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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 1

OUR LANGLEY. RICK BALL

GLORIA DOUBLEDAY

KRIS ELLIOTT

JEN HILTZ

MIKE HUNNIFORD

page 11

page 16

page 20

page 15

page 13

ELIZABETH JOHNSON

BILL KENT

DARIAN KOVACS

RON LEROUX

HAYLEY NIMMO

page 19

page 6

page 14

page 5

page 9

MARK PETERSE

ELEANOR RYAN

JOEL WILLIAMS

RACHEL WISSELINK

page 25

page 23

page 22

page 26

OUR PEOPLE.

2 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 3

our LANGLEY. our PEOPLE. Langley is a diversified community with

What really makes this community tick are

We are pleased to publish this keepsake

breathtaking landscapes, historical charm

the people who put their hearts and souls

edition, dedicated to those who truly make

and truly the place where country meets

into making Langley what it is today. These

Langley the best place to live, work and play.

the big urban city. Our enonomy is driven

movers and shakers go above and beyond the

We trust â€œOur People. Our Langley.â€? has

by a vibrant small business network and we

call of duty to make our community a very

the look and feel you are looking for along

are nestled in an area with some of the best

special place.

with the editorial content that will hopefully

recreational opportunities Canada has to

The Langley Times and Aldergrove Star are

offer. Langley still has that small town feeling

paying tribute to past legends, volunteers,

that makes our community a great place to

and future leaders who often go quietly about

live, work and play.

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 5

Ron Leroux

“That far, far, far outweighs the negative,” And he always knew that when he had kids of he said. his own, he would be involved as a coach. “The positive is probably 98 per cent, the nega“It was the strong values and team spirit that tive is probably two per cent.” kind of progressed me in that direction,” Leroux The past two seasons, Leroux has guided his said. teams to silver medals at “I looked up to my broththe B.C. provincial chamers and my father as role pionships, first with the models.” midget A2 team in 2011/12 He describes himself as a demanding coach. “I really push the kids to be and then with the midget A1 team in 2012/13. He is “But never ask someone to the best they can be for also the two-time Langley do something you wouldn’t Minor Hockey Association do yourself,” he added. themselves, ” Leroux said. coach of the year. And coaching your own kids The success comes from can prove to be quite the “Never for me, his passion for the players challenge. always for them, to succeed. “I would have to say I was pretty hard on them, but and it is not just hockey, “I really push the kids to be the best they can be for it has helped them be very it is every aspect of life.” themselves,” Leroux said. strong achievers (and) very “Never for me, always for strong scholastically,” he them, and it is not just said. hockey, it is every aspect Dixon, 20, is a thirdof life.” year UBC student, while And even though his sons are now out of the Quinncy, 17, is in high school and plays junior minor hockey ranks, Leroux is back for another B with the Aldergrove Kodiaks. season with the juvenile A1 team. “It is a tight rope that you walk when you are “Like I said, it is a passion,” he said about being coaching your own kids and trying to maintain a non-parent coach. a solemn family life,” Leroux said. Leroux runs his own construction company out But no matter what problems may arise because of Fort Langley, Legend Home Builders. of the dynamic, Leroux said it is worth the trade-off.

makes perfect sense Ron Leroux coaches a hockey team. After all, Leroux knows a little something about teamwork and team dynamics as the youngest of 16 children, which is about the same as how many players are on a single hockey team. Leroux has seven brothers and eight sisters. “Teamwork has always been a huge component of my life,” said Leroux. Like most parents, Leroux got into coaching at the same time his two sons — Dixon and Quinncy — began playing organized sports. “Basically, they needed coaches, so I volunteered,” he said. He first coached them in inline hockey out of the Langley Sportsplex with the Westcoast Warriors program 10 years ago. After that, they both transitioned into ice hockey as well with the Langley Minor Hockey Association. The 52-year-old Leroux has been coaching ever since. Growing up in northern Alberta, Leroux played hockey, football and baseball. But hockey always took precedence.

“

”

Story by GARY AHUJA Photo by DAN FERGUSON

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6 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

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“They said I was too frail to live,” says Bill Kent, who marked his 106th birthday on Saturday, Oct. 19. The longtime Langley City resident has an amazing life story, and continues to thrive. Bill Kent was born in Content, Alberta, in 1907 “My parents of course were pioneers,” he says in some notes he put together about his life two years ago. “The town of Content was formed in 1903 and then vanished in 1913. Both the railroads bypassed it. So everybody tore their buildings down in 1913 and moved to one of the other towns on the railroad. My family chose to Delburn on the Grand Trunk.” His parents met in Alberta, before it was a province. They were married in 1901, initially living in Innisfail. Bill is one of three children they had — both his sister and brother died in their 60s. The family move to Content came about in an interesting fashion. When the railroad from Calgary to Edmonton was built, at first it didn’t move many passengers, who travelled by horseback. Stopping places

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Experience Sincerity Reliability Bob has been helping people buy and sell properties in the Fraser Valley with Homelife/Benchmark Realty for over 23 years and is still going strong. He started selling in 1971 for Engineered Homes in Kamloops, was promoted to manager and transferred to Prince George where he ran the branch till the parent company Genstar went out of the residential housing business.

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Growing up on a mixed farm and ranching operation in southern Alberta, he went to high school in Medicine Hat and then went on to graduate from OSA the Olds School of Agriculture with 2nd class honors in 1955. This back ground has helped him in all his endeavors. Bob is always ready to lend a hand and is a volunteer at Gate Way of Hope and Walnut Grove Lutheran Church.

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 7

were needed about every 20 miles or so. But the business was vulnerable to the ability of people to go between Calgary and Edmonton by train and not need to stop. Mr. Content had owned the stopping place at Innisfail, and decided to go to the country east of Red Deer, across the Red Deer River, which had just been opened for homesteading. “So Mr. Content started a store on the hill right by a settlement that was known as Tail Creek. There is a Buffalo Lake near there and the tail of the Buffalo is Tail Creek that comes down and runs into the Red Deer River,” Kent recalls. Hi father had been booming logs down the Red Deer river and a boom broke. He had to go try and catch the logs, and store them somewhere where they could be retrieved. He picked this settlement at Tail Creek. “My Dad filed a homestead on a quarter section. You had to build a little house, cultivate five acres and then you got it for $10 after three years. He had that until 1929. Mother had them build a little lean-to on the side of Mr. Content’s store building, got a stove and started serving meals from there. “The first and only doctor that came to Content was Dr. Davies. He attended my birth but I kind of think he looked at me and decided “don’t bother” because they didn’t register my birth,” he recalls. When Content folded, his parents went to Delburn and his father operated a livery stable. That was put out of business by the automobile, and the Kents eventually moved to Edmonton. “When we lived in Delburn, everything I saw inspired me to try and build it. In the winter we had drifting snow, and the railroad came along with a rotary snowplow. So I found a piece out of a binder that had a cog wheel on the end for a place that I could make a handle, and I got a box that bananas had come in and put this on my sleigh and I put this rod through, and then I took the end of an apple box that had eight sides on it and cut some jam pails in half and nailed them on for the scoops but I couldn’t get it to fasten on the end of this rod very well. I go out in the snow and make a half a turn and the first ones would fill up and it wouldn’t turn over.” He also built a steam engine, using ether cans and spare parts from the tinsmith shop. “I had it all finished and I sat down some stones and got some kindling and just lit it. Mother came out and said it was supper time, and I never disobeyed my mother so I went in and had supper. When I came out my engine wasn’t there. It blew up in the middle of the road. That was my first lesson in safety valves. But you know, if mother had not called me in, I might not be here.” Kent graduated from Strathcone High School in 1925 in Edmonton. And then he went to the University of Alberta and studied civil engineering, He received his diploma in civil engineering in 1931. “After I graduated, I worked for the Alberta government in the summer for three years surveying highway diversions in northern Alberta. I met a young lady in my last year of university, and back in those days you got married. It was pretty hard to live the year on a summer income. The pay was pretty

