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Editors: Mary & Don Checkley Contact us at: calgaryretiredteachers.org

CRTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2016-2017 President Linda Manwarren Past President Greg Chitrenky

Vice-President Brian Scott

Vice-President Denis Espetveidt

Secretary Myrna Eichhorn

Treasurer Paul Demers

Director Ena Beunder Director Joe Manchurek

Director Margaret Brucker Director Gordon Marconi

Director Don Checkley Director Steve Manwarren

Director Mary Checkley Director Rolande Parel

Director Gordon Cumming Director Lynn Rule

Director Margaret Espetveidt Director Barb Smith

Director Marlys Glass Director Helena Wilson

Director Sandra P Grassick

SUMMER 2017

President’s Message Linda Manwarren, lmanwarren@gmail.com

As the leaves begin their dance into the world of changing and swirling colours, I find myself reflecting on the memories we created during the past year. Even though our bod-ies are no longer responding to the bell that begins a new school year, there remains a part of us that looks at September as a time for reflection and future planning. I believe CRTA has enjoyed another successful year through the work of the Board and your par-ticipation. The Work

continuing efforts on making the website efficient and user friendly updating membership data base refining membership renewal process adding to our coffers through casino shifts and applying for grants adding more detail and pictures to our newsletters attending, and or serving on ARTA Board of Directors and committees planning events reviewing our policies and bylaws managing our funds (registration for events, membership, casino, grants) distributing three scholarships (education students at U of C, MRU, St. Mary’s) providing platforms for creating an endowment fund at Mount Royal University and

St. Mary’s University providing information at a booth at Calgary City Teacher Convention purchasing books in support of Servants Anonymous for distribution to members at

Christmas luncheon Supporting Wellness through organizing branch participation in the ARTA Walking

challenge Continued on the next page

The Events September – Luncheon and AGM, InBody Composition Clinic, Book of Mormon

(Broadway Across Canada), Art Instruction Series of Six for two different groups of participants

November – combined luncheon with CBEREA January – Studio Bell National Music Centre Tour, Initiation to Pickleball March – Trip to Augustana Theatre at U of A campus in Camrose for performance of

Grease, Long Stay through Merit Travel in Spain April – Vale’s Nursery for planting pots, Steppin’ Out Conference May – Tour Minhas Brewery, Tour Chinook Honey Farm and Meadery, Tour Remington

Carriage Museum, Art Show June – Spring Luncheon, July – Art and Lunch at William Watson Lodge

Looking Ahead (events so far): InBody Composition Clinic, Trip to Banff, Lunchbox theatre, Luncheons, Presentations on Anti-Fraud and Hearing loss, Motown the Musical (Broadway Across Canada) Looking Ahead – an invitation to you! The September Luncheon is also our Annual Gen-eral Meeting and the election of the Board. Perhaps there is an initiative you would like to see become part of the CRTA? Perhaps you are interested in shadowing a present board member? Please contact Greg Chitrenky (gjchitrenky@gmail.com) with any questions or thoughts you may have. Final Words. Thank you for your support and kind words during my first year as President. I am always pleased to hear from you and look forward to serving this group again. Linda

CRTA “SEE ALBERTA” BUS TRIP Don Checkley On June 1, thirty-five members of the CRTA traveled South to Card-ston, Alberta to visit the Remington Carriage Museum. Don Reming-ton was a land owner, cattle rancher, developer, bridge builder and philanthropist. As the organizer of a Santa Claus parade in Cardston, he began a love interest in collecting and restoring sleighs and carriag-es. He travelled the world to seek out carriages and sleighs for his own private collection. He made a proposal to the Alberta government in which he would give his collection of 40 carriages and sleighs to the government on two conditions. One, that the government build a Car-riage Museum in his home town of Cardston and two, that the carriag-es and sleighs in his collection not be separated. The collection has grown to over 300 carriages and sleighs that are housed in a beautiful museum that includes all his tack, a working sta-ble for the 20 horses, and a restoration workshop where the trades as-sociated with the carriage industry will be maintained. The museum boasts the largest collection of buggies, sleighs, and carriages in North America. In Don’s personal collection was a Hansom Cab that once was the personal cab of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, an American mul-timillionaire who died on the Lusitania. It is estimated to be worth over 1 100 000 dollars. The Vanderbilt family offered to buy it back but the original stipulation signed by the government to Don Reming-ton prevented the sale of this cab.

