Dear Society Friends,
It is with great sadness that if you are not already aware I share with you that Paul “Skip” Hayden passed away at home on Tuesday, July 13, 2010.
He had ALS.
We have been informed that there will be no public service just a small one for family.
Skip was the Aquatic Director for the City of Camrose from 1980 – 2004 and a long standing Lifesaving Society Volunteer up until his passing.
The Society would love to work with those who knew Skip as we will be doing a legacy story for Society members and we would be pleased to have you share your memories of Skip.
I have tried to capture contacts from across the country who may have know Skip but please feel free to share with the many others who may have know and worked/volunteered with Skip over the years.
Take care,
Barb
Barbara Kusyanto
Chief Administrative Officer
Lifesaving Society Alberta & Northwest Territories
11759 Groat Road | Edmonton, AB | T5M 3K6 | Canada
Tel: 780 415 1755 | Fax: 780 427 9334
E-mail: barbk@lifesaving.org | Web: www.lifesaving.org
Gary McPherson, advocate for disabled people, dead at 63.
EDMONTON — Celebrated advocate for disabled people and former candidate for PC party leadership Gary McPherson died on Saturday May 8.
McPherson, 63, beat polio after living more than half of his life in the University of Alberta Hospital.
The Edson-born man was diagnosed with polio at the age of nine, leaving him paralyzed and unable to breathe.
While living in the hospital, McPherson slowly weaned himself off a daytime respirator, though he still used one at night, and regained partial use of his left hand and leg.
As he grew stronger, the sports enthusiast began coaching a hospital slo-pitch team.
McPherson became an advocate for disabled people in sports, serving as president of the Edmonton Paralympic Sports Association, and later, president of the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association.
He also spent eight years as the general manager of the Alberta Northern Lights Wheelchair Basketball team.
McPherson moved out of the hospital and into his own home in 1989.
But his political career began much earlier, in 1971, when he convinced his younger brother to push him from the U of A hospital to Don Getty’s campaign office south of the university.
Within days he was named the campaign’s office manager.
He remained close to Getty, who later named him to the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, a committee he chaired for 10 years.
McPherson earned many titles in his life.
He worked as chairman of the Steadward Centre for Personal and Physical Achievement and as vice-chairman of the Alberta Paraplegic Foundation.
He received the Order of Canada and the Alberta Order of Excellence.
He also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the U of A and was an adjunct professor in the school’s Department of Physical Education and Sport Studies.
In 2006, McPherson ran for leadership of the governing PC party.
Running in his first political campaign, he never really had a shot against better known and better funded candidates such as Jim Dinning and Ed Stelmach.
But he impressed nearly everyone and acted as the party’s conscience, warning them about complacency.
“Dr. Gary McPherson was an amazing Albertan with a unique courage and commitment to this province,” Premier Ed Stelmach said in a statement Saturday.
“He inspired all of us with his dedication and leadership as a tireless advocate for those who face daily challenges in this life.”
Stelmach added that he considered McPherson a dear friend.
“On behalf of all Albertans, I offer our most heartfelt sympathy to his family. Their loss is Alberta’s loss as well,” Stelmach said.
wow I had to actually check if this was for real…
McDonald’s claims that there is not enough beef in Canada to support their restaurants. Well, we know that is not so. Our opinion is they are looking to save money at our expense. The sad thing of it is that the people of Canada are the ones who made McDonald’s successful in the first place, but we are not good enough to provide beef.
We personally are no longer eating at McDonald’s, which I am sure does not make an impact, but if we pass this around maybe there will be an impact felt.
Please pass it on. Just to add a note:
All Canadians that sell cattle at a livestock auction barn have to sign a paper stating that we do NOT EVER feed our cattle any part of another animal. South Americans are not required to do this as of yet.
McDonald’s has announced that they are going to start importing much of their beef from South America . The problem is that South Americans aren’t under the same regulations as Canadian beef producers, and the regulations they have are loosely controlled.
They can spray numerous pesticides on their pastures that have been banned here at home because of residues found in the beef. They can also use various hormones and growth regulators that we can’t. The Canadian public needs to be aware of this problem and that they may be putting themselves at risk from now on by eating at good old McDonald’s.
Canadian ranchers raise the highest quality beef in the world and this is what Canadians deserve to eat. Not beef from countries where quality is loosely controlled. Therefore, I am proposing a boycott of McDonald’s until they see the light.
I’m sorry but everything is not always about the bottom line, and when it comes to jeopardizing my family’s health, that is where I draw the line.
I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) … and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) … and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!
I’ll bet you didn’t think you and I had that much potential, did you? Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.
Larry Latam
Sylvia Van Oene R.N.
Occupational Health Services (HSD)
XL Foods Inc.
Lakeside Packers Brooks, AB.
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
By Edgar A. Guest
You know that you’re gay… [R-Rated]
Gay Education – pretty old school, but…
- Well, aren’t we just a ray of fucking sunshine?
- Not the brightest crayon in the box now, are we?
- Do I look like a fucking people person?
- This isn’t an office. It’s Hell with fluorescent lighting.
- I pretend to work. They pretend to pay me.
- You! Off my planet!!
- Practice random acts of intelligence, and a senseless act of self-control.
- I like cats too. Let’s exchange recipes.
- Did the aliens forget to remove your anal probe?
- And your cry-baby whiny-assed opinion would be…?
- How many times do I have to flush before you go away?
- Aw, did I step on your poor little bitty ego?
- How do I set a laser printer to stun?
- I’m not tense, just terribly, terribly alert.
- When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.
- Earth is full, go home!