low in those years. So in March 1934, we got married and went to Vancouver and never came back. We had two daughters and one son. My wife Doris died on the eve of our 70th anniversary in 2003.” His first engineering job in the Vancouver area was on the Lions Gate Bridge, which was built by the Guinness family of brewing fame to link Vancouver to their West Vancouver development known as British Properties. It opened in 1939. “Every unemployed engineer in Vancouver went to their (construction company’s) office to get a job and I did too. I knew what type of piers they were going to have on the north side, different from the ones on the south side. I went down to the Vancouver Library and looked through the engineering books and found a book on bridge foundations, and I saw a picture of the kind of a pier that I understood that they are going to have on the North Shore. So I took the book out of the library.” His homework paid off, as he started work on the bridge in January, 1937. He was assigned to work on the north side of the inlet. The company he worked for had the contract for the piers and the deck, and his job was to design and oversee construction of the north anchor and the approach. “I stayed there while they were putting up the steel, and as soon as the steel was up on the north side approach we started putting the concrete deck on it. I got involved in casting the lions that you see on the (south) end of the bridge. They were cast in a big wooden box and we jacked the box up and put one of these wheels around each end. Once the wheels were on, the men just rolled it over, jacked it up again and took the wheels off and stripped the box off of it. “A lot of people think they are identical, but they’re not identical. If you look at them the tail is on the road side, so the cast for the back end they had to duplicate but we had to make sure when we placed them we had the tails on the road, not the other way. If we switched the lions, then we`d be in trouble.” He has done extensive travelling as an engineer, volunteering with the CUSO organization and visiting many countries in Asia and Africa. Kent got his 80-year engineering pin from the University of Alberta several years ago, and a YouTube video featuring an interview with him at that time can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sybAV2vY9i0. He is the oldest living graduate of the U of A. So how come he’s lived so long and is still so healthy? “You know how many times I’ve been asked that?” he said with a smile, in a 2010 Times interview. “The trick is I’ve never smoked because I couldn’t afford it. Ten smokes costs 10 cents. I could go to the tuck shop and have a cinnamon roll and a coffee for the same price. Ten cents was my budget for each day. “When I was born, they said I was too frail to live, but my mother kept me warm in the oven. I’ve done pretty good.”

Photo by DAN FERGUSON

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8 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 9

eckem Nimmo needs no prompting when Hayley says the Shriners have told her the delays he boards the special Shriners Care are being caused by French authorities. Cruiser in Langley for a photograph with It hasn’t helped that the inventor of the rod his mother, Hayley. recently died when he crashed his own helicopter. He scampers into the hospital bed near the back So, every six months, Beckem has to make the of the specially-modified bus, one of five operated trip to Portland for surgery on his spine. by the Shriners Patient Transportation Society in It is a source of frustration for his mother, B.C. whose personal battle to help her son became It is familiar surroundings for the seven-year-old, a campaign to help other families in the same who will turn eight in November. situation. Beckem has been riding in the bus since he was “The way the system is now, it’s not working for two, going to the Shriners Hospitals for Children hundreds of children and families,” Hayley says. facility in Portland, Oregon for treatment of a lifeShe is the founder and past president of the threatening spinal curvature. Fraser Valley FiT Network Society (Keeping He’s gone as often as every two months, Families in Touch), a volunteer-run, non-profit accompanied by his mother, who usually snuggles support group that provides education and up beside her son in the bed. events for families with children that have She sometimes brings a guitar on the trips and special needs. will play it with Beckem, who follows her chord Hayley created FiT after she was unable to changes with his hands on hers. find a support group for families with kids like Beckem has a neuromuscular disorder, severe Beckem. scoliosis, global developmental delay and autism. She has since left FiT in order to get her degree In November of 2011, he went to the Portland in child and youth care and says the group is Hayley Nimmo and her son Beckem sometimes travels to his medical appointments in a hospital bed hospital for a revolutionary surgical procedure doing just fine without her at the helm. aboard this special bus, one of five operated by the Shriners. created by a French inventor that is designed to She intends to continue campaigning for families of allow correction of his spine without repeated children with special needs. surgeries. “I think having some letters after my name will help,” she says. He was the first patient in North America to receive the “Phenix” rod. Meanwhile Beckem, after three years of home schooling, is now attending classes with other kids in Made of cobalt chrome, the rod is inserted next to the spine for the treatment of early onset scoliosis Fort Langley. and is designed to be adjusted without further surgery, using a magnet. “It’s going really well,” Hayley says. It is considered experimental surgery in B.C., where Beckem was facing a two-year wait for a She praises the teachers and students at the school for doing a “phenomenal job” of welcoming conventional operation. Beckem. However, the mechanism inside the rod has stopped working properly and attempts to get a Story and photo by DAN FERGUSON replacement from France have been unsuccessful so far.

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10 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 11

Rick Ball

rom unpaid intern 30 years ago to the voice of the Vancouver Canucks and B.C. Lions, as well as doing games on Hockey Night in Canada, Rick Ball has travelled quite a career path. Ball was a 17-year-old Grade 11 student in Kelowna when he first went on the air, covering local sporting events. But his fascination with radio stretched back to when he was a child. “I was unusual, I listened not for music, but for talk radio all the time and I really liked it,” he explained. This was back before the advent of sports talk radio. “I had no idea what they were talking about but I liked the idea of people calling in and sharing opinions,” he said. “The fascination was early although I didn’t think of it as a career until later on.” Ball grew up playing several different sports — football, rugby, basketball and volleyball — but it was the one he never played, hockey, which has really fuelled his passion. Even before he finished the BCIT broadcast journalism program, Ball had a job back at the radio station CKIU in Kelowna, where he had gotten his start. “I was green and young and terrible,” he said with a laugh. “But it was a great experience.” After leaving to do some TV and radio work in Prince George, Ball returned to Kelowna once again, this time with a different radio station, CKOV. Despite not having much experience in the broadcast booth, Ball was able to convince the radio station to let him call the junior A Kelowna Spartan games. “I always wanted to try it and once I got into it, I loved it,” he said. “That really took my enthusiasm to a whole new level. “Reading sports (on the air) and kidding around on a morning show, all that stuff is fun. But play-by-play — instead of talking about what happened last night or might happen tomorrow night — you are there while it is happening.” After two years of calling junior A, Ball switched to the Kelowna Rockets and the Western Hockey League when major junior hockey came back to Kelowna in 1995. During Ball’s time in Kelowna, he was able to meet legendary Canucks’ broadcaster Jim Robson, who joined Ball in the booth one game. They met for breakfast the following morning and for three hours, Robson dispensed advice to the young broadcaster. “His advice to me was you have to develop your own style, and you can only get better by doing it,” Ball recalled. Robson also shared with him the nuts and bolts of the industry, like how to prepare and how to take notes — information that Ball said is invaluable. Ball’s style is influenced by Robson. “You could tell when the game was exciting by the tenor of his voice,” Ball explained. “You could anticipate that a play was building through the rise and all of his cadence and his inflection, but it was not pushed, it wasn’t fake. “It was just him and I try to emulate some of that.”

