1

vintage years:

YOU MAY not approve of
this, but P’'m hijacking ©
today’s column for my own
agenda because three days
‘from this writing Iam going
to kiss off my 77th year and

"plunge into my 78th.

- This is no big deal, I quite agree.
but an item presented in this newspa-

- per back in April — garnished by a

very touching photo of an elderly

lady getting a kiss from her 17th

grandchild — persuaded me to this
“self indulgence. The lady pictured .

was not just any old elderly lady,’

. this. was Hazel Gilmour, achieving’

_ the 100 mark: Bravos to her, coupled

" with best wishes for as many more |

“as the lady.cant ‘take. ,”

‘What was equally arresting w were, o

the observations that accompanied
. the photo,’ made by our provincial

“health officer, Dr. John Millar, about -

longevity, and particularly as applied
to us here on the North Shore.

: It has beep established, ‘you see,
by a recent survey, that residents of °
the North Shore can anticipate a life
<span 79 years, This i is very good,

i said the doctor. ~— the residents of

Richmond are the only group that

ean expect to better that as they've

- achieved a statutory span of a full- -

bodied 80. It’s all flat land out there, |

I suppose that helps.”
Anyway, the good doctor offered
“a variety of reasons for d1is presum-

- ably generous figure we're flaunting.
-.One thing, we don’t suffer from a lot -

°+of industrial pollution over here, our

incomes are generally sufficient and
* we're considered to be clean living,
- getting lots of exercise Tunning ‘up_
our hills. We also feel safe in our
“homes, our rate of criminal activity
vis dow. °

" out that our bracing environment
‘doesn't give us a license to smoke
and drink. All very well, this is good
“news if you're, say, 30...

Hf, like me, you're just coming on

.78 and you learn that 79 is the end

‘of the road, well, it’s a different
horse, eh? Because I'll tell you, I'm

"not ready yet.’

* There's still an awful lot to
remember and record so that all you
and I had will not just go up in day-

. dreams. What we’ve come through,

-and what we've seen and suffered

and applauded and endured, all the

. Stuff that made us the way we are, it

shouldn't just become hearsay, or

. discarded as old news, or fairy tales. .
A's really extremely improbable

that anyone will ever again see a

‘ month’s room and board for $25,

which is what I paid during my year

at Vancouver Normal School ia

1936, My stepfather sent a cheque
for $30 cach month, the extra five
bucks expected to stretch to cover
anything | should need beyond food
and shelter. But a movie was only a
dime, the street-car was hulf that as |
recall, you could buy a really big
gooey chocolate for a nickel.

The thing to do was to walk a lot
and let your hair grow,

| We all, at our age, have to face

“He added a rider to this, pointing ~ |

the possibility we won't last (lf that

nest birthday, of course, | was one of

those miserable children who gets
bilious all the time — 1 was always
having to be taken home where |
could be sick. And at age 12,
rheunsatic fever attacked me at a
time in medicine when the only
known treatment was bed-rest. Total
bed-rest. | missed a full year of

- school and all my friends moved on

to higher grades before me. It was
like changing towns.

However, I find the older I get
the tougher I get (which is usually
true of any cut of mieat)-so | survived
to go skiing cross-country, to teach
school in pathetic hamlets, to see the
day we'd give up Red Seal records
on the Victrola in favor of a radio
set. :

We went calmly about our busi-
ness as men went to the nioon and
people began to take for granted the
most complicated extensions of their

BD he SOLA EC RD LR TO

.

iories

lives in the shape of computers.

We're so rich in our experiences
and our memories that we can't just
let them evaporate, We have to hug
them to us, if only just to act as
buffers to the world we have now.

We were here when a fot of the
stulf around us hadn‘t been invented,
and we smile at each other occasion-
ally, thinking “we could have done
without a lot of it"

Some fellow on the television
was describing a new computer tech-
nique designed to “read brains.”
Spare me.

Whither privacy? We've got to
preserve it, one way or another, ::
Writing'may be. tiring but the tape
recorder gets everything, your laugh-
ter, your tender feelings, your indig-

nation, and you don’t have to worry
about punctuation.

Think it over. Your young people-
would be delighted, and broadened.
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750 - 17th STREET, WEST VANCOUVER, B.C, -V7V 3T3 .

tee OFFICE OF THE MAYOR -

“PROCLAMATION

“UNITY IN DIVERSITY WEEK”
1995 November 05 to 11.

Members of the Baha'i Community “of West:
Vancouver have brought to my attention the concept
of “Unity in Diversity”; and

“Unity in Diversity” is directed at building positive i
zelations among all Canadians, to strengthen equali-
ty forall people and to promote the sradication of all
forms of prejudice in Canada; and’: Togs

this means recognizing diversity in its broadest sense,
including race, gender, age, class or culture, differ
ences of ability or disabilicy, education or econamic
position; and

the Baha'is of West Vancouver: are actively working :
towards these ideals and to help prom
of “Unity in Diversity” among all che” people of ur. |
community;

1, Mark W, Sager, Mayor of The Corporation of the
District of West: Vancouver. do’ hereby. pro

1995 Noveinber 05 to iif as, “Unity in, Diversity .
“Week” in West Vancouver, and encourage ‘all citizens
to take advantage of this time’ to engage in pursuits
which.increase understanding and rhutuzal ; Apprecia~
tion of not anly the people of our. immediate om
munity, bur also those of the greater global on

WHEREAS

1995 August 30
(Dare) Mayor M.W. Sa
~ ~ UNITY IN DIVERSITY Week Is Suprortep By:

Lionsview Seniors Planning Society West Bay Hesentary School
Nosth Shore Home Support Caulfeitd Henientary School --
js Elementary Corporation of the «> "
David Mitchell, M.LA, City of Nerts, Vancouver.” ;
David Schreck, MLA, ok .

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Banal COMMUNITY OF WEST VANCOUVER.

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Family Services of the North Shore .
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