Our Langley.
Our People . Langley is a diversified community with breathtaking landscapes, historical charm and truly the place where country meets the big urban city. Our economy is driven by a vibrant small business network and we are nestled in an area with some of the best recreational opportunities Canada has to offer. Langley still has that small town feeling that makes our community a great place to live, work and play.
What really makes this community tick are the people who put their hearts and souls into making Langley what it is today. These movers and shakers go above and beyond their call of duty to make our community a very special place. The Langley Times and Aldergrove Star are paying tribute to past legends, volunteers, and future leaders who often go quietly about their business without very little recognition.
In this era of fancy printing presses and colour, we have decided to pay further tribute to these individuals by publishing this special edition in black and white. We trust “Our People, Our Langley� has the look and feel you are looking for along with the editorial content that hopefully will inspire all Langleyites, even just for a day! Enjoy! Dwayne Weidendorf, Publisher
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604-534-5353 2 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
ALLAN THAIN “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”
pursuit. “It’s my creative outlet,” he said, of stepping out onto a stage and holding an audience captive through the sheer power of the spoken word, or crafting a production from the ground up as its director. Thain won his first role at 12 years old, in a local production of Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
I
f they didn’t predate his birth by roughly 400 years, these lines from Shakespeare’s comedy, As You Like It, could well have been written about Langley actor and director Allan Thain.
“I wanted to play Puck and I didn’t get the part,” he recalled of his first real audition. But, as fate would have it, the fellow playing the part fell ill and Thain, who’d studied the lines diligently, was well prepared to step in.
At 72, he is both an active Rotarian and president of the Langley Arts Council. During his working years, it was careers in public relations and radio that put food on the table in Thain’s home.
Sixty years later, he brought his love of Shakespeare home, with the introduction of Bard in the Valley and a summer production of the very play that launched his own theatrical career, with performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the outdoor stage in Douglas Park.
But it has always been the theatre that feeds his soul. Born into a family of artists, he has pursued his passion along a number of paths throughout his life. “My dad used to organize church amateur nights,” Thain recalled of his childhood in Saskatoon.
zany three-act comedies.
“He was a Welsh tenor, with the most beautiful voice.”
But their son, strangely enough, was a shy boy, who turned to acting to help him out of his shell. It was a move that transformed into a lifelong
Thain’s mother was an actress, who performed in
Last summer’s production of Romeo and Juliet, mounted by Maple Ridge’s Emerald Pig theatre company was staged for one evening on the Spirit Square stage to help whet the public’s appetite and gauge the level of interest in watching Shakespeare performed.
“I brought that as a demonstration piece for people in the City, to show what it would look like,” Thain said. The production was well-received, and a number of people stepped up to support his dream of starting a local theatre company devoted to the works of the Bard, culminating in a production each summer. For those who fear the daunting prospect of spending two hours interpreting lines spoken in Elizabethan English, he offers these words of comfort: “People, over the years, have been taught that (Shakespeare’s plays) are great literature. They’re not that at all,” said Thain. (In fact, they were written in the common language of the people at the time, and along with the King James Bible, may well have saved the English language, he said.) But, history lesson aside, Thain just hopes people will come out each summer enjoy the performances for their own sake. “I’m not an expert or an academic. I like to do a play that will be entertaining, wholesome for the family — (one where) people come away and say, ‘Wow. That was Shakespeare? That was fun.’”
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 3
Before Cheryl B C
Jeffrey Before
Bruno Giacomazzi
A
fter a lifetime of farming on the family’s acreage in south Aldergrove, Bruno Giacomazzi sees nothing but a sunny future for the agriculture industry in the Fraser Valley.
His late father Primo and uncle Louis first settled and cleared the Brondell Farm in 1938, and Bruno and wife Shirley purchased cattle and milk quota in 1962. Three years later the couple bought the acreage, and operated a variety of farming ventures before retiring in 2008, with their last shipment of milk on December 1 of that year. Bruno has seen many changes in the industry over the years, as operators have consolidated into much larger ventures than the small family farms of his youth, but he’s proud to say that all four of his grown children are making their living in agriculture to this day. He’s also pleased to note that while none of the original four family farms in his neighbourhood are still running dairy cattle, they are all still viable farm operations.
as well as organic crops and hay sileage for the organic Bradner Farms dairy operation owned by Ron Donaldson. “As long as we have the agricultural land reserve there will always be a future in faming,” said Bruno. “Sure, we’ll have tough times and there’ll be pressures but farming is a multi-billion dollar business in the Fraser Valley.” Bruno is also a staunch defender of Canada’s supply management system, pointing out that it gives stability to the dairy and poultry industries that is not seen in “free market” industries such as beef cattle and blueberries, both of which are in deep crises. “We’ve never had to go to the government for a bailout and we’ve always been able to pay all our bills. It’s good for both the farmer and the consumer and everyone in between. “The government is always bailing out beef, et cetera, but never supply management.”
“The Wautiers have cold crops, Gary and Scott Johnstone have broiler breeders, Lance Conway has blueberries and ours is now a greenhouse,” said Bruno.
Bruno said he was particularly incensed to not only see the government bail out the automotive industry, but also to see hundreds of unsold cars parked on a farmer’s field outside of Guelph, Ontario two years ago.
In addition, his daughter Terry raises broiler chickens on a 20 acre portion of the original farm,
“The ALR would never allow that on B.C. farmland. And why would car manufacturers keep on
making cars that don’t sell, store them on a field, then ask the government to give them cash? It makes no sense. It wouldn’t happen under supply management,” said Bruno. “We have to retain the ALR, because if we don’t we’ll get whatever’s left over Bruno Giacomazzi still rides his late father trailer-trucked in from elsewhere.” Bruno observes that “a square foot of land produces so much more today than ever before,” and diversification and innovation are also important to keep farming viable.
Primo’s Italian bicycle around the family’s Brondell Farm. Primo routinely cycled to Fort Langley and as far as New Westminster to conduct farm business.
Over the years Bruno has served on numerous farming associations and committees, received his Master Breeders Shield from the Holstein Association of Canada in 1992, and for 51 years he travelled all over the world as a Holstein dairy cattle judge. “The PNE asked me to do the 4H judging this summer and it was a real honour to do it on their 100th anniversary.” Bruno and Shirley regularly travel to their daughter’s 350-head dairy farm in Leduc, Alberta. “Jill (and husband Greg Thimer) bought Gene Wautier’s cows when he retired and also bought our cows when we hung up our hats. It’s always nice to see our genetics still in the family.”
STORY & PHOTOGRAPH: KURT LANGMANN
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w w w . p e n i n s u l a r u n n e r s . c o m 4 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
Gurdev and Karen Parmar
T
en years ago to this month, two young naturopaths landed in Fort Langley with a dream to create a health clinic that would be like nothing ever seen before in the Fraser Valley.
For Every Living Person) Foundation.
A decade later, Drs. Karen and Gurdev Parmar have created one of the largest integrated health clinics in B.C., with seven NDs, a GP, chiropractor, lab technicians, IV nurses, various therapists as well as two clinical counsellors.
Upon his first visit, he managed to treat hundreds of Thai men, women and children who still had broken bones and open wounds left untreated since the tsunami hit months prior. A Fort Langley dentist came with him and helped treat the locals.
Gurdev had a dream to bring health care to the villagers in a remote island in Thailand where there were no doctors treating all their wounds.
“We treat the whole person. Really we can treat patients from before being born, to pediatrics all the way through to the terminally ill,” said Karen, who specializes in infertility.