Vanderbilt Hansom Cab

We were able to enjoy a visit to the stable, a carriage ride with a Randy, a former school principal as the driver and an up-close vis-it with “Nick”, who is a twelve-year-old Canadian horse.

Nick and Shannon

Randy and our carriage ride

The museum in conjunction with the Reynold’s Museum in We-taskiwin are featuring a tribute exhibit to the McLaughlin Car-riage and Automobile company out of Oshawa. In this 150-year celebration of Canada, they are also recognizing the 150-year his-tory of the McLaughlin family business. The patriarch Robert McLaughlin began clearing land out side of Oshawa in the 1860s. He made ax handles for his axes and the neighbours asked him to build some for them. The ax handle business grew into a furniture and carriage business. In 1867, Robert built his first carriage and by 1898 the McLaughlin company produced 25 000 carriages and grossed over one million dollars. In 1915, the McLaughlin compa-ny was producing on average, a carriage every ten minutes.

In 1901, Robert’s son, Sam McLaughlin, began investigating the building of horseless carriages. Although his father didn’t think the fad would last, Sam began to seriously design a horseless car-riage. In collaboration with William Durant of the Buick Motor Company of Detroit, they began building the McLaughlin Buick in Canada. As Buick and Oldsmobile joined to become General Motors in the US, Durant added the Chevrolet brand to the US company. He asked the McLaughlin’s to build the Chevrolet cars in Canada. As the car market increased, the McLaughlins sold off the carriage business and concentrated on cars. In 1918, General Motors of Canada bought out the McLaughlin Company but Sam would become the President of General Motors of Canada from 1918 until 1945. Sam passed away at the age of 100 in 1971.

To fully appreciate the contributions of the McLaughlin family, one should visit both the Remington Carriage Museum to see the carriage side of the business and then visit the Reynold’s Muse-um in Wetaskiwin to see the horseless carriage side of the busi-ness. On the grounds of the Museum is a statue of Seabiscuit ,the US horse of the year in 1938. The jockey in the statue is George Woolf who rode to victory over 1938 triple crown winner War Admiral in a two-horse race. George was born in Cardston in 1910. On main street in Cardston is a fountain named after Fay Wray who starred in the 1933 movie King Kong. Fay was born in Cardston in 1910. Our See Alberta bus trip visit to the Remington Carriage Muse-um allowed our members to gain a further appreciation of the history of our country.

Oh no, a stage coach hold up!

Who’s got the reins ?

CRTA SPRING LUNCHEON MARLYS GLASS On June 7, 2017 a lively group of 47 retirees gathered for the annual Spring Luncheon at the Ramada Plaza Inn. Laughter was the order of the day, as everyone was encouraged to share stories and jokes, with door prizes going to the brave teachers who did the sharing. It was great fun to hear about the humorous events experienced by teachers as they began their careers. Among the door prizes were a wonderful, hand painted scarf by Catrina Lo-man, and a lunch for two donated by the Ramada Inn. Everyone got to leave with a gift, as our President, Linda Manwarren brought red string backpacks as gifts from the organiz-ers of the “Steppin’ Out” Conference. Bev and Vi, two volunteers from Victoria’s Quilts were there and explained how VQ makes and gives quilts to cancer patients. The generos-ity of the group was seen as $345.00 was collected for the charity. Mark your calendars for our next opportunity to laugh and share at the Fall Luncheon and AGM on September 21, 2017. Contact information for Victoria’s Quilts Canada {Calgary branch} P.O. Box 43160 Calgary, AB, T2J 7A7 Email: vqcalgary@gmail.com Facebook www.facebook/com/CalgaryBranchVQC

Pictures from the luncheon

More pictures from the luncheon

Victoria’s

Quilts Canada

Presentation

Fall luncheon and AGM Marlys Glass Looking for another opportunity to connect and chat with friends?