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While Ball listened to Robson call Canuck games, another sacrifice, you miss things when you are not at home.” influence was from Bob Cole of Hockey Night in Canada. Ball and his wife have one daughter and the family lives in south “So many of memories growing up were of the big international Langley. games and Stanley Cups (he called),” Ball said. “He is like an The other challenge of the job is staying on top of what is opera singer doing play-by-play, that sort of rise and fall to happening in the sports world. capture the energy in the building.” The internet does make things easier. Ball called Rockets games for five years, traveling with the team “It is just staying on top of things,” he said. “It is impossible to by bus across western Canada and parts of study enough.” Washington State. “It is constant; even when you are not working, “By the fifth year — and I love doing play-byyou are working,” Ball added. play — but the grind was getting to me,” he “You are paying attention, watching all the games, “The best advice, and reading newspapers, just trying to keep that admitted. “As much as I enjoyed the job, the travel was I give it to everyone baseline of information where it needs to be.” brutal.” Preparing for a football game requires about five coming out of school So Ball accepted a job offer at a radio station in or six hours of making notes about the teams and Victoria, and while there also picked up a partthe match-ups. With hockey, Ball will try and who wants to stick time gig doing Canucks games on VTV (which watch the opposing team’s previous couple of around, is get out of games to learn a little bit more about them. is now CTV Vancouver) when Jim Hughson was not available. Vancouver and go to a For those who want to break into this line of In 2003, Ball joined the Team 1040 and the work, Ball has one piece of advice. following year, the all-sports radio station landed smaller town,” he said. “The best advice, and I give it to everyone coming the rights to the B.C. Lions and he was tabbed to out of school who wants to stick around, is get out do the play-by-play. of Vancouver and go to a smaller town,” he said. Ball had never done football broadcasting before, but had plenty “Do everything you can possibly do, it is the only way you can of experience as a player and a coach at the community level get better. back in Kelowna. It also helped that he was an avid Lions fans “Get out there, find a place — the pay may be crappy — but the growing up. experience is invaluable.” “Honestly, between the Lions and the Canucks, it was a huge As for his own future, the 47-year-old has no idea what may lay toss-up,” he said about his favourite team growing up. ahead. Since taking over that gig, Ball has added calling Canucks games “If I keep doing the Canucks and the Lions and some Hockey on Team 1040 to his responsibilities. He also now does some Night in Canada games until the day I retire, it has been a pretty Hockey Night in Canada games on TV as well. good run,” he said. “And if it goes beyond that, fantastic.” Previously at the Team, he had done the morning show and the Some days, Ball admits watching sports is different now than afternoon show. when he was younger. And while Ball is doing a job most people can only dream about, “I kind of miss that, it would be nice to just watch a game and it still has its challenges and drawbacks. ride the emotions like everyone else,” he said. Travel is the main challenge, especially when the team is on an “But I don’t look at it like work; I love what I do. extended road trip. “When you can look at your job and get excited 30 years later … “Even though you are flying, you are still spending a lot of you know you are in the right line of work.” time away from your family,” he said. “That part is definitely a Story by GARY AHUJA. Photo by RICH LAM

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Mike Hunniford M

ichael Hunniford’s colourful electric bike was once a discarded, nonfunctional scooter. The Langley City resident got the two-wheeler running again and then began to modify it.

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Mike’s bike – How a Langley man rebuilt his life The result, after many months of work, turns heads and creates smiles whenever people see Hunniford and his creation in motion. A drab, utilitarian form of transport has become a vivid mix of primary colours, a rolling work of art with the head of a red-and-green space alien attached to the handlebars overlooking a shiny river of stars and globes running down the front forks to the wheel. It remains a work in progress, with Hunniford adding bits and pieces and altering the colour scheme as inspiration strikes. He uses everything from cell phone parts to Cheerios, making useless things useful again. During the most recent Langley Good Times Cruise-in devoted to classic cars, he estimates he posed for around 50 photographs. He’s also recently begun to paint, producing vivid, impressionistic canvasses. “I just want to make people happy,” he says, smiling. Hunniford rebuilt himself long before he rebuilt his bike.

There is a reason why he has tattoos of a cross on the left side of his face and both hands. Hunniford says if he is ever tempted to reach for a drink again, he will see the reminder of the Higher Power on the back of his hand. The crosses are wrapped in flowers to symbolize his rise from the dead from years of addiction. The cross on his cheek is so that every time he looks in the mirror, he will remember what his life was like before a woman named Sherry Myers decided to talk to a homeless addict who was lying in some bushes near a Fraser Highway coffee shop. It was just over four years ago. Hunniford, a former antique store owner, had fallen far and landed hard, and was reduced to brewing bootleg liquor in stolen garbage cans using fruit and sugar. “I was jonesing for a drink,” Hunniford remembers. “I was puking up blood.” Hunniford, by his own description, was a bearded, bloated wreck but he still had his manners and when Myers spoke to him, he smiled and said “hi.” “I took his sorry ass for coffee,” Myers recalls, laughing. “Then spaghetti.” Myers knew what fighting an addiction is like, having sobered herself up almost two decades ago. Several days after they met, Hunniford’s new friend offered to help him detox. Up till then, he says he had never seriously tried getting sober. It was rough. “Have you ever seen the movie, Days of Wine and Roses?,” Hunniford says, referring to Jack Lemmon’s Oscar-nominated depiction of an alcoholic going through a agonizing cold-turkey withdrawal. “It was like that.” What got him through the sweats, the shakes and convulsions, Hunniford says, was a moment when he had an unexpected encounter with the higher power that now guides his life. A sudden feeling of peace and contentment descended on him, and it has remained to this day, Hunniford says. “This calmness was there,” he says. He has not had a drink since. Recently Hunniford celebrated his four-year “cake,” a kind of birthday party to celebrate the anniversary of his sobriety. “I’m grateful every morning I wake up,” Hunniford says.

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Darian Kovacs

ort Langley’s Darian Kovacs is one busy man who always has something on the go and another idea coming right behind it. The 32-year-old social entrepreneur who specializes in helping non-profits reach their online potential is busier than ever in Langley and loving it. Married with a seven-year-old son and a baby girl on the way, those who know Kovacs know his zest for life and ability to juggle many different plates without dropping them. He has been a youth pastor, founder of several charities, officiated at many weddings and is growing his PR firm, Jelly Marketing, with its four young employees. A few weeks ago, he was having lunch in Douglas Coupland’s house. The iconic Canadian author and artist has sought out Jelly Marketing to work on Coupland’s next project with the Vancouver Art Gallery. In high school, Kovacs founded his own charity which was quickly adopted at 700 schools across Canada. He grew the Christian-based charity, called campusfire, to universities across the country. He passed the torch onto a younger Langley man and a few years ago, campusfire was absorbed by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, he said. Last year, Jelly Marketing won excellence in non-profit engagement at the social media awards. Kovacs is passionate about working with nonprofits to help them reach their donors and the public in the digital world. While many charities are very good at helping people all over the world, they often aren’t good at getting their message out . With help from Jelly Marketing, Wagner Hills Farm, an addiction recovery house in Langley, was approved for a $120,000 Google Adwords grant and their web traffic has increased 300 per cent, he said. He volunteers as a mentor with Trinity Western University’s business school.