Gurdev was moved by the kindness of the island people who had no homes or access to fresh water. On his return, he received help and support from his own village in Fort Langley. HELP managed to raise around $100,000 for the island to build a health clinic, connecting residences for doctors to stay in and a new well.
Working from their quaint building beside Wendel’s Cafe, the clinic now has its own cancer wing where amazing things are happening, say the Parmars. In fact, Gurdev has dedicated his practice to the fight against cancer.
It has drawn patients from as far as places like Denver and Florida.
Parmar is the first Canadian naturopathic oncologist to join a traditional cancer clinic at the Lions Gate Hospital and is a regular on speakers’ lists to talk about cancer.
Karen has hosted ‘Walk with the Doc’ sessions where Langley residents are welcome to join her on walks around the Fort-to-Fort trail to talk about whatever health issues they want.
This spring, they received Health Canada approval to supply patients with North America’s first Oncotherm Loco-Regional Hyperthermia machine that can fight cancer with heat, similar to radiation treatment, but without the side effects.
The Parmars, who now have three young boys, have always felt a huge pull to help locally and globally. In the 2004 tsunami which devastated entire villages in Thailand, the couple felt a need to act, quickly developing the HELP (Health
Many Langley people, including the Parmar’s kids, have been back many times to oversee all the work and treat the sick. Now the medical clinic has the support of the Thai government and has become self-sufficient, said Gurdev. “The resident housing we built is being lived in by doctors from the mainland and it is going really well,” said Karen. “But I know there will come a time when a cause will bring HELP into the forefront of our lives again,” she said.
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 5
George Bergen
W
hen George Bergen was first approached by principal Mary Wright about joining the staff at the under-construction Walnut Grove Secondary and heading up the Gators basketball program, he balked at the idea.
ers were competing. “In the world of anything, it is competitive, and you have to learn how to compete,” Bergen says. “I wanted to build a culture where competitiveness and hard work were valuable elements of the program.”
For the previous decade, Bergen had been building the basketball program at Aldergrove Community Secondary. But Walnut Grove’s vice-principal Dave Coutu kept calling Bergen, trying to sell him on the merits of joining the new school.
To help establish the Gators program, Bergen would take his senior players to the local feeder elementary schools, and give the students a 20-minute demonstration on the sport in hopes of turning their attention to hoops. By 1997, Bergen saw a glimpse that the program was on the right track.
Bergen’s reluctance turned to curiosity and the Walnut Grove administration’s persistence paid off.
Playing against traditional powerhouse Vancouver College, the Gators hung tough, only losing the game in the final 20 seconds.
The first time Bergen drove out to the school site, there were just piles of mud. “It didn’t look like a school, but I decided to take on a new challenge,” he says. This was 20 years ago.
Starting a basketball program from scratch is not the easiest of tasks.
It is a Friday afternoon and Bergen is sitting on a bench in the gymnasium.
His initial recruiting efforts when he arrived at Walnut Grove mustered just four players.
School has been out for more than an hour, but off to the side a pick-up basketball game is underway, consisting of players in Grades 8-10,
Eventually, with the help of Fort Langley Junior High rugby coach Art Smith, who steered a couple of rugby players the Gators’ way, Bergen had eight for his inaugural season.
Bergen arrives at school each morning at 7:30 a.m., opening the gym so that players can shoot hoops prior to class. Before and after basketball season, he stays there until 6 p.m. and during the season, it is usually close to 11 p.m. when he finally heads home.
The Gators went 4-24, but through the tough times, Bergen remained upbeat. It wasn’t about wins and losses, but rather about whether the play-
Three years later, Walnut Grove had their best-ever finish at the AAA provincial championships, making it all the way to the final four. Bergen, in his 33rd year of teaching, says he will continue year by year, adding that when he does retire, he most likely sees himself staying involved with coaching. For him, this is a hobby, a passion. And with coaching requiring such a tremendous time commitment, Bergen said he would not be able to do what he does without his wife, Gaye Lynn. “I have the best wife in the world. Without her support, there is no way I could do this.”
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6 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
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Graham Roxburgh
“I
think most athletes will tell you, the thrill of winning is excellent, but shortlived.”
language of the world. While we may not be able to communicate with language or culture, sport tends to be that one ingredient or bridge builder or common language among people around the world.
Those are the words of Graham Roxburgh, the head coach of the Trinity Western Spartans women’s soccer team, as well as the co-ordinator for Power to Change’s (Athletes in Action) overseas soccer missions.
“Sport tends to be the one neutralizer and creates a common ground for people to start engaging.” Roxburgh estimates he has been to 45 countries through his work with Athletes in Action — and 70 altogether — in his travels.
And Roxburgh knows a thing or two about winning. The coach joined the program at its inception in 1999, and since they joined the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) ranks two years later, the Spartans have gone 118-57-35. Only twice in that time have they had as many losses as victories.
y f
Three times in the last six years, including the last two years, Roxburgh guided the Spartans to the pinnacle of their sport: capturing the Gladys Bean Memorial Trophy as Canada’s university champions.
t
But talk with Roxburgh, and one thing becomes evident pretty quickly: at the end of the day, there is more to it than just winning and losing.
o
“Success through the world’s eyes is not always long lasting,” he says. “It is a great reward, it is a great high, but if that is all we are living for, it
His first AIA trip was to India, shortly after he completed his post-secondary and he attended as an athlete. It was an eye-opening experience. “I saw the power of sport and the opportunity for it to open doors to communicate the greatest relationship in my life, which is with Christ,” he says.
probably becomes pretty empty pretty quickly.”
lived in England had on me,” he says.
He began coaching while studying at Wheaton College, just outside Chicago, where he studied history and biblical studies.
“It was a way for me to mine my love for the sport, the desire to have an impact.” Roxburgh’s two passions — coaching and faith — are closely intertwined.
Coaching allowed Roxburgh to earn a little bit of extra cash, as well as to give back to the game. “When I first started, I had an ambition to coach because of the impact that a coach I had when I
“My work with Athletes in Action integrated my faith with sport,” he says. “With Athletes in Action, we call sport the one
“The one thing I discovered in my faith in Christ is that He loves me unconditionally. There is nothing I can do that would either earn His love in a greater way or lose His love in a diminishing way because it is not reliant on my results, it is not reliant on my performances. It is reliant on His overwhelming love.”
S T O R Y: G A R Y A H U J A ! P H O T O G R A P H : J O H N G O R D O N
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Tim Lounsbury
I
t’s a memory that can’t help but bring a smile to Tim Lounsbury’s face — the image of the 65-pound boy straining to hoist an unwieldy medicine ball in his skinny arms. Nine-year-old Joshua found the exercise ball in a cupboard of sports equipment, though he had no idea what it was for. Lounsbury laughs as he recalls gently tossing the heavy ball to his newest ‘Little Brother’ and watching it nearly knock the slight boy off his feet. On that day in the gymnasium at Douglas Park Elementary School — as the newlymatched pair in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Langley’s In-School Mentor program got to know each other — a tradition was born. Now, a year later, as Lounsbury and Joshua meet each week to play floor hockey, basketball or lacrosse, they start each session by tossing a medicine ball back and forth. The physical strength the boy has developed as a result has been impressive, says
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8 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
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Lounsbury, but far more thrilling is Joshua’s personal growth. The now 10-year-old who greets Lounsbury each week is a far cry from the introverted boy he encountered that first day. During his 15 years as a mentor, he’s been matched with eight different boys who, for whatever reason, have needed a friend and a role model. “This one was the quietest and most withdrawn. I couldn’t get a word out of him,” he says of Joshua. “Now he’s a chatterbox. He’s a funny kid.”