Come to our fall luncheon on September 21, and meet and greet your executive. The Annual General Meeting will be held at this luncheon, which will give you an oppor-tunity to have input into what your executive is doing in the coming year! The luncheon will be held at the Coast Plaza and registration details are on the website.

Join the CRTA Executive Don Checkley We are looking for new members for the CRTA executive. You can join as a member-at-large and take a year to observe how the board operates before committing to a portfolio. If you see a particular activity that you would like to see offered by the CRTA, you can be become the director for that activity. We need new input every year, but we also require some help in the operation of activities.

If you are interested in joining the board, you will need to contact CRTA and get on the nomination slate to be presented at the September AGM. The Board of Directors is elected each year at the AGM.

Please contact Greg Chitrenky (gjchitrenky@gmail.com)

Casino Sandi Grassick Great news!!! Our next casino will now be held in the third quarter of 2018 (July, August, September). We will get the actual dates in February. We will be looking for volunteers once we have dates confirmed. Proceeds from the casino help to subsidize many of our CRTA activities.

Art at William Watson Lodge Myrna Eichhorn

On a rainy Calgary day in July, forty passengers rode a coach bus to William Watson Lodge in Peter Loughheed Provin-cial Park where the sun shone throughout the day. The help and many others quickly set up the dining room tables for an acrylic painting lesson given by impression artist, Kathy Adamo. A Barbeque lunch break was enjoyed on the huge balcony over-looking a beautiful view of the mountains. The painting project was completed early enough for some par-ticipants to go for a walk down the pathway and surprisingly find the real image of what they had just painted. As far as we know everyone returned to Calgary’s rain by 5:30 pm. A special thank you to Annabelle who cut a giant bag of on-ions without a tear and to three “mystery” barbeque chefs.

In addition the CRTA bus was able to rescue hikers from the Calgary M and M club at the intersection of highway 1 and highway 22 as their bus had broken down.

CRTA/MERIT LONG STAY VACATION 2018 In March, 2017, 25 CRTA participants visited the Costa del Sol region of Spain for a twenty-seven-day holiday. The write up for this activity ap-peared in the Spring Newsletter of this year. In 2018, the CRTA and Merit are planning a similar trip to Portugal for twenty-eight-days leaving Calgary on March 1, 2018. The location is the 5-star Monte Santo Resort in the fishing village of Carvoeiro, Algarve. The resort offers six outdoor pools and complimen-tary use of the wellness centre. The package cost is $ 4,530 CAD per person and includes: Round trip airfare from Calgary. 26 nights in the Monte Santo Resort with breakfast daily. One-bedroom garden view suite with a double bed, sofa bed in living room with a modern kitchen and balcony. Wellness centre, heated indoor pool, sauna, Turkish bath and gym. Free WiFi access in the reception area Housekeeping four times per week A half-day Louie Market excursion Services of a local representative PLUS two nights in Lisbon at Turim Marques Hotel with breakfast, all transfers, Lisbon Walking tour and Tapas, plus a full day tour of Sintra If you are interested and would like more details please, contact Ron Jeffery at RJeffery@merittravel.com or © 403-708-3605 or call your dedicated ARTA sales team at: 1.844.408.1770 for reserva-tions….mention you want to join the ARTA group to this destination. Reservations now being accepted.