Kovacs also likes finding ways to promote what is fun here in Langley. After organizing the first successful Lego Games in Vancouver last year, he brought the Games to his hometown. The sold out event took place on Oct. 26 at the Langley Events Centre. It raises money for Love Global Foundation and the Lego Foundation. “I think it is always nice to tie in fundraising with fun events,” he said. Kovacs is also the man behind the seriously successful Langley Wine Tour Passport program, that has seen 3,000 people from across B.C. and Alberta download the Langley wine map in the first 30 days it was launched. “My wife and I lived and worked in Vancouver and we know how tough it is to get Vancouverites over that bridge to Langley,” said Kovacs. “I wanted to entice Vancouverites to Langley and with seven wineries here, it was a no-brainer. I wanted to market how culturally amazing Langley is.” Along with another Langley dad who was commuting to Vancouver every day, they launched a private shuttle bus from Langley direct to Vancouver last year. They modeled it after Google buses, allowing for wifi and other luxuries. The shuttle was a success, but complications with what TransLink thought they were doing put it on hiatus. It is likely to pick up again soon, he said. “We had some customers telling us they were getting an hour or two of work done on the bus each day,” he said. Kovacs is all about ideas. “I’m really passionate and I love the start-up aspect of everything. I have an insane curiosity about people,” he said. Alongside a few friends, he has created the Love Global Foundation that, through the web, lets missionaries tell their stories from the field so their donors know what work is being done on the ground, around the world. If that isn’t enough, he was ordained and officiates at weddings. “I saw where couples were feeling so constricted by the traditions of a wedding ceremony and I wanted to let their essence come through. Let their wedding be about what they want,” said Kovacs. So in Kovacs’ fashion, he created the website Young, Hip and Married for those couples looking for customized weddings. It has been a success and he has since sold it, he says. For the many plates juggled in Kovacs’s life, Langley will one plate that stays the same. “I’m really lucky. I have the freedom to try new things and follow my passions right here in Langley,” he said. Story by MONIQUE TAMMINGA

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“I got to the point where I thought, ‘Why am I working to maintain this?’” she said. And then, one day, she stopped. After speaking with a co-worker whose advice was simple — remove the stresses and the barriers, and rebuild your life as you come to know what you want — she quit her job, sold practically everything she owned and hit the road in a Smart car, driving “wherever the wind took me.” For three months in the summer of 2012, Hiltz travelled and camped in and around the mountains of B.C. and Alberta, spending long stretches in total solitude and checking in occasionally with friends. “I isolated myself to figure myself out,” she explained. “But I became too self-sufficient. I realized how much I’d isolated myself.” As she took stock, Hiltz realized that it was time to rejoin society and, as she did, she figured out that she wanted to somehow make her living feeding people. She looked into opening a catering business, but quickly realized the details and the expense were more than she could or wanted to bear. And then she discovered a food cart on Craigslist. She bought it and named it Gypsy Trunk, as a nod to both its transient nature and her own. “It’s because of all my adventures. People have always called me a gypsy,” she said with a laugh. From her caravan of one, the Langley woman has been making the rounds of the Lower Mainland offering customers a limited menu of meatless Mexican fare and vegan franks. She’s hoping to expand her offerings to include vegan pad thai, smoothies and salads. Hiltz’s father, who lives in Penticton, also operates a food cart. Having that in common has given the pair a chance to get to know each other better. It also gave Hiltz an opportunity to learn a bit about the business. From his cart, Hiltz’s dad sells burgers, hotdogs chicken strips — “Everything I don’t believe in,” she laughed. Hiltz has been a practising vegan for the past six years. Originally, she took up the lifestyle primarily as a way to lose weight. It worked; she lost 40 pounds and gained a tonne of energy. But the book she used as a guide, Skinny Bitch, also laid out a compelling ethical and medical case for the elimination of animal products from her diet, said Hiltz. “I learned about what meat and dairy does to the environment and to your health. “I emptied my fridge and freezer and learned how to cook vegan.” The transition presented its challenges, Hiltz admitted.

f you happened to stroll down to the Langley Community Farmers Market on a Wednesday afternoon last summer, you may have seen Jen Hiltz serving vegan burritos and field roast frankfurters from the side of her Gypsy Trunk. And if you stopped for a bite and perhaps got chatting, you might have heard bits and pieces about the Langley woman’s recent journey — one that was both literal and metaphorical in nature. Hiltz spent the summer towing her vegan food cart to the local farmers market, as well as to community festivals and fairs across Metro Vancouver, from New Westminster to Maple Ridge to Richmond. But the road she’s taken to get to where she is today has been a long, winding and occasionally lonely one. When Hiltz moved to Langley in late 2012, she was seeking a balance between small town living and the oppressive crush of the big city. “City life is overwhelming for me. Vancouver is just too big,” she said. Langley’s mix of rural and urban and its reputation as a hot spot for her beloved country music, on the other hand, were exactly what the 30-year-old was looking for. As both a country singer and a photographer, she discovered in Langley a place that she could pursue all her passions at once. For Hiltz, actually having a life plan and working toward it puts her well ahead of where she was just a couple of years ago. An only child, raised by a single mother who died when Hiltz was in her early 20s and working at a retail job in Kelowna, Hiltz was not exactly living the dream. If you’d asked her at the time what was wrong, she couldn’t have said. She just knew that she wasn’t happy.

“When I first decided to eliminate (animal products) I focused on what I couldn’t have, rather than what I could,” she said. As she learned more about vegan cooking, she expanded her scope to include, for example, Indian and Japanese cuisine. And each year, Hiltz goes on a vegan cruise. Offering a range of classes related to a vegan lifestyle, the voyages around the Caribbean are ‘hugely educational,’ said Hiltz. More than anything, it’s nice to be among like-minded people, she added. Veganism is a growing movement, said Hiltz, adding that the cruises are gaining popularity, with plenty of new faces coming aboard each year. She’s noticing it when she’s out and about with the general population as well. “At the Langley International Festival a lot of people were coming up, excited they could eat,” she said. “It can be challenging to find healthy food at fairs and festivals,” she said. Hiltz is well aware that the coming winter will present its own set of challenges for a business which depends primarily on summer events and markets. Ideally, she’d like to settle in to one spot, so that her customers will know where to look for her. But, perhaps fittingly, the Gypsy Cart is still looking for a more permanent home. In the meantime, Hiltz will continue to focus on her photography and music — two things that ground her. “I have so much energy that I burn myself out,” she said. “I’m constantly on the go. I don’t know when to stop.” Story by BRENDA ANDERSON. Photo by TARAOKE ENTERTAINMENT

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Gloria Doubleday

rom Royal Albert Hall to Canterbury Cathedral, Langley opera singer Gloria Doubleday has graced some of the most impressive stages in the English-speaking world.