“But I don’t know who gets more out of it, him or me. It’s fun to be a nine-year-old for an hour.”
“He loves playing games. That’s when his personality comes out.” “But I don’t know who gets more out of it, him or me. It’s fun to be a nine-year-old for an hour.” While the retired banker has two grandsons of his own, ages 11 and eight, the stark contrast between his grandchildren’s lives and those of the boys with whom he’s been matched over the years isn’t lost on him. “They have so much in the world, and they can do anything because they have financial and emotional support.”
For Lounsbury, who moved to the Lower Mainland from St. Catharines, Ont. in 1972, community service was simply part of working at a credit union — it was expected. “My boss was a Kinsman. That was the start of it,” he said. After 11 years with Kinsmen, Lounsbury joined Rotary Club of Langley Central in 1983, and remains a member to this day.
It’s amazing what an hour a week of one-on-one time can do, he says. “He’s turned into this bright, yacky little guy, playing snakes and ladders and learning to cheat,” Lounsbury laughs.
Truth be told, long-term commitment to a cause hasn’t really been a problem for the Langley man, who served for 20 years on the board of BBBS Langley and has been a member of the Douglas Park Community School Society since its inception in 2005, currently serving as its president.
Whether it’s through his work with the service clubs, BBBS or the Douglas Park society, children have been the constant focus of his charitable work. In the past, the Kinsmen Mother’s March and today, Rotary International set their sights on eradicating polio in children — a disease which struck Lounsbury when he was four years old. He’s been more fortunate than many, in that the lasting effects of his illness have been minor. In April, Lounsbury was named the Eric Flowerdew Volunteer of the Year in recognition of his decades of service to the community. But his own contribution has been a thank you to the community, says Lounsbury.
For his Littles, it’s another story.
In his professional life he’s received so much support, it only seemed right that in his personal life, he should try to give some of it back.
“They have nothing. School is their safe place and they dread the holidays.
“I depended on the support of the community,” he says.
“That’s motivating. That’s why I’ve stuck with it.”
“It seemed like a natural to give back and a focus on kids seemed natural.”
Photo: Tim Lounsbury with Robert, a former little brother, one of eight Lounsbury has mentored in the past 15 years. The kids in background are in Boys & Girls Club of Langley.
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Dorscie Paterson
I
f you went to visit Dorscie Paterson at her acreage home in Willoughby, you might catch her on her riding mower, mowing the lawn. Or you might not find her home at all, because she is so busy tending to all the volunteer work she does. At 97 years old, Paterson shows no signs of slowing down. Every week she can be found at the Langley Hospice, supporting dying patients and their families at the 10-bed facility she helped bring into fruition. In June, she was given her 25-year volunteer pin. She is one of the founding members of hospice in Langley. “Our first palliative room was a room on the fourth floor of Langley Memorial,” said Paterson. “As soon as the nurses and doctors found out about it, we became very busy. It was so needed.”
She is also actively involved on both Langley Hospice boards, never missing a foundation or society meeting.
she was 96.
“She’s always willing to do anything you ask her to do whether it’s serve hot dogs at a fundraiser or serve her own birthday cake,” said Langley Hospice executive director Sandra Castle. “She’s kind but forthright as a support volunteer.”
Paterson received the Governor General’s Medal in Victoria in recognition of her charitable work in 2001.
With gardens and her own greenhouse on her acreage property, she does most of the work herself. “Well, why wouldn’t I?” is her response. She’s a doer, many say about the spry senior. She’s also up for adventure. Hanging on her hallway wall is a picture of Paterson riding a horse with her granddaughter and great-granddaughter who live in the Interior. The pictures were taken in 2009, when
She doesn’t see the big deal about her age, it’s just a number, she explains.
But that isn’t all this Langley woman is known for. She’s a bit of an activist -- a raging granny if you will. In 2000, Paterson single-handedly took on the B.C. government and Terasen Gas about the rising costs of heating homes. She personally went without heat for a month in a cold winter to make a point that seniors couldn’t afford the rising cost of gas. She also gathered thousands of signatures and sent them off to the B.C. government. Gas prices continued to climb but her work gained the attention of thenPremier Ujjal Dosanj, his ministers, and various media around Canada.
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 11
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Chief Marilyn Gabriel & Kevin Kelly
T
he Kwantlen First Nation is vibrant, thriving and growing -- and a great deal of credit for that is due to Grand Chief Marilyn Gabriel.
through Head Start, a program for children from ages 0-6. This is operated by the Kwantlen First Nation on McMillan Island.
Chief Gabriel is the fourth generation of Gabriels to be grand chief of the Kwantlen people. The first of the Gabriels to serve as chief was her great-grandfather Joseph, followed by her grandfather Alfred and her father Joe.
As the Kwantlen people grew more confident about themselves, they began to reach out more to the larger community. One of the first places was through Langley School District’s aboriginal programs, which the Kwantlen have played a key role in.
She was first asked to serve on the band council by her father in 1989. In 1993, he asked her to take over as grand chief.
As more members of the Kwantlen grew confident in their drumming and singing, they have become honoured guests at many community events. They played a key role in B.C.’s 150th anniversary celebrations at Fort Langley, and have taken part in the annual Douglas Day banquet for Langley pioneers, the inauguration of the Township council in 2008, opening of the B.C. Summer Games and many other community events.
“Six months before he died, he asked me to take over,” she said. The title was passed on to her in a special ceremony. “When Dad passed away, I got hungry for culture. My family probably thought I was crazy. “When he passed away, my cousins from Chilliwack asked if they could conduct a burning ceremony, to pay respects to a loved one. I didn’t know what it was. After that, I was hungry for more. I would just start taking it in. We borrowed teachings, and then we found our own. I feel Dad guided us to where we are supposed to go.
Chief Gabriel was honoured by Kwantlen Polytechnic University (named after their nation) with an honourary Doctor of Laws in 2008. At the time, The Times reported that “she embodies the meaning of Kwantlen, which translates to ‘tireless runner.” She has also been named a Langley Woman of Excellence.
“It was not the way we were living. Now our kids don’t know any different. They are drumming and singing, they’re cooking. We’re Kwantlen, this is what we do.”
Kevin, who comes from the Soowahlie First Nation in Chilliwack and has known Marilyn since they were young, assists her in her duties. He often leads the Kwantlen drummers and singers when they take part in formal ceremonies, as Marilyn is busy with her duties as grand chief.
She and her husband Kevin Kelly have worked as a team for many years to encourage the spread of Kwantlen culture to others – first among their own people, then to children through the Langley school district and out to the greater community in Langley and throughout traditional Kwantlen territory. That takes in much of the lower Fraser River valley from Richmond to Delta, Surrey, Langley, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.
The change in the Kwantlen has been remarkable. “I never thought I’d see that. They are so proud to be Kwantlen They are proud to be First Nations,” Marilyn said.
