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GIBBONS m@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2006-06-21 published
ANDERSON, Mina and Peter - Happy 65th Anniversary
June 21st, 2006
From their birthplace in Edinburgh, Scotland to the beautiful Georgian Bay. They both have enjoyed a lot of exciting times together. Mina being part of the musical world as a singer and Peter with the Boy's Brigade. Both being volunteers for different organizations through the years. May you have many more years together.
- Love from your extended family, Sarah and Ron GIBBONS, Cathy and Ron BROWN and Family, Ron and Corinna GIBBONS and Family and David and Jennifer GIBBONS and Family, Paul and Dorothy PARR (Scotland).
Page B4

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GIBBONS m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2003-07-26 published
Mike And Mary Ann GIBBONS
Celebrating 40 Years Together - August 10, 2003
Happy Anniversy “Nanny and Gramps &rdquo
Love of love: Hannah, J.T. and family.

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GIBBONS m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-10-01 published
ALONZO, Darryl and Erin (née ROBOTHAM) - 1st Anniversary
Darryl and Erin (née ROBOTHAM) ALONZO were married at New Saint James Presbyterian Church, London on October 2, 2004. Parents of the couple are Dave and Luanne ROBOTHAM of Grand Bend and Randy and Brenda ALONZO of Brantford. Special thanks to the wonderful parents, wedding party, Dave WEAVER and Mr. GIBBONS for their love and support in making the day so special. Thank you also to all of the family and Friends who were able to share in the day and make it so memorable.

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GIBBS m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-07-21 published
GIBBS, Carol and Dave - 25th Anniversary
Congratulations On Your 25th Anniversary Mom and Dad. Have A Fabulous Vacation And a Great Birthday Dad! Love Mike and Chelsey

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GIBBS m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-07-26 published
GIBBS / RUSSELL -- Engagement
Steve GIBBS and Jaime RUSSELL. Love your family

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GIBSON m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2003-03-16 published
Happy 60th Anniversary, Dorothy and Birrell GIBSON
March 20, 1943
Love and Best Wishes
Cheryl and Bill, Yvonne, Dave and Linda, Paul and Mary; grandchildren and great-grandchildren

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GIBSON m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-10-15 published
CHITTENDEN / HOWELL
Trent and Julie were united in marriage on July 11, 2005 in Koh Samui, Thailand. Julie is the daughter of Martin and Jan CHITTENDEN of Lucan. Trent is the son of Phyllis HOWELL- GIBSON and Glowinn GIBSON of Sault Ste. Marie and Walter and Mary HOWELL of Peterborough. Best wishes and love from your family.

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GIBSON m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-10-14 published
GIBSON, Art and Helen - Happy 60th Anniversary
October 14, 2006 Happy 60th Anniversary from Ron and Kate, Dave and Min, Lynne and Terry, Kate and Chris and your grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. May you have many more celebrations together.

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GIBSON m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-11-04 published
GIBSON / HALL -- Wedding Announcement
Linda and Dave GIBSON and Glenna and Bill HALL happily announce the wedding of their children, Erin GIBSON and Matthew HALL, on Saturday, September 23, 2006 in London, Ontario. Congratulations and best wishes for a long and happy life together. Live, Laugh, Dream… Love

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-01-01 published
Wendy MANGOFF and Enzo DIMATTEO -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM, Saturday,▼ January 1, 2005 - Page M5
Sometimes the vagaries of circumstance make life a raw deal, but you have to play the cards you're dealt. Wendy Eliza MANGOFF's health, finances and six-year career in office administration were devastated in 1997 by a driver running a red light at Coxwell and Dundas. "I spent 2½ years in physio and am still constantly in some sort of pain," she says.
In 1999, her life was still in tatters, and incredibly, her car was struck again: same intersection, same attending policeman, same result. "It aggravated my earlier injuries and it took another year of physio to recover. I think [fate] was telling me I had to leave my relationship and start life over," she says, explaining her decision to end an unsatisfying 10-year romance she was involved in.
Her self-vindication began with yoga. "It made me believe in myself again. I took a one-year course and became a certified instructor," she says. "It is a joy teaching because when people are hurt it helps them physically and emotionally."
In spite of the prognosis that her multiple injuries would prevent her from holding down a job, the once-adept skier and rock climber began an inexorable return to the working world by taking a part-time position as a receptionist at NOW magazine. By November, 2000, she was dating maverick NOW writer Enzo DIMATTEO, although it was soon apparent their ambiguous emotions were mired in problems, not passion.
"Her ex was still on the scene, even though she didn't want to be in touch with him. I didn't want to be in the middle," Mr. DIMATTEO says. "I felt there was something missing, unattainable, and distant about her. We weren't going anywhere."
The relationship petered out, "but on a good note," Ms. MANGOFF says. "I was still healing, and we were in two different states of mind."
In April, 2002, a nervous Mr. DIMATTEO responded by e-mail to her weekly invitation to a staff yoga session. "There are a lot of things I want to tell you but I don't want to say them in an e-mail," he wrote.
"I decided to seize the moment," he says. "It was one of the few times I allowed emotion to determine what I was going to do, as opposed to letting reason talk me out of it. It was liberating."
They had dinner soon after, and their conversation led Ms. MANGOFF to put aside reservations about their connection. "He was different, and I walked out of there happy and I don't think we ever stopped seeing each other after that," she says.
Their effervescence was stilled when, three months later, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She implored Mr. DIMATTEO to break it off and avoid the uncertainty that lay ahead. Instead, he proved a bulwark. "He stuck by me every single day, and I knew at that point in time if anyone can be with me now, he'll be with me forever," she says.
For the indefatigable Ms. MANGOFF and the once recalcitrant Mr. DIMATTEO, an August, 2002, motor trip to the Maritimes with a jog to Bethel, Maine, proved incandescent as they mused on their future and reflected on their past. He notes, "The trip was a big deal for Wendy. She felt after 10 days in close proximity, if we could come back and say we had a great time, there was something there."
In March, 2004, they returned to Bethel, where they had first declared their love. Poised on a rugged Appalachian mountain peak, he knelt and offered an engagement ring, replacing the promise ring she had worn.
The wedding ceremony took place at the elegant Edwardian Ontario Heritage Centre on September 4, with Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON officiating.
"For Wendy, the wedding was a spiritual redemption, her dad walking her up the aisle, her sister maid of honour, and her confidence in the commitment," the bridegroom says.
Still working at NOW magazine, Mrs. DIMATTEO, 32, is a senior credit co-coordinator and Mr. DIMATTEO, 41, is a news editor. Never realizing his childhood dream of changing our world as a foreign correspondent, he did, however, have an impact on his bride's world.
"When I think of all the pain and suffering I have gone through, and still at times go through, the universe has given me Enzo to hold onto and I will not let go," she says. "We will be married forever, with a family."

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-02-05 published
Amy OICLES and Ronald GOSLING -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM, Saturday,▲▼ February 5, 2005 - Page M6
When planning a wedding, some couples want frothy and romantic. Others go for the ultimate in elegance, fun or fantasy. Ronald James GOSLING and Amy Lynn OICLES sought a singular event that reflected their adventuresome, roving spirits.
After all, Mr. GOSLING, a Toronto musician, had spent months over the years touring the United States with his band, Weirdstone, and as a solo artist. Ms. OICLES, meanwhile, ventured farther afield, making forays from her native San Francisco to