And the mezzo soprano was beginning to make musical inroads into Germany before choosing family over career, and bringing her international singing career to an early close. For the Winnipeg-born and Fraser Valley-raised Doubleday, home — and family — is truly where the heart is. Seated in her comfortable Walnut Grove home, the singer is eager to talk about all the important work going on in Langley — from Rotary’s work both locally and abroad, to the efforts of the Women’s Institute, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Langley Heritage and Willoughby Hall Societies, and the Langley Community Music School. But she is also gracious enough to humour a visitor with a few reminiscences about the days she spent singing in opera houses and theatres across Canada and the US and throughout Great Britain, and about the years leading up to her career on the stage. Doubleday’s father spoke seven languages. From him, she received training in French, German, Italian and Latin for singing, as well as Greek. He also provided her with her first musical instruction. Her formal studies began at UBC and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto before Doubleday won a scholarship with Vancouver Opera, where she learned acting and dancing for stage.

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anymore.’ less likely person to join the Women’s rio and solo work with Beautiful singing voice aside, she is “He didn’t ask to be Institute,” chuckled Doubleday. orchestras. the first to admit her natural ability “I discovered “In born — it’s him or me. It “Derek learned to cook out of sheer “In opera, one is limhad its limitations. “I really I loved teaching, had to be David.” self defense. As did my son. ited as a mezzo,” she “I was an absolute lunatic when it opera, Doubleday gave up tour“Bearing in mind that I can’t do any of explained. came to fencing,” she said. “I was feel the working with one is ing and turned her attenthat, I can at least get people there to Apart from Carmen, incredibly short sighted — I couldn’t arboretum choirs and tion to teaching, so that buy (the items). few lead roles are writsee the end of my sword. limited she could be at home “I’ve found that I’m quite effective ten for the part. “It was dangerous for everyone will be a playing as a with her family. at that.” Most of the roles availinvolved.” true the organ “I discovered I loved But perhaps Doubleday’s crowning able to her were more Some of her most vivid memories, mezzo. teaching, working with achievement is her work to help estabalong the lines of however, have little to do with her asset. in church. choirs and playing the lish the Derek Doubleday Memorial “nurses, witches and actual performances. organ in church. Arboretum, situated north of Fraser women of ill repute,” “At the time I was touring (in the “I thought I would miss Highway between the Nicomekl River she laughed. UK), the IRA was doing all that bombing,” said touring, but not so,” she said. “It is so much fun to Then there were the ‘pants roles’ where small and the airport. Doubleday. help other people make beautiful sounds. women would be cast as boys. After the death of her husband in 2003, Double“It seemed everywhere I would go, there would “It’s much more fun helping other people than “I was never trim enough to do the pants roles.” day began thinking of ways to help keep his be a bomb threat. You’d come down to breakfast attending to yourself.” But oratorio provided Doubleday with plenty of memory alive. An arboretum was a natural fit for and there would be a bomb threat, so you’d pick It was a lesson she learned early in life. work. Especially at Christmastime, when anyone a man who loved green space and fought for its everything up and go outside.” Service to others was her mother’s cure for whatand everyone was doing the Messiah. preservation. And since concert season falls in the autumn, winever ailed her, telling her daughter: “If you’re feel“I’ve sung it until I’d think, ‘I can’t stand one The Arboretum and Botanical Society on which ter and spring, Doubleday would often find herself ing grumpy, go do something for someone else.” more note of this,’” she said. Doubleday sits was created as a fundraising arm, standing outside in the freezing cold, holding her It is advice Doubleday still takes very much to But as the season rolled around once more, she’d but she gets as much enjoyment spending part of food and trying to eat with shivering hands, while heart. realize that of course she could. And off she’d go a day out picking up trash with her 16-year-old a bomb squad swept whatever building had been She now sits on the Willoughby Hall Building again. grandson. targeted that particular day. “As a musician, one is incredibly single minded,” committee, is a member of the Langley Heritage “We (the committee) all love working for the arboOne thing that struck her about the British people said Doubleday. Society, volunteers for the Heart and Stroke was how calm they remained. retum, because we’re doing something to make a “And justly so. You have to be, if you’re going to Foundation and is a staunch supporter of Langley Very little seemed to faze them, she said,”after havbeautiful gift to the Township,” Doubleday said. succeed at it. Community Music School. ing been bombed to smithereens during the war.” “It becomes more beautiful and useful as time “I think I was humanized by marriage and raising She is also a Rotarian. When it came time to actually sing, Doubleday goes by. I really feel the arboretum will be a true a son.” “I joined Rotary because I like their idea of service recalls standing inside Canterbury Cathedral and asset.” The year her son, David, turned four, Doubleday above self,” she said. wondering at the church’s vastness. And for the former singer, retired teacher and was out on tour and almost missed spending She also got involved with the Women’s Institute, “I remember thinking, ‘you could drive a team of tireless volunteer, this is what it has all led toward. Christmas with him. an agency whose members bake and make crafts horses through here.’ “My be all and end all — my whole aim in life, When she finally made it home, he didn’t recogto raise funds for projects around the world that “I think Cromwell did, actually,” she said. when I do go,” said Doubleday, “is to feel like I’ve nize her. help women help themselves. For Doubleday, a singing career meant small roles done something to make society and my surround“I looked at him and thought, ‘I can’t do this “My sister in law said she couldn’t think of a in operas and chamber operas as well as oratoings better.”

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joined the Avisar Team as Director of the Private Company and Tax Group on October 1, 2013. Chris brings over 15 years of experience in providing his clients with thoughtful, proactive, and practical solutions to their everyday business needs. Chris trained with a mid-sized firm prior to recently moving from an international CA firm. Chris’ passion as a hands-on, trusted business advisor comes from his years of assisting entrepreneurs in growing successful businesses and encouraging his clients towards their personal and business goals and aspirations. As Director of the Private Company and Tax Group, Chris is committed to excellence, quality, and to achieving measurable results for Avisar’s clients. With his client-focused attitude and experience, Chris is well positioned to ensure that Avisar’s clients are realizing the benefits of their hard-earned resources.

Rob began his career with the professional team of Avisar 14 years ago, obtained his designation as a Chartered Accountant in 2003, and completed the Institute of Chartered Accountants In-Depth Tax program in 2009. He brings extensive experience in Canadian and US corporate tax to both owner-managed businesses as well as international, publicly-traded organizations. Rob values an approach with Avisar’s clients that is directed towards precision, strategic analysis and pursuit of businessoriented goals. Outside of Avisar, Rob is active in the community, serving in various executive and mentorship roles. In 2011, Rob received the District Governor’s Award in Recognition of Exceptional Leadership and Devoted Service from Toastmasters International. He was also awarded the internationally recognized designation of Distinguished Toastmaster this year, a decade-long personal commitment and pursuit.

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Chris also enjoys spending quality time with his wife and two young children. He is active in his church community and loves to participate in his children’s activities. He is an avid Canucks fan and thrives on outdoor adventure.