To do so, they have enlisted the assistance of Kwantlen elders and members of other First Nations in the Fraser Valley. This cultural rejuvenation is very important to Marilyn and to First Nations people. “What you know, you pass on. You share it with someone, or it’s no good to anybody.” She said that at first, the Kwantlen people were uncertain about some aspects of their culture. It had been damaged by decades of neglect and deliberate downgrading by the federal government and other elements of the dominant Canadian culture. One of the most notable examples was residential schools, operated by churches with direct funding and encouragement from the federal government. The schools kept children from their families and discouraged them from learning about their culture, including punishment for speaking their native language. At one time, the Kwantlen numbered about 10,000. As the attempts to take away their culture continued, the numbers declined to fewer than 100. Now there are about 200 Kwantlen people, and many are young. Marilyn wants them to be confident of their identity as they grow up. One of the first aspects of reclaiming and rebuilding their culture was to take back the name Kwantlen. This was done in a formal cer-
emony in June, 1994, shortly after she became grand chief. Marilyn said this was a critical part of recognizing who they were as a people. They didn’t know much about singing and drumming. First Nations members from Chilliwack were asked to come and teach them about it, and the Kwantlen took up the challenge. “When we worked with the school district, we used to ask other bands to drum and sing. We didn’t know how to. Now we do.” Along with this resurgence in their musical traditions, some members of the Kwantlen First Nation have taken up art. Elders are teaching young Kwantlen about their traditions, and one of the most important achievements has been the teaching of their traditional language to young people. The children are learning Halkomelem, the traditional Sto:lo language. The traditional Kwantlen language is a downriver dialect known as Hun’qumi’num. The Kwantlen are in the midst of a project to preserve that language, with the help of UBC. “The young ones catch on quite well.” The children are learning their traditional language and culture
The recognition from the broader community has also been remarkable. Once relegated to the back corner of the minds of most Langley residents, the Kwantlen play a key role in the community today. Their participation in projects such as the dredging of Bedford Channel, which helped lead to the development of Bedford Landing, was critical. The project helped their boats make better use the channel, (most of the Kwantlen are fishers), and also shored up the east end of McMillan Island to prevent further erosion by the Fraser. There will be many more such co-operative projects as the Kwantlen continue to thrive under Marilyn’s leadership. There are plans for new housing along Glover Road – something that was inconceivable while the Albion Ferry was still operating. The Kwantlen are an integral part of Langley. This is their traditional territory and they have been happy to share it with people of European and other descents, as they have done since 1824, when James McMillan of the Hudson’s Bay company first came here. Under Marilyn and Kevin’s leadership, they are proud of their culture and confident of their future. “We want our children to know who our elders are, not when they pass away but right now. They are learning drum, to cook, to know our language. They learn the story of life that we lost for a little while. Now we have it back,” Marilyn said proudly.
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12 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
Ryan Walter
L
eadership was thrust upon Ryan Walter at an early age.
“If you love what you do, a lot of the other stuff finds its way.”
And now the former NHLer works towards helping others understand what it means.
And while he no longer laces up the skates, his new line of work still offers a thrill.
“I got pushed into leadership early in life. I wanted to understand what is leadership and how to teach it.” Walter has captained teams at the minor, junior and NHL level. He was also team captain for Canada’s entry at the world junior hockey championships in 1978, helping Canada win bronze. Since retiring from the NHL in 2003 — the former second overall draft pick played in more than 1,000 regular season games with Washington, Montreal, where he won a Stanley Cup, and Vancouver — the 52-year-old father of five has shifted his focus, serving as motivational speaker and interactive leadership coach. “It has been a real passion of mine to understand the process and to speak about it and train leadership,” he said. Walter’s adrenalin rush comes from motivating others with speeches, interactive leadership sessions and corporate coaching as he pursues his mission of inspiring the hungry spirit. He conducts conferences across North America, working not only in the corporate and business climate, but also with youth groups and sports teams. The key to succeed, not just in sports, but in all facets of life, is passion. “You have to have passion, you have to love what you do,” he said.
“It is similar, especially when you prepare for a big game and then you execute and win,” he said. “In a funny way, the keynote (speech) is like that for me: you have 400 people in the room and you have to hit it out of the park.” Walter enjoys the people he meets and the work he does. “You might as well do what you love,” he said. “If you can be passionate about things, especially the things you want to do and accomplish in life, to use a hockey word, it keeps you hungry. “And at the end of the day, when you are hungry, your quality of life goes up.” Speaking about being hungry, Walter’s fifth book, due out soon, is titled ‘The Hungry’ and is about how to stay hungry and use that to accomplish goals. Walter, who has also done TV hockey analyst work and spent two years as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks from 2008-2010, was recently named coach of Canada’s women’s hockey team at the Four Nations Cup in November.
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 13
Lauren Barwick
N
o one, least of all Lauren Barwick herself, envisioned that a woman paralyzed from her waist down could ever become a world champion athlete.
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Lauren thought her world had come crashing down just over 10 years ago when a 100-pound bale of hay toppled onto her, breaking her vertebrae and severing her spinal cord. Just short of her 23rd birthday, and working on a promising career as a movie stunt rider, Lauren was, in an instant, without sensation and muscle control in her legs, and barring a future “miracle” treatment would be so for the rest of her life. In the months that followed, Lauren underwent surgeries, convalescence and rehabilitation — and dealt with grief and regret. Then one day her former dressage coach Sandra Verda had the idea of bringing Lauren out of her blue funk by plunking her atop a horse.
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“I didn’t want to ride again, I thought it would be embarrassing,” said Lauren. “She put me on a horse against my will and it was the worst feeling of my life. But when I got home I realized that I had a choice: to go back to what I love to do. “I just had to adapt and figure out how to do it, just as I do with everyday life.” Lauren threw herself into relentless training, while juggling a full-time job at the Royal Bank in Aldergrove and fundraising to pay the expensive bills of competing in international dressage events. It paid off as within two years of her workplace accident she placed sixth in the European Dressage Championships in Portugal and won the Grade II High Point Championship in New York. Two years later she placed sixth and seventh at the Athens 2004 Paralympics, was awarded the Equine Canada George Jacobson Equestrian of the Year Award and ranked Canada’s number one para-equestrian rider. Then, in 2008, she rode Maile to Canada’s firstever gold medal in the individual free-style at the Beijing Summer Olympics, along with the silver in individual championship test. She had another setback at the beginning of June when the truck she was riding in hydroplaned and rolled over three times, resulting in hospital-
ization for a broken ankle and serious bruises and burns. However, by July she was back in the saddle and training for competition. “I’ve fallen (off a horse) three times in 10 years — the saddle doesn’t hold me, only supports me — and I was always afraid but it wasn’t so bad. I only felt half of it,” she said in her characteristic self-effacing humour. She points out that she usually competes at major dressage events against the best ablebodied riders, and usually places in the top three of her class. Persons with physical disabilities, the majority of whom are not paralyzed, can have an advantage over able-bodied athletes, and thus they have their separate event, the Paralympics (which stands for “Parallel to the Olympics”). In September Lauren was nominated to the Canadian Para Equestrian Team that will compete at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in October. She also has her sights set on the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London, England. While she maintains her Canadian citizenship and family roots in Aldergrove, Lauren spends most of her year at Pat and Linda Parelli’s facilities in Florida and Colorado, where she is working on her “natural horsemanship” certificate. “I will always compete for Canada, but I have to go where the best sponsors and best training is.” Lauren intends to keep competing at national and international dressage events but her longrange goal is to establish a farm and training centre for up-and-coming riders. “I’ve spent the last eight years with a lot of people helping me achieve my goals and dreams and now I’m in a position to help other people with their dreams and goals, help them overcome challenges. I can share what I’ve learned, but most importantly, help people understand the power of attitude,” said Lauren. “Everyone says, ‘Oh, I have a great attitude’ but it’s not about your attitude when things are going well, but when they aren’t, because a lot of things in life don’t go as planned. It’s your attitude at that time that makes you a remarkable person and succeed.”
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14 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
Ian Hampton
A
mong the earliest music-related memories that Ian Hampton has are of riding the bus past bombed-out buildings to attend cello lessons.
where it ends, said Hampton.