Rosebud Theatre Spitfire Grill Don Checkley June 28, 2017 Two bus loads of 110 CRTA members travelled to Rosebud to see the June performance of the musical Spitfire Grill. The musical was based on the 1996 movie starring Ellen Burstyn (as Hannah) and Alison Elliot (as Per-cy) . The musical version of this story moved the location from Maine to Wis-consin but the story remains the same. Percy was a ex-prisoner who travels to the small town of Gilead for a new start on life. She goes to work for Hannah in the town’s only restaurant, called the Spitfire Grill. It is a story of redemption and love with lively tunes and great acting. Eight of the cast were graduates of the drama program in this small community. Louis Hobson, the entertainment critic for the Calgary Sun/Herald newspa-pers, described the musical as having folksy charm and themes of second chances. The consensus of the CRTA members was a great way to spend a Wednes-day afternoon. Thanks to Margaret Espetveidt for organizing these Rosebud events Picture courtesy of Rosebud website

The ARTA Annual Walking Challenge 2017 Don Checkley

The Annual ARTA Walking Challenge was instituted in 2013 by the ARTA Wellness Committee.

“ Walking is the first thing an infant wants to do and the last thing an old person wants to give up. Walking is the exercise that doesn’t need a gym. It is the prescrip-tion without medicine, weight control without diet, and the cosmetic that can’t be found in a drug store. It is the tranquilliser without the pill, the therapy without a psy-choanalyst, and the holiday that doesn’t cost a penny. What’s more, it does not pol-lute, consumes few natural resources and is highly efficient. Walking is convenient, it needs no special equipment, is self-regulating and inherently safe. Walking is as natu-ral as breathing.” John Butcher, Founder Walk 21 , 1999

The challenge begins April 1 and finishes on June 30 each year.

Participants register within their branch. They start walking and recording their steps every day. On July 1, they select their 30 best days and send that total into the branch coordinator. The numbers are not important, what is important is that you participate.

In 2015, our branch had 55 participants and a total of

20 545 349 steps

In 2016, our branch had 56 walkers and a total of

24 412 064 steps

In 2017. our branch had 75 walkers and a total of

32 779 430 steps

ARTA awards recognition for the 18 branches to

1) The individual with the most steps 2) The branch with the most steps of its top 30 walkers

