
PHILBRICK,
and his family.
There will be no funeral. A public celebration of
PHILBRICK's
life will be held in the fall.
Retired
Free
Press sports writer Bob
GAGE, who often interviewed
PHILBRICK, said he was quite a character who gave a lot of spirit
to the Mustangs.
"Being an academic, you'd think he wouldn't care too much about
sports, but he cared a lot about the team, and travelled with
the guys, too,"
GAGE said.
"I thought very highly of him."
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OVANIN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-07-08 published
Farm life taught veteran importance of helping
By Vera OVANIN,
Sun▲
Media,▲
Sun.,▲
July 8, 2007
When
Second
World War veteran Frederick
JONES learned his friend's
mother was ticketed for parking in a wheelchair-designated spot
despite having a handicapped sticker on her car, he took it up
with the city hall -- and won.
"That was the type of person that he was," said friend Sandra
COLLIER, who volunteered with
JONES at the Riverview Group Kiwanis
Club for almost 10 years.
"He was very conscious of detail and he was very helpful."
JONES died of heart failure on June 21 in the Perley-Rideau Veterans'
Health Centre in Ottawa.
He was 88.
JONES's spent his early years on several farms in Southwestern
Ontario.
"My father was taught all the values that were part of farming
life, to hang in there when things were tough, and to be as helpful
as you could and honest as you could," said Kathy
JONES, his
eldest daughter.
"They translated into his life and he was very well rounded.
"My sisters and I would often joke that he could fix anything
with a piece of wire and a Swiss army knife."
JONES enrolled in mechanical engineering at the University of
Toronto, but took a break to join the Royal Air Force in 1941,
where he became a pilot.
"When Poland was invaded, he was absolutely enraged. He felt
Nazis had taken too much territory," his daughter said.
Soon after,
JONES enlisted and trained others to fly Tiger Moths,
Harvards and Spitfires before joining the Royal Canadian Air
Force in Britain.
Postwar, he obtained his engineering degree and rejoined the
Royal Canadian Air Force, retiring from the forces as a lieutenant
colonel in 1970, before working in the University of Western
Ontario's office of the registrar until 1983.
He also volunteered with community groups, including Meals on
Wheels.
JONES was known for creating H.E.L.P., a London program that
ensure lists of seniors' medications are placed where emergency
personnel can find them.
He was active with the Oakridge Presbyterian Church, where he
enjoyed making music with the bell choir.
JONES is survived by daughters Kathy, Susan, Janis, Patricia
and Rosemary. son Peter died in infancy.
"My father always treated us no differently because we were girls,"
said Janis
JONES, an Ottawa architect. "He suggested to me to
go into engineering and always took us camping,"
JONES's wife, Lillian, to whom he was married for 54 years, died
of cancer in 1995.
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OVANIN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-07-24 published
Victims hard-working, respected farmers
By April KEMICK and Vera
OVANIN, Sun Media, Tues., July 24, 2007
Though police refused to identify the elderly couple slain in
their home yesterday, neighbours and sources close to the family
said they were longtime Mount Carmel residents Bill and Helene
REGIER.
Phone calls made to several Regiers listed under Dashwood were
met with emotional rejection.
"My family is grieving," said a woman at a Regier residence before
hanging up the phone.
Neighbours confirmed police were on scene at the
REGIER farm
on Bronson Line north of Mount Carmel, where Bill and Helene
had lived for decades.
The REGIERs, both in their 70s, were "hard-working" farmers who
attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic church for years,
Friends said.
"They are very, very nice people, very respected in the community,"
said South Huron Coun. Jim
DIETRICH, who has known the couple
all his life.
"It's going to be a loss."
The couple had three sons,
DIETRICH said.
Mike BRUNEEL, principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel school, where
Bill REGIER worked for years as a custodian, said the couple
will be sorely missed.
The community -- home to the
REGIERs' children and grandchildren
has been rocked by their deaths, he said.
"These were two pillars of the community who were deeply loved
by everybody,"
BRUNEEL said.
"We're still reeling from the shock."
Dale REGIER, one of the couple's sons, is the custodian at Our
Lady of Mount Carmel and the couple's grandchildren attend the
school, BRUNEEL said.
Though the elderly couple had downsized their farming operation
in recent years, the
REGIERs were still raising sheep and working
on the farm, neighbours said.
"This is so bizarre," said neighbour Paul
MCINNES/MCINNIS, who lives
less than a kilometre from the
REGIERs' farm, which was cordoned
off and crawling with police officers yesterday.
"I just saw (Bill) on Saturday. He was out burning garbage."
The elderly couple were "hard-working" people, he said.
"They were great people."
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OVANIN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-08-26 published
POCOCK bravely conquered a disability
By Vera OVANIN, Sun Media, Sun., August 26, 2007
Peter POCOCK was an accomplished academic. He wrote books, chaired
committees and attended functions.
He did it all -- and more -- while living with a severe form
of cerebral palsy that, among other restrictions, left him with
control of only one of his fingers.
"Many people suggested that we give him up and put him in a home
for the disabled. But my husband and I decided Peter was our
child and that we would do anything to help him," said
POCOCK's
mother, Jane
POCOCK of London.
"We acknowledged him and treated him as any ordinary child."
POCOCK died July 28 at the Queen Elizabeth Centre in Toronto
from complications after several falls.
He was 62.
Doctors predicted he wouldn't live past 40. But it wasn't the
only time he beat the odds.
POCOCK earned a diploma from Fanshawe College and a degree in
journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto.
He also held a master's degree in divinity from the University
of Toronto and wrote a book about Toronto's cathedrals.
"There was absolutely no segregation in our family. There was
nothing Peter wasn't included in -- fights, too," said his younger
sister, Anne Margaret
PEARCE, a retired teacher who lives in
Woodstock.
Despite his disability,
POCOCK attended a regular school and
took part in all family affairs.
POCOCK's family spearheaded the development of Woodeden Camp
for the disabled in London, as well as the London Crippled Children's
Treatment Centre.
POCOCK served as a committee member of the Toronto Transit Commission's
Wheel Trans service for the disabled.
He was also a member of the Toronto Historical Board and the
Lion's Club.
He is survived by his mother, siblings Ann Margaret, Nancy
POCOCK
of Newmarket and Douglas
POCOCK of Oakville.
"His life is a monument to hope that you can keep going. He was
a happy man," Pearce said.
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