Growing up in England during The Blitz, Hampton — who was among the thousands of children evacuated from London for safekeeping during the Second World War — would regularly make his way back into the city to attend classes at a cello school near Madame Tussaud’s famed wax museum.
But musical studies are about far more than simply creating beautiful sounds, he said.
Although even the German Luftwaffe couldn’t keep him from his musical studies, Hampton admits that at the time, he was following a path that was not entirely of his own making. Born into a long line of classical musicians, with a father who played cello and a mother who sang and played violin, he was only about six years old, when the question was raised by his future teacher: “When is this little fellow going to begin?” “My fate was sealed,” he said with a smile. The decades that followed his lessons were spent building an impressive musical resumé, which included time as principal cellist of VSO, playing with CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Cello Club, Oakland SO, London SO and Nanaimo SO, until arthritis forced him to quit performing about five years ago. Now 75, Hampton has taught generations of aspiring young cellists as an instructor for the past three decades at Langley Community Music School, where he also served as principal for a number of years. As a teacher, said Hampton, “You want to pass on the joy of music. That’s a door you can open in many ways.” Once they’ve stepped through the door, students can venture as far as they choose. Many moms want their child to experience music recreationally and for some students, that’s
“Others become absolutely passionate about music. Some love to play Debussy and Brahms — but that’s slightly less usual.”
“If you’re a professional musician, it’s a bit like a small boy who wants to see inside a watch. You want to understand, to get inside that piece (of music). You want to be in the middle of it and experience how it works and why it works.” Although he was fortunate enough to be afforded the opportunity to share his gift and to make a living in the process, that isn’t necessarily the case with today’s aspiring young musicians. “I was lucky when I entered, everything was recovering after the war. Orchestras were starting up and there was no lack of employment. Of course, as we go on, there’s less and less,” he said pointing to cuts to school music programs. “It looks as if we’re going to have a generation of kids who will not have the benefit of having those doors opened,” he said. “It’s a frightening prospect. Every child should be offered the gift of music.” It is particularly unfortunate, he says, because the benefits of a music education are legion — neural stimulation and lessons in both history and foreign languages among them.
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“Not to mention, (learning) the pieces themselves.” “It shouldn’t be my worry, but I do worry,” he said. “I see them struggling and the government is turning its back.” Still, he’s not entirely without hope for the future of classical music and its advocates. “Musicians are a clever bunch, we’ve learned to diversify.”
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 15
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Warren Sommer
W
as it by chance or design that Warren Sommer, the consultant and author with an almost encyclopedic recall of Langley’s history, chose to live in Fort Langley, the birthplace of B.C., and be surrounded by the village’s rich and important past? “I’m afraid it’s pure coincidence,” Sommer remarks. “I initially needed to live near my work, and hated the thought of a commute. At some point or another, Langley became home.” It’s no surprise that Sommer, an historical geographer who has taught at both SFU and UBC, is consistently drawn to expanding his knowledge of past events and lives. These, he says, are key to understanding the present, with all its attendant challenges. He quotes George Santayana, the Spanish philosopher: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Says Sommer, “So many people see no benefit in studying history, and they are quite possibly those who are the most responsible for our communities, and indeed, the planet’s current challenges. I’m afraid that many of them are voters.” He is asked who, among the oldtimers he has interviewed, has impressed him the most. There are so many who have shared their experiences and perspectives with him, but he revealed that one of his favourites
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18 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
was Toody Wilson. She died a year or two ago, just short of her 100th birthday.
to interview her older siblings, whose memories would have extended back even further,� Sommer said.
Toody, as she was generally known, was a member of Fort Langley’s historic Morrison family, the daughter of Billy and Janet Morrison. “She was a lady, but crusty when called for, and did not hesitate to shoot from the hip,� Sommer said.
“Indeed, I wish I’d had the opportunity to interview so many Langley residents who died before I got here, or had the time and inclination to talk with them.�
Toody’s grandfather was Kenneth Morrison, a cooper at the fort, and her grandmother was Lucy Morrison, the mixed-race daughter of Ovid Allard, the clerk in charge of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post in Fort Langley from 1864 to 1874. “Toody must have been a bit of a terror in her childhood. She was christened Violet Angel, but asserted that her name really ought to have been Violent Angel, as she had little place for bullying or pretension, and was able to hold her own in scraps with children of both genders and sometimes quite bigger than she was.� As a descendant of both British and First Nations families, Toody spanned two worlds, and she had vivid memories of her mixed-race grandmother who told her stories about witches and the spirit world. “She remembered Casimere, the then-elderly chief of the Kwantlen, instructing her on the uses of wild plants that grew around Fort Langley. And she remembered the village producing its own amateur entertainment in the Fort Langley Community Hall — not the current one, but the one built in the 1870s.� Growing up in Langley in the very early 1900s meant that Toody knew many of the community’s first European families, so she was a veritable font of knowledge. “I only wish that I’d had the chance
Sommer’s knowledge is deep, and if he could have chosen a period of time in which to live, he would stay with the one fate ordained. “I can’t think of any period I’d rather have lived in,� he said. “The current era is one of unprecedented prosperity and our quality of life is generally high. Although we might complain about the province’s health care system, if we’d lived in an earlier age, half of us would have been dead by now, felled by ailments that a simple operation or antibiotic could easily have cured.� But a quick nip into the past would be fun. “I’d like to see 18th Dynasty Egypt, Renaissance Italy, and Victorian Britain firsthand, but I certainly wouldn’t want to live in any of them.� There are many historical treasures which Langley’s residents miss or ignore, and if Sommer could point them in the right direction, he would choose first the archival collections of the Langley Centennial Museum, especially its historic photographs. They are, he said, invaluable resources to anyone with an interest in Langley’s past. And, despite its rapid urbanization, the Township still has many wonderful views, old houses and picturesque agricultural buildings dotted along its country roads. Regrettably, most people don’t see them as they race between home and their ultimate destinations, he said.
Above: Warren Sommer slips on cotton gloves to examine the Maxwell family Bible. Kept at the Langley Centennial Museum, the Bible records an 1875 birth.
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 19
Brian Thomasson & Reid McDonald
B
rian Thomasson may have retired eight years ago from the teaching profession but it was only the beginning of his next stage of his long, busy life as a community volunteer.
“I would have made a lot more money in banking but I would have been constantly transferred... if I’d stayed in that line I would have moved over to a credit union, because they’re more personal, don’t treat you like a number.”
“When I retired (at age 57) I thought it might be a hard time adjusting to all the spare time but, unlike some friends who just can’t let go, I found I had too much to do,” said Brian.
Brian has put his banking knowledge to work, however, as he’s been a director of Aldergrove Credit Union since 1977. In that time the credit union has grown to five branches, and its assets have grown from $21 million to $480 million.
After a less than satisfying start in a banking career, Brian had followed his wife Laurie’s lead and got a teaching degree. Laurie started teaching in Langley School District in 1967 and two years later Brian took his first teaching job at the tiny two-room Patricia School in south Aldergrove. A year later the couple bought a rural acreage not far from the now-closed Patricia school and built a home in which to raise their three children. Over the years Brian taught at, and administered, Aldergrove-area schools like Wix-Brown, Peterson Road, North Otter, Coghlan, Shortreed and Parkside.
“We have the lowest administration costs in the province because we own most of our branches — we rent the Mt. Lehman branch only, but if we get the opportunity we’d like to build one there, too.
Brian Thomasson (left) and Reid McDonald look over ongoing development at Aldergrove Athletic Park.
Those 33 years as a pedagogue were satisfying and he made many friends as well as collected many good memories, even if he is very critical of what he considers a serious decline in the public education system.