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18 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 19

Elizabeth Johnson

eturning to Rwanda is bittersweet for Elizabeth Johnson.

The Walnut Grove resident’s father, two brothers, sister and seven of her nieces and nephews were killed in the 1994 genocide – the land, now barren, is marked with tombs and graves. But even in darkness and devastation, the 46-year-old immigrant has sparked a light of hope in her former hometown of Rwinkwavu. In 2009, Johnson and fellow genocide survivor Marie-Louise Kaligirwa founded Grace Rwanda here in Langley – a volunteer-run registered charity with a goal to bring literacy to Rwanda’s youth to help them succeed in rebuilding their country. “All the proceeds we receive from our donors goes straight to the beneficiaries,” said Johnson, who immigrated to Canada back in 1999 as a single mother with her seven-year-old daughter in tow and only $80 to her name. With books being too expensive and scarce in Rwanda, children don’t have the pleasure of thumbing through the pages of a novel or getting swept away in a story — a simple pleasure many here take for granted.

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All books are published and purchased in Rwanda. “You can help get a reading book to a child in Rwanda by donating just a toonie.” The cost to travel to the other side of the world comes out of Johnson’s own pocket, but the experience is priceless. “Let me tell you about the first time I put one of these in a child’s hands,” she began. “Tears of joy came down as I observed the first young boy running to reach the book. The amazement... joy in his eyes looking and flipping the pages was what I can’t forget.” It wasn’t a stretch for Johnson to put herself in the boy’s shoes. “When I was his age, we had nothing to read – just a notebook, a small portable blackboard, a book was just for the teachers to read and put notes on the big dusty blackboard...I saw that boy and the joy was on my heart smiling, thinking yes, you can get a bright future if you have the right resources.” Looking back, Johnson has come a long way since her humble upbringing in Rwanda. “When I immigrated in 1999, my number one priority was getting a better education,” said Johnson, who first completed her Grade 12, followed by a degree in Business Management.

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versity and completed the intensive curriculum in just 13 months. It’s only been 14 years since Johnson first moved to Langley, but it didn’t take long to plant roots in her new community. “Langley is my home and I love Langley residents — a few have made me believe that this is the best city when it comes to supporting those in need,” said Johnson, who relied on the Langley Food Banks for meals, and then later become a volunteer with the charity. The Walnut Grove Church was also a lifeline for Johnson and her daughter. daughter, nourished me spiritually to be where I am in my Christian growth.’’ And with Johnson’s nurturing character and positive outlook, it’s no wonder she was quick to make friends – many of whom have made a lasting impression. “I am proud of my Langley friends,” she said. “They made me and my daughter feel at home after experiencing the 1994 genocide atrocities and after living five years of bitterness... Langley made me feel that I am human, loved, cared for.” Langley is also where Johnson met her husband, Paul, who she married in 2007. A year later, the couple had a traditional wedding with over 500 people in Rwanda and a civil service at the mayor’s office, which allowed Paul to officially adopt Abran, who is now 21. For more information about Grace Rwanda, or to learn how you can help, visit www.gracerwanda.org. Story by KRISTYL CLARK

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Some of B.C.’s best artists show their work at the Birthplace of B.C. Gallery established in l996 by Brenda and Kurt Alberts. The gallery is home to a mix of artistic talent that create paintings, sculptures, carvings, jewelry and pottery. Special exhibitions and artists’ shows are featured throughout the year. Gallery artists are often on site demonstrating their techniques. Visit the Gallery’s web site for information about gallery artists and upcoming events at: www.bcgallery.ca

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20 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

Part of Our Community

Kris Elliott K

for over 34 years

ris Elliott was one of the first students to walk the halls of R.E. Mountain Secondary, and now she does the same as a teacher at the Willoughby high school. And it is fitting this is where she has carved out her career as an educator, as it was here she found her passion for the profession. “I can still remember in Grade 9, I had a student teacher,” Elliott recalled. “There were a few people that inspired me, but she was “Teaching still one of the first. challenges me each “She was a great leader and then the coaches who I had and the PE teachers, they all inspired me.” day,” she said. “I enjoy Elliott, who played on the Eagles’ volleyball and basthe connection I can ketball teams, as well as community soccer in Langley, went to UBC after she graduated from Mountain in get with them and 1980. I hope that I inspire She played a year of junior varsity basketball at UBC, before switching to soccer for her last four years of them, I hope I am a university, while getting her degree and teaching certificate. good leader.” Following graduation, Elliott spent a year working as a teacher in Trail, but returned to the Lower Mainland, working as a TOC (teacher on call) in Langley and Abbotsford. And when she received a full-time job offer to return to her alma matter, Elliott wasn’t even sure she wanted to teach in her former high school — which still employed some of her former teachers. But her mother, Alfie Smaback — a former elementary teacher

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 21

turned resource teacher (now called a special education assistant) — convinced her it was a foot in the door in the profession. “So here I am since 1986,” Elliott said. There was never a doubt that high school is the age she wanted to teach. “For me, my experience here (at Mountain) was great and I felt I needed that age group,” she explained. “I feel (at high school), I can connect — still keeping that line between the teacher and the student — but hoping to make them better people and inspire them.” Teaching was always the goal, but coaching was an added bonus. “When you coach, you get to know them a little bit more, you get to know that other side of the students, and I really enjoyed it.” “For the first few years, you just ran from one season to the next (but) I enjoyed it,” she said. One of her proudest moments as a coach was helping the Eagles senior girls volleyball team qualify for the provincial championships, something that had not been done by the program since Elliott was a player on the team back in the late 1970s. For Elliott, coaching — especially at the Grade 8 level — is about more than wins and losses. “We need to develop them as players but also make them better people,” she said. “And if success happens, that is great too.” These days, Elliott teaches a class on planning as well as PE classes. And it is in the latter subject that she has poured much of her time the past few years, creating a senior girls PE class. Now in its fifth year, the class has gone from being non-existent to having a waiting list.

The purpose, she said, is to motivate the female students to remain active since PE is an elective in their Grade 11/12 years. And Elliott doesn’t have any plans on slowing down anytime soon.

“Teaching still challenges me each day,” she said. “I enjoy the connection I can get with them and I hope that I inspire them, I hope I am a good leader.” Story & Photo by GARY AHUJA

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22 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

oel Williams hangs the microphone back up on the stand, beaming from ear-to-ear as the audience gives their applause.