3) The branch with the highest participation rate of its membership

Results are announced at the ARTA AGM in October

CRTA BRANCH RESULTS ARTA 2017 WALKING CHALLENGE

# NAME STEPS

1 LYNNE ANDRES 748 597

2 BETTY AYERS 440 363

3 CYRIL AYERS 416 105

4 ERICH BERNDT 577 263

5 CAREN BEST 558 219

6 ENA BEUNDER 393 150

7 SHIRLEY BRANTON 356 476

8 MARGARET BRUCKER 303 375

9 DON CHECKLEY 1 063 816

10 MARY CHECKLEY 523 399

11 SUSAN CHIVERS 577 024

12 PEGGY CHUDZY 357 977

13 GORDON CUMMING 302 500

14 DIANNE DALGLEISH 171 760

15 NORMA ELLIS 380 473

16 SHARON FAHEY 703 751

17 BETTY FLOOD 460 047

18 ELLEN GILLIS 274 503

19 MARLYS GLASS 368 555

20 SANDI GRASSICK 348 257

21 GORDON JASPER 641 185

22 MARILEE JASPER 326 264

23 JIM JENKINS 596 685

24 ROBERTA JONE 431 600

25 NORA HEAD 96 694

26 PATRICIA HENDERSON 814 890

27 JOYCE HESSLER 554 194

28 MARLENE HUMPHRYS 454 837

29 PAUL HUMPHRYS 378 837

30 MARGARET INKSTER 446 228

31 LIZ KARRA 426 821

32 CRAIG KENNEDY 498 789

33 ROSEMARY KENNEDY 401 975

34 BRUCE KENNY 460 881

35 JULIUS KISS 311 200

36 KATHRYN KISS 379 150

37 SUSAN KONOPNICKI 441 869

38 LYLA LEE 321 310

39 MARGARET KURTZE 411 250

40 WENDY LEMON 446 781

41 DARYL MacDONALD 435 525

42 MEVA MacDONALD 412 746

43 MARILYN MAGUIRE 765 077

44 LINDA MANWARREN 679 264

45 STEVEN MANWARREN 419 032

46 LOIS MARCHAND 327 364

47 MARLENE MARCHAND 321 064

48 SUSAN MATHENY 314 420

49 BEV MONTGOMERY 635 430

50 KATHY NEWMAN 431 432

51 MARILYN PATTERSON 441 405

52 JANICE PERRY 641 800

53 DAVID PEYTO 387 826

54 WENDY PITCHER 395 873

55 RICHARD PLANTE 297 773

56 SHARON PLANTE 475 146

57 MARGARET REEVES 639 684

58 LINDA REPP 131 692

59 GRANT REPP 113 224

60 DOUG RHODES 288 067

61 MARIE RHODES 301 533

62 HERTHA ROSE 507 875

63 PAULINE SCHAUS 385 773

64 BRIAN SCOTT 403 847

65 LINDA SLATER 373 363

66 BARB SMITH 612 308

67 JO SPRING 236 828

68 SIDNEY STEVENSON 519 774

69 CATHERINE THURSTON 667 760

70 BRENDA VICKERS 596 555

71 DAVID WILLIS 424 918

72 LEA WILLIS 455 877

73 DOMINIQUE WILSON 360 573

74 MARION WOODMAN 505 737

75 JOHN GOUGH 242.11 MILES

Top 30 total steps 17 832 461

Total branch (75 walkers) 32 779 430

PLUS 242.11 MILES

Body Composition Clinic September 28, 2017 Mary Checkley Through ARTA resources, and with the support of CRTA, another Body Composi-tion Clinic will be offered. The Body Composition Clinic provides an overview of an individual’s current body composition, including the relative proportions of body water, lean tissue and body fat, and information about how their composition can impact their health. During a clinic, an individual will meet with a health care pro-fessional who guides each person, through discussion and distribution of resources, in creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Six months after the clinic, a follow-up visit is offered to discuss progress and to complete a follow-up body composition analysis. There are approximately 12 spots available at this time, as we are catching up some folks who wrere unable to come to the last clinic in March. If you are inter-ested, please call Mary Checkley to register at 403-271-1193

IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING INFORMATION

Please note, if you know people who are not getting email blasts or online infor-mation please pass on the following information to them. This includes people who do not get to register for activities because they don’t get current infor-mation earlier enough.

If you don’t have a computer or an email connection find a relative, or good

friend who could receive email notices for you. Contact the CRTA website and

register your name and the secondary email address so that you can receive the

notices and email blasts.

If you have an email address and are not receiving email blasts please contact the CRTA website and pass on the alternative email address.

WATCH FOR UPCOMING ART ACTIVITIES ON THE WEBSITE

Name of Activity: Acrylic Art Workshop with Kathy Adamo

Description of Activity: Impressionistic acrylic painting for those with some experience.

Date and times- Thursdays, October 19 –November 23, 2017 at 1pm-3pm

Location: Scout Hall, 2140 Brownsea Dr. NW

Cost: Member- $75 Non-member- $100

Capacity: 20

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Name of Activity: Multimedia Art Workshop with Kathy Adamo

Description of Activity: Kathy will guide participants in cre-ating multimedia creations using acrylic paint, paper, paste and scissors. Great for beginning artists! (Bring your scis-sors.) Date and times: Tuesdays, October 17 –November 21, 2017 at 1pm-3pm

Location: Scout Hall, 2140 Brownsea Dr. NW

Cost: Member- $75 Non-member- $100

Capacity: 20

Let Us Take A Moment To Remember Those

Colleagues Who Passed Away

Kerry Lynn Elliot February 3

Mona Doreen McManus April 7

Colin Claude Person May 18

John Felix Early May 22

John Russell May 26

Yvonne Patricia Greenwood June 6

Kenneth G. Tidsbury June 10

William Joseph (Bill) Leonard June 21

Clara Lenea Spry June 25

James Kelly June 28

James M. Millius July 6

Monica Maureen Theresa McLaren August 3

Richard Louis Old August 11

Mary Hunter August 23

Blair Stankowski August 23