“We’re a small credit union, asset-wise, yet we offer full services, and for bigger loans we can syndicate with other credit unions. Our members like that, and the fact that we don’t treat them like they’re just customers.”
Brian is also a proud founding member of the Rotary International movement in Langley, starting with the Langley Central Rotary charter in 1980. He went on to become a charter member of the Langley Sunrise and Aldergrove Rotary clubs.
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20 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
Since Aldergrove Rotary was granted its charter in 1990, Brian has been an enthusiastic participant in all of their projects at home and abroad. One of his favourite memories is a month-long exchange with Rotarians in Turkey, but he’s equally passionate about the fundraising work the club does for calamities such as Rotary’s current flood relief projects in Pakistan. Over the past 20 years Aldergrove Rotary has contributed significantly to community projects in Aldergrove too. This includes the Rotary field house and sports fields at Aldergrove Athletic Park, which have become the envy of sports enthusiasts throughout the region.
Aldergrove’s ‘Tag Team’ builds Fields of Dreams
Brian says a lot of credit for this project’s success goes to his longtime neighbour and friend, Reid McDonald. “There are those people who have a lot of book knowledge but no real practical skills, but Reid is one of those rare persons who have a lot of practical knowledge and knows how to solve problems,” said Brian.
The Brian and Reid tag team lobbied MLA Rich Coleman for community gaming grants that added up to $300,000. Reid pulled favours from old soccer friends like John Jones of Gemco Construction and Richard Coleman (no relation to the MLA) of Titan Construction to perform site preparation work and build the field house at cost. And the disbanded Patricia Community Association signed over their hall and land, adding another $300,000 to the park project.
“The community put $850,000, conservatively estimating, into the park development,” said Brian. “And Rotary still has $72,000 in the bank, which we want to put toward an artificial turf field, which will pretty well complete the park.” Brian and Reid also assisted Heath MacKenzie and other local cycling enthusiasts realize their dream of building a bicycle track in the park, as well as a baseball batting cage, set for completion this fall. A community garden with about 30 plots is also underway. “We got all these disparate factions together on a common and workable plan, and we’re doing it right from the start, not cutting corners on materials, so we can be sure it lasts.”
Reid retired from dairy farming a few years ago but remains active as a soccer player with the Aldergrove oldtimers soccer club. He also volunteered his tractor services to plow and plant the popular new “bowl” area of Metro Parks’ Aldergrove Lake Park, and was ready to do the same to build sports fields at the nearby former Jackman landfill site.
Brian says that once this is all completed Rotary will look “at doing something behind the high school” with the sports field and track. This will be difficult as the configuration is not right for a competitive track but Brian says where there’s a will there’s a way.
The latter project was put aside when the Township acquired the former Loucks’ farm property for a park, but there was no money in the Township coffers to build the expensive and badly needed sports fields here.
He also considers the acquisition of the former Aldergrove Elementary site “a must for the community. There is no logical reason for the education ministry to hold onto the site, as there will never be a need for a school there again.”
This was when Brian and Reid became a tag team in lobbying the Township and raising community donations for an expedited work plan, which resulted in completion of the athletic park’s soccer and baseball fields years ahead of the Township’s initial projections.
When and if the Township is able to acquire this prime acreage in the downtown core of Aldergrove for recreational venues such as a swimming pool, we can be sure that the tag team talents of Brian “the number-cruncher” and Reid “the go to it guy” will help lead the charge to build it.
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 21
Garry Geisler
G
arry Geisler has been making a difference on the local sports scene for over a decade. His involvement with the Langley Gymnastics Foundation stretches back to the mid-90s, but he’s still as enthusiastic about it as he was at first. “It seems like forever,” he said with a laugh. “I just enjoy the club, enjoy the people in the club, and most of all, I enjoy the kids.” That seems appropriate, as it was Geisler’s children that introduced him to the club in the first place. “My daughters were in gymnastics, so that brought me through the door,” he said. Geisler’s currently the club’s president, a role he says he fell into as time went on. “You get involved and it just happens,” he said.
The club offers extensive recreational and competitive gymnastics. Geisler said it’s important to provide recreational gymnastics opportunities as well as intensely competitive ones, as gymnastics training can offer kids a wide variety of benefits. “It teaches the basic fundamental movements,” he said. “Kids can come through this sport at a young age. Gymnastics isn’t their career, but a lot of the lessons they learn can be applied to any sport.”
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22 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
“I particularly like this community. I think we have a great community.”
Geisler said recreational gymnastics can be especially valuable for younger children, and if they enjoy it, they can move into the competitive side. He said the club focuses on offering the most programs for younger children, with smaller numbers but more intense sessions at older ages and higher levels of competition. “It’s a pyramid shape in terms of the enrolment,” he said. “At a young age, you have a very broad base.”
training.” The new facility has also given them new opportunities, including the chance to host provincial championships. “Since we’ve moved to the Langley Events Centre, we’ve been able to host some higher-level events,” Geisler said. Their next big event is another provincial championships, which will be in April.
Geisler said the amount of kids involved varies from year to year, but the recreational programs tend to be far larger.
“There will be roughly 1,000 kids through that,” Geisler said.
“In any given session, there’s probably 1,000 kids in recreational programs and 80-100 in competitive programs,” he said.
He’s very appreciative of the encouragement Langley Township and Langley City have provided to the club’s various events, particularly high-level ones like provincials.
The hourly commitment involved depends on the level of competition and the age group.
“Whenever we’ve had an event, they’ve been very supportive,” he said.
“At the youngest age, you do an hour or two a week,” Geisler said. “At the highest level of competition, you do 20 to 25 hours a week.”
Geisler’s personal involvement goes beyond just gymnastics, though. He’s also been involved with other events, such as this year’s BC Summer Games. He said he’s motivated by the great support for sports events in Langley.
Geisler said the club is committed to offering a wide variety of programs and levels of competition so there’s something for everyone. “Our club philosophy that we’ve worked really hard to uphold is that we provide opportunity for any kid,” he said. “Our goal has been to grow the recreational side first. All that growth will feed the competitive side.” That’s grown easier over the last couple of years. The club has been able to expand their class offerings and maximize each group’s time on equipment since their move to larger facilities at the Langley Events Centre last year, which Geisler said came at a critical time. “We were really at the point where we couldn’t grow any more,” he said. “It’s far more efficient for
thankful
“I particularly like this community,” he said. “I think we have a great community.” Geisler wants to help the broader community beyond the club, and one way he’s done so is with Operation Red Nose, an annual campaign that aims to reduce drunk driving by providing rides home for partygoers during the Christmas season. The club runs Operation Red Nose in both Langley and Surrey each winter. Geisler said it’s a way for them to help the community that supports them. “Sports groups are always looked on as looking for handouts and such,” he said. “This is something where we can give back.”
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Tara Teng
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he may wear the crown of Miss British Columbia, but a tiara and a sash are not what defines Tara Teng. Far from it.
“I’m not a pageant girl. I’m not a beauty queen. I’m an abolitionist,” insists the 22-year-old Langley woman. Teng was named Miss B.C. on July 4 and will hold the title until next summer. During her year-long reign, she will carry out all that is expected of her in the role — whether that’s attending community events, riding in parades or cutting ribbons. But none of that is what the title is about for the petite, half-Singaporean student activist. What it does, is offer her a platform to spread the word about an estimated 27 million people worldwide who, even today, live and labour as slaves. “That’s not the number of people who are at risk, but who are literally owned by another person,” she says. “That’s almost as many people as there are in Canada.” Seated in a quiet student lounge in Trinity Western University’s Reimer Student Centre, Teng explains that she is also president of the International Social Justice Club at the school, where she is studying to become a secondary school teacher.