Joel Williams

While he may be no karaoke superstar, the Langley resident relishes his time in the spotlight — even if it’s just a few minutes at his favourite local watering hole for karaoke night. With a frosted pint of Black Label in hand, the 33-yearold hoists himself up on the bar stool. I can’t help but notice a slight limp. He takes a long, slow sip of his ale and then shares his story. It quickly becomes evident why he isn’t afraid of being centre stage. Williams was returning home from hockey registration, eager to start another promising season, when his life was changed forever. The honour roll student, just 17 at the time, would never join his teammates back on the ice, nor go off to university like many of his peers. Instead, the Langley teen would spend just over three months in a coma. The doctors were certain he wouldn’t make it. “My parents were told that if I survived, I’d be a vegetable,” said Williams, whose driver’s side door was struck one August afternoon in 1998 while going through an intersection on a green light. The driver was a man with a suspended license for impaired driving. “They had to get the Jaws of Life to get me out. I shattered both my knees, broke my left thigh, fractured my skull and damaged my brain.” It was late November when the Cloverdale Colts minor league hockey player slowly came to. “It’s nothing like you see in the movies,” said Williams. “I could hear voices around me, which felt like I was in a dream… I didn’t know what was going on.” Williams was transferred from Royal Columbian Hospital to the G.F. Strong Centre to begin a challenge more difficult than any game or obstacle he’d ever faced out on the ice rink — rehabilitation. “It was pretty frustrating, long, tedious and agonizing,” said Williams, who spent eight months in the hospital relearning how to use his body, and the next four years dependent on a wheelchair. “I was so active before and really missed hockey… actually, it’s the one thing I’ve missed most since my accident.” In addition to the devastating blow to his body, Williams suffered extensive brain damage from the

impact of the crash. “I’ve been told many times by many different doctors that there’s no cure,” he said. “Healing will slowly occur, but it is a permanent challenge.” Despite being struck down in the prime of his life, Williams keeps a smile on his face and a winning attitude. “I stay positive because I don’t like the alternative,” said Williams, who has since ditched his cane and wheelchair. He has taken part in the Vancouver Sun Run, plays onehanded golf, is back on the road driving again and recently moved into his own condo. “I don’t like the other alternative… to me, this is how you win.” And, it’s this hockey fan’s determination and positive outlook that has garnered him a position with the Langley Rivermen Junior A hockey team, keeping track of their statistics at every home game. “I still miss the game, but now I enjoy a different aspect of it,” said Williams. “Now I sit upstairs in a private suite and they are the best seats in the house… it’s also really nice to be part of a team again.” Williams may not get any goals, but the Langley Rivermen consider Williams an integral part of their team, according to team manager Bobby Henderson. “It’s a job that goes unnoticed by most people, but the numbers he provides our coaching staff are very important… the numbers tell a story,” said Henderson, noting the guys on the team enjoy having Williams around. “A lot of the time you have people willing to do the job, but they don’t have the charisma he has. Joel is always funny and keeps the mood light. He may not be a big asset on the big screen, but he’s big to our organization.” While Williams isn’t quite sure what the future holds, one thing is for certain — he will never give up. “I plan to keep on recovering and build towards more and more independence. I’d love to do something in hockey, whether it’s the Langley Rivermen or the Vancouver Canucks. I just have to keep strong and keep going.” Photo and Story by KRISTYL CLARK

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Eleanor Ryan

aybe it takes a leisurely stroll through the park.

Perhaps it’s the sight of a family with a dog or simply a glimpse of some inanimate object. It might be anything that triggers an idea or a memory and fires Eleanor Ryan’s synapses. For the Langley senior, inspiration comes and goes as it pleases — often at the most unexpected moments. But it is, nonetheless, a crucial part of her writing process. “I find it difficult to write on purpose,” says the playwright, author and poet,” seated at the dining room table of her Langley City home, a stone’s throw from City Park. If that is the case, then inspiration must really be everywhere, because Ryan, 85, has been nothing if not prolific over the past several decades. Piled up next to her on the table are stacks of magazines to which she has contributed dozens of articles — many of which have won her accolades and, in some cases, cash prizes. A longtime member of the Langley Writers Guild, Ryan has composed poems, written and directed plays for competition in the

Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 23

Langley Seniors Games, is a regular contributor to Canadian Stories — a national writers magazine — and has penned both a children’s book and a novel. Sometimes Ryan’s compositions are factual recollections of her own past. Nazis in the Attic, a piece she submitted to Canadian Stories, for example, recounts her experiences in the months leading up to the start of the Second World War. In it, the writer recalls sitting around the family’s radio as a nineyear-old, listening to the German-American Bund rally from Madison Square Garden, where 20,000 people gathered on Feb. 20, 1939 in vocal support of the Nazi party. “There were these roars coming from New York. I think (hearing it on the radio) had more impact than seeing it on television would today,” said Ryan. “The mood of the time is what really sticks,” she said. “It was quite scary to hear.” But, as the story’s title suggests, the pro-Nazi movement hit much closer to home for Ryan’s family. The upstairs tenants who had immigrated to Canada from Germany were holding similar — albeit much smaller — rallies in Ryan’s childhood home. She remembers hearing shouts of ‘Sieg Heil’ coming from the floor above. And she can still picture Hans, a little boy of about four or five years old, with white-blond hair, stomping around the yard, his arm raised in a Nazi salute. “It was, of course, noticed by the neighbours. I remember my father, being very patriotic, was horrified and didn’t know how to get rid of this guy,” she chuckled. Some of Ryan’s other works— including a children’s book she published a few years ago, titled Dragons I Know — are pure fiction. Her first novel, meanwhile, falls somewhere between the two extremes.

The author didn’t have to look far for inspiration when she sat down to write Broken into Pieces. The book is a fictionalized account of events from her own life, when one of her sons was seriously injured in a car crash. Like her own child, the novel’s main character, Ron, combines alcohol and speed on an icy road, to tragic effect. But there are plenty of differences, too, she is quick to point out. For the author, the book is a case of, “well, yes, I was there and this happened,” said Ryan. “But it’s different because as soon as you start to write, other characters creep into your brain and they take over and it becomes their story, and you belong to them.” Some of them are based on actual people, others are purely products of her imagination. “My husband calls me an accomplished liar,” Ryan chuckled. But, like most skills, writing — fact or fiction— takes practice and begins with a solid foundation in the basics. “To write, I think reading comes first,” said Ryan. “I read at a very early age. “I think, like a lot of people my age, we perhaps didn’t have many books in the house — that was a luxury. “I learned to read off the corn flakes box. You’d read the English side, then the French.” In becoming a writer, Ryan took after her paternal grandmother. It was the older woman who sent away to England for books, importing many of the great classics of English literature for her granddaughter to devour. “I wept over Dickens,” Ryan recalled. “I read and re-read and just gobbled up those stories. “To hear the voices of the authors ... it’s hard to explain but reading, reading, reading is so important.” The next piece fell into place when Ryan was introduced to creative writing at school. Photo and Story by BRENDA ANDERSON

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24 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

Eleanor Ryan

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She loved it, but it was an activity that found little encouragement at home. “My mother was not a reader. She felt (writing) was a lazy occupation.” That just meant young Eleanor had to learn to be creative off the page as well as on it. “I had the job of doing laundry. I’d go to the basement where there was a 25-watt bulb hanging on a string. “I took a pencil and a book and I’d sit and write while the old washing machine chugged. “Like a child who draws would be doodling, maybe nothing would come of it. But it wouldn’t matter, because you were doing it,” said Ryan. “It was all between me and my garbage can.”

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The important thing was — and remains — simply making the effort, she said. “I always had the feeling that if I wanted to do something, all I had to do was do it. “Doing whatever you feel comfortable and happy doing and the expression of oneself — that’s what keeps us alive and going, and I’m not talking physically,” said Ryan. “In my mind, when we talk, I’m there, I’m still the same person. That person didn’t get old. “There are still dreams and things to do and things to see. “And I always keep looking forward, because looking over your shoulder doesn’t do you any good. It just makes you older.”

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 25

Mark Peterse

he butcher, the baker and now the peace maker. Langley’s Mark Peterse is going from running the well-known Cedarbrook Bakery Deli Bistro to training to become a police officer. “I became an auxiliary constable with the Langley RCMP “I have always wanted to and it’s through that I found my true passion, to become a become a police officer, police officer,” said Peterse. He spoke with The Times one day before he left for Regina, where he will train at the since I was a kid. But for RCMP’s depot for the next six months. a long time it made more Peterse, 41, is a hulking six foot, five inches tall, 295 pounds, with a heart just as big. sense to be in the family From being a big part of the Cops for Cancer ride and business.” fundraising for it, to volunteering to keep Langley’s streets a little safer, Peterse is all about community. “It’s really a piece of cake to get involved in the community,” said Peterse. His parents opened up Cedarbrook Bakery 37 years ago in Brookswood. Peterse and his sister grew up in the bakery, getting to know all the loyal customers. “This place gave my sister and I our first jobs. The bakery put us both through school,” said Peterse. With an entrepreneural spirit, Peterse wanted to show his dad he could run the store alongside him. “For me, it’s always been about the relationships,” said Peterse. The bakery is still run by his mom and dad, but his dad has tried to let the kids do a little more. “We get to share big events and milestones in people’s lives from a baby’s first birthday to a 100th birthday.” He said it’s that small business feel, like Cheers, where everybody knows your name, coming to work each day. “I was in charge of organizing and categorizing items. So when I moved our customers’ favourite apple pie across the store, they weren’t happy. They feel like it’s their store and that’s a huge compliment to us.” Marv is the main baker at Cedarbrook and he’s been there 27 years. “He taught me how to make everything,” he said.

“

”

But he says his dad created all the recipes and knows them all by heart. While working at the family business, Peterse met his wife and now they have two daughters, 14 and 15. With his life deep in pies and cakes, and their signature giant cookies, Peterse still thought about policing. “I have always wanted to become a police officer, since I was a kid. But for a long time it made more sense to be in the family business.” Then, last year, he decided to attend an info session about the auxiliary program run out of the Langley RCMP. “I was talking to the people there and they were all from different professions with the exact same story as me. We all wanted to make a difference. I was hooked from that night,” he said. So Peterse threw himself into volunteering, doing foot patrols, working community events, doing traffic control at car crashes and basically being the eyes and ears of real police officers. He enjoyed volunteering each year at the RCMP Junior Cadet camp. “I thought it would scratch that itch but I wanted more,” Peterse said. “As an axuliary member you never get to see all of it. I wanted to see all of it.” So with his family’s blessing, he applied a year ago to become a Mountie. And he got the call, he was accepted into training. Now he is at depot, training six weeks on, with one week home for the next six months. His wife is having to step up the amount of hours she puts in at the bakery and it also means she is raising the kids by herself for a while. It also means his family could be transferred to anywhere in Canada. “It’s a huge sacrifice my family is making for me. But my wife said she wanted me to follow my dream,” he said. “The icing on the cake would be if I could come back to Langley, or at least the Lower Mainland.” Story by MONIQUE TAMMINGA

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26 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

Rachel Wisselink

here are many nights when Rachel Wisselink is woken mid-slumber by the familiar hum of her trusty pager.

Sometimes it’s a false alarm – usually indigestion or false contractions – but in many cases the buzzing indicates that a new baby is ready to be born. Even though it can make it difficult for the new mother to get her healthy quota of z’s, the 29-year-old Langley resident wouldn’t have it any other way. “ I love what I do,” said Wisselink, a registered midwife, who practices at Grove Midwifery in Walnut Grove with four other midwives. A quick glance at her office/lunchroom wall, peppered with an abundance of ‘thank you’ notes and baby photos, shows she’s been a busy lady. It also clear that for Wisselink, midwifery isn’t just a career path – it’s her calling. “ I have this opportunity to connect with women at such a pivotal time in their life and be a part of their birth experience... birth is such a miracle.” In B.C., registered midwives offer primary maternity care to healthy pregnant women and their newborn babies from early pregnancy, through labour and birth, until around eight weeks post-partum. While obstetricians are still the most common choice in Canada for expectant mothers, midwifery care is quickly becoming mainstream. Wisselink encourages women here in Langley to make that first appointment as early as possible. “As soon as you pee on an stick and get that positive sign, you should really give us a call,” she said, noting her practice is already booked for mid-June deliveries. “It (midwifery care) has become more and more popular in recent years. One person gets a midwife and then recommends them to their friends and their friends recommend it and so on...” Despite the increased popularity of midwifery care in recent years, there is still a significant chunk of the population that remains unaware midwifery care is even an option. “Many people think they have to pay for it, that we only do home births or that we’re really crunchy – I don’t think people really understand how it works within the medical model,” said Wisselink. In B.C., the BC Medical Services Plan covers the costs of registered midwives, and women with a low-risk pregnancy have the option of birthing at home or in a hospital. One might say Wisselink was destined to become a midwife. Growing up on a dairy farm in Smithers, B.C., she became familiar with the birds and the bees at a young age. In addition to helping her parents with her four younger siblings, there were plenty of babies being born of the four-legged variety. “I just loved the whole process of birth on the farm with all the cows and other animals,” noted Wisselink, whose

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Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | 27

mother – a former registered nurse — suggested she pursue a career in midwifery care. “When she said why don’t you try midwifery so you can do babies, birth and breastfeeding all the time? I was like sure, why not?” At just 18 and fresh out of high school, Wisselink was the youngest student admitted into UBC’s brand-new midwifery program. The intensive curriculum would take four years to complete and deliver plenty of hands-on practice – quite literally. Wisselink can’t exactly pinpoint the first delivery she assisted at – with more than 500 babies delivered in seven years, one can’t really blame her. Still, there are plenty of experiences etched in her memory. For her practicum, she delivered babies in three third world countries — Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan. The trip proved both educational and enlightening. “The women would come in to the hospital with a razor to cut the cord and some plastic to put under them in the delivery room – once the baby was born, we’d use the end of our rubber glove to tie off the cord.” While the baby business is 95 per cent happy, there is a dark side, she notes. “I haven’t been at a birth here in Canada where the baby has died, but have had patients who go on to have early miscarriages ... it’s hard, especially when you have this woman sobbing on the phone about her loss and there’s really nothing you can do or say to make her feel better.” A year and a half ago, Wisselink gave birth to her daughter, Anaya – an experience that has given her a deeper understanding of pregnancy and birth – one that goes beyond anything she learned in class or in the line of duty. “It didn’t go as planned – both Anaya and I had an infection and the decision was made for a Caesarean section, which wasn’t in my birth plan at all,” said Wisselink. “It was a very difficult time for us, but I think the story I have has helped me to connect with women on more of an emotional level. Even though I had attended hundreds of births over the years, I feel can really relate to what they’re going through... especially when things don’t go as planned.” It is Wisselink’s hope that each of her clients, no matter how tough the pregnancy or birth is, comes through that process feeling empowered. “Women are incredible and what they go through to bring another human being in the world and raise them is amazing. I hope that every mother, whether they are 14 or 94, knows that.” Story and photo by KRISTYL CLARK

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28 | Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | Our LANGLEY Our PEOPLE | Supplement to The Langley Times

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