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24 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
It’s an interesting career choice, perhaps, for a young woman who was home schooled. Raised in a learning environment that gave her the opportunity to focus her studies in areas that interested her, Teng found herself drawn in by historical accounts of slavery in the southern U.S. and the underground railroad to Canada. Today, slavery itself — illegal everywhere, but in existence everywhere, she notes — has gone underground. From garment factories in Asia to cocoa production in Ivory Coast, “almost every industry uses slave labour,” she says. But to Teng, the most appalling form of slavery is the sexual exploitation of children.
“When you’re young, you’re just crazy enough to know you can make a difference.”
Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe are among the worst offenders, she says, with girls as young as 12 or 13 years old being traded like chattels. “Unlike drugs, which you can only sell once, you can sell a human being over and over again until they die.” In the face of such widespread abuse, change won’t come easily, she acknowledges. “Half the battle is getting people to care,” Teng says. “We all have to stand up and say, ‘This is a crime against humanity.’ That’s why things like the Freedom March, we really want to push.”
Helped out by another local youth activist, Todd Hauptman, Teng is in the process of organizing Greater Vancouver’s first such walk to end slavery. It is scheduled to happen on March 12 through downtown Langley City (she and Hauptman appeared before council in September to request the necessary permits and road closures) followed by a gathering in Douglas Park, where information about modern day slavery will be made available. Teng’s hope is that the event will stir compassion. Once that compassion is translated into action, anything can happen she believes. “In the south, when people were enslaved, they came to Canada. This is our legacy, this is our value system. We need to fight for it.”
Like the abolition of legal slavery in the U.S. and, later, the civil rights and women’s suffrage movements, Teng believes that when enough voices speak out in unison against injustice, change will eventually come. “It can be done,” she says. “It has to be done.” “And hers is the generation that can set the wheels in motion,” she believes. “When you’re young, you’re just crazy enough to know you can make a difference.” “At 22, I’m still a little crazy. I still know I can change the world.”
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 25
George Miller
F
or a man who has been soaring to new heights his whole life, Langley Airport manager George Miller is a very grounded man.
Although he practically has wings for arms and a propellor for legs, the lifelong pilot has spent his career, since he was 18 years old, in a cockpit. From being the youngest pilot flying over Western Germany in the Cold War to working in Egypt and Sudan with the Royal Canadian Air Force, he still flies at least three days a week for fun, never tiring of that feeling of being one with the birds. To this day he still is turning his plane upside down for audiences around B.C. and northwestern U.S. with his Fraser Blues Formation Demonstration Team, a team he created 13 years ago. They also do fly-overs at Langley and Aldergrove cenotaphs during Remembrance Day services, at the Abbotsford Air Show, Langley’s Canada Day, Fort Langley Cranberry festival and more. This is their last year of doing air shows, but the team of highly skilled aerobatic pilots will continue to do fly-overs, he said. With such an impressive resume that reads more like a young boys’ adventure novel, perhaps it’s what Miller’s done as the Langley Airport manager and as a community volunteer that he is best known for around here. It was in 1990, he applied to become the manager of the 120-acre Langley Airport which at the time had little lease
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Fraser Valley Academy of Cosmetology opened its doors April 1st, 2010. Owner Paul Sedun, and instructors Launie Morgan, Judie Falscik and Shelley McBride have a vision to be a Cosmetology School that offers a good education to all students attending as well as offer affordable Hair and Esthetic services to the Langley community . Paul Sedun has lived in Langley for over 35 years. He graduated from R.J. Mountain Secondary in 1981 and went on to attend Simon Fraser University, where he later left to play pro football for the Edmonton Eskimos. He returned to the lower mainland to follow a new path in his life after his career came to a halt after an unrecoverable injury in football. He became interested in opening Fraser Valley Academy of Cosmetology when he realized just how much some of the residents of this community depend on a cosmetology school offering a full range of services at discounted rates. He feels that he was given great opportunities living here and opening the school was his way of being able to give back to the community.
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His new mission led him to meeting three of the instructors who worked with a previous cosmetology school a few years back. They are delighted to work with him in opening Fraser Valley Academy of Cosmetology. The school became registered with the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA) in April. “It has been such a pleasure to be back”, agreed all of the instructors. “To hear comments like, ‘It feels like I have come home’ or ‘I missed seeing you and having services done by your students’ are just some of the comments we are getting”, says Launie Morgan, Senior Educational Administrator for the school. “Whether they drive here, take the Handi dart bus or just walk on over because they live so close, it is great to see familiar faces and we are appreciative of their friendship and loyalty for coming to us for their service needs. Our students benefit from the wide range of clients they can provide services to, which helps build upon the training that has been taught, before entering the work force. This
is why we offer low pricing to the client; it’s our way to say thank you for giving our students the opportunity to work on their practical skills.” Students can expect only the best from the instructors as all of them have worked and trained in the industry for many years and have built a solid program on what the industry requires of students. The head instructors of the departments are Judie Falscik - Hair Program, Shelley McBride - Esthetics Program and Launie Morgan - Nail Technology Program. They are a team of instructors that work together in an environment that matches or exceeds the requirements needed in a successful career in Cosmetology. “It is our commitment to the students that we instruct, and to the community we serve, that the education level will be one of integrity and innovation.” “All of us here at Fraser Valley Academy of Cosmetology are pleased to be working in the community again. We look forward to meeting you and providing exceptional training and/or services as your needs dictate.” Paul Sedun
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26 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
revenue and didn’t even have runway lighting. At the same time he was hired on, local politicians were looking to turn the airport site into a university campus. But a plebiscite proved Township residents’ interests were in developing the airport -- which is just what Miller has been doing for 20 years. With his company Avcon — which includes his wife who works in bookkeeping, and his son Guy, a former commercial pilot who will take over as manager when Miller retires — the airport has experienced an 800 per cent traffic increase in the past five years.
“Aviation is my passion, my life, so being responsible for this airport is more than I could have wished for.”
The Langley Airport employs 280 people, provides over $8 million in wages and is home to 350 aircraft, the Canadian Flight Museum, helicopter maintenance, four flying schools and a restaurant. It generates more than $100 million in revenue and the north side is just being built and marketed. It is also one of Canada’s largest helicopter bases, home to 31 helicopter companies. The runways are too short to develop as a major commercial airport. “Aviation is my passion, my life, so being responsible for this airport is more than I could have wished for.” said Miller. This will be his last job, he said, after a very exciting career which includes leading the Snowbirds when they first began in the 1970s, and flying jets faster than the speed of sound, while also teaching aviation all over Canada. Living in Egypt, Germany and Brazil, to name a few of the places he’s called home, it is Langley where he has found his roots, settling into the community and making sure all his kids and grandkids settled here too, he said.
“We all have houses within blocks of each other,” he said. “I’ve fallen in love with Langley.” Over the years he has helped BCIT create its airport management program. His most recent feat is organizing a reunion for all the Sabre pilots who flew in the Cold War. He brought together 550 pilots from around the world to Penticton on the weekend of Sept. 11, where his Fraser Blues Team did their last air show. Years ago, he co-ordinated the relocation of the the Canadian Museum of Flight to Langley Airport. Among the many fighter and war planes at the museum is a CF-104 Starfighter which he flew on tours in both Germany and Italy. He managed to get a DC-3 from the Cloverdale transportation museum to Langley.
“The museum really rounds out the airport,” he said. He was the founding member of Langley’s Canada Day celebrations committee which spent nine successful years drawing thousands to the airport grounds where the event was held. Once new buildings went up, the celebration had to be moved to McLeod Athletic Park, where there was more room. There isn’t a day that goes by that school children aren’t being toured through the airport. Many young ones are dying to climb aboard a plane. Others picnic by the runways, watching all the Cessnas and helicopters take off and land. “We do a lot to install the flying bug in Langley Secondary students (which neighbours the airport,)” he said. Miller sees a great future for the airport he has helped build from the ground up. The sky is the limit when it comes to what is possible for the airport, he said.
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 27
Jared Harman
F
rom an early age, Jared Harman knew sports would be a central part of his life.
things and then going to Vancouver Canucks and B.C. Lions’ games to gather post-game quotes from players — Harman joined the Chiefs when the junior A hockey club transplanted from Chilliwack in 2006.
His grandfather was a former public relations director for the B.C. Lions in the 1950s, so Harman had that in his bloodlines already.
The 29-year-old has worked for the team ever since.
And as a toddler, Harman used to go watch his dad and uncles play their various sports, quickly becoming a fan himself.
He joined the Chiefs when the team moved west from Chilliwack and has been an integral part of the team
Growing up, Harman was no different than most rambunctious kids, playing every sport imaginable. And like most Canadian kids, hockey was an integral part of his life.
Harman began by doing the team’s play-by-play announcing, and his role has since morphed where is now a member of the Langley Events Centre staff as Director of Business Development. He is now responsible for the overall marketing of the facility including the selling of sponsorships, game night experiences and trying to develop new business and events for the Centre.
Harman donned the pads and mask, playing goalie. But any visions he may have harboured about becoming a professional athlete died when he was 14. “I realized I wasn’t going to be an athlete,” he says.
And he loves being part of the bigger team.
“But one way or another, I wanted to be involved in sports, so I started thinking about different options.” Harman grew up in Ladner, attending the private school Vancouver College, and then UBC, where he majored in psychology. After working for the Team 1040 sports radio station — beginning in the production side of
“You are putting your yourself behind something you believe in,” Harman says. “And trying to make things fun for people.” Harman has played a key role in the “Read With the Chiefs” program, which involves team members going to schools and reading to kids, and at the same time encouraging them to read. He has also volunteered with PUCKs, a program raising funds so that kids who want to play hockey but can’t afford it are able to do so. He is also involved with Langley Minor Hockey Association.
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28 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
1st Time Home Buyer Incentives
Frances Steinfeld
W
hen she wakes up, Frances Steinfeld’s first stop is not the kitchen, but through it to the front door, down the wooden steps and into the open air, into her Eden. “When I go out in the morning, and the birds are singing, the sun is shining through the trees, the fish are swimming up the creek and a great blue heron flies off, and the garden looks lovely, it is so peaceful,” she said.
madly chase shadows. She is 72, and does all this as well as being a grandma. “I’m having an incredibly good time flying around doing my thing,” says the tall, lithe Steinfeld. “I think it’s probably because I’ve been blessed with very good health. I never got fat. I was a heavy teen, but never fat. That extra weight on the body is hard on the joints.”
This beautiful corner of Langley is all she needs to keep her grounded. People watch videos to get this kind of satisfaction, she observes cheerfully.
And when she comes home, there is, inevitably, a mountain of tasks, but no complaints.
Her cottage and its leafy surroundings are what give balance to her life, drawing her back every day from the wildly hectic pace of her existence: The marathon running, singing in the choir at St. George’s Anglican Church in Fort Langley, where she sweeps up the petals after a wedding and volunteers to clean up after functions. A member of the Tri-City Greyhounds, she trains for track and field events such as discus, javelin and hammer throw, and 5k and 10k runs. Until recently, Steinfeld delivered The Times. Now she has much more time to deliver fresh farm eggs to her customers.
“It’s satisfying. I like to come home and there is always something to do. If I lived in an apartment, I’d go nuts.” There is never a dull moment in her life, but at some point she has to come back down to Earth. A great and satisfying pleasure is to bury herself in a book. She has just finished reading One More Time, a memoir by Dal Richards, the legendary and enduring bandleader.
She is also a gardener, tending her own beds as well as those of a few clients, and of course, her church.
“At 93, Dal Richards is thoroughly enjoying each and every day,” Steinfeld observed from his autobiography.
She has sheep and hens and baby chicks and dogs that
“What an example for us.”
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September 2010 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | 29
Dawne Tomlinson
F
or more than 20 years, Dawne Tomlinson has focused on helping students find their voice — a medium to express themselves and, perhaps, even lay the groundwork for an exciting career.
“I was always complaining there were no strong post-secondary programs for my kids to enter.”
Last June, Tomlinson completed her first year as principal of Langley Secondary. But it was back in 1989 that the then-Brookswood Secondary teacher all but fell into the role that would set her on a much different career path than she could have envisioned when she gave up teaching primary students in favour of spending her days surrounded by teenagers.
There, she rebuilt the program to serve as the next step for high school students who had already taken advanced film courses.
So, in 2002 she left Brookswood for a position with the Centre for Digital Imaging and Sound (now the Art Institute) in Vancouver.
She continued her work at the high school level, as well, by founding the B.C. Media Educators Association, teaching a summer course for high school instructors from all over B.C. and Alberta who wanted to teach film and video to their own students.
Tomlinson recalled the day, in 1992, when the principal walked her down to the school’s abandoned metal shop and asked: “Can you see a TV studio in here?”
Tomlinson also introduced and ran the B.C. Student Film festival. When she stepped away from the festival three years ago, the top award given out at the festival was named in her honour.
“I went along with it,” she laughed. “I said, ‘Sure, I can see it.’”
As a result of the work she did in developing the Film and TV Program at Brookswood, Tomlinson was presented with the Prime Minister’s Teaching Award of Excellence in Ottawa in 1998.
As she developed the school’s fledgling film and video program, Tomlinson attended night school classes to help her stay one step ahead of her students. Her next challenge was outfitting them, so they could learn the craft.
The following year, she travelled to Cincinnati, to accept 11 international awards on behalf of her students, who beat out a number of professionals to claim the hardware.
“The idea was to get professional equipment and become self-sustaining.” That would take more money than the program had in its budget, so Tomlinson set out in search of other funding sources.
“It was huge,” she said. Some of Tomlinson’s students have gone on to become independent filmmakers. Others have found their niche in the production side of the business.
“I wrote more on those grants (applications) than I did on my master’s,” she said.
That wasn’t necessarily her goal, but it was certainly a welcome outcome.
Soon, the school teamed up with Rogers Cable to create the multi award-winning Backstreet Studios, which produced stories from around the Lower Mainland geared toward teenage audiences. “The stories all came from the kids,” said Tomlinson.
“When (teenagers) have what it takes to do something with their lives, you want to cultivate that,” she said.
“That’s the beauty of it, it was theirs.”
One of Tomlinson’s earliest film and video students, Chelsea McMullan, who is now working as an independent filmmaker in Toronto, credits her former teacher with setting her on her current path.
Eventually, Rogers sold to Shaw and Backstreet ended, along with other community programming.
“I couldn’t say enough about her. She’s why I do what I do,” said McMullan.
“I was choked at first, but then I saw the opportunity to branch out into films,” Tomlinson said.
“I was an awkward kid who had a lot of ideas. To be able to focus them was life-altering, and I know I’m not alone.
Looking ahead, the teacher could see a bit of a dead end for her students who wanted to carry on in the field once they’d graduated.
“So many kids are in the arts because of the program she built.”
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30 | Our People Our Langley | Supplement to the Langley Times | September 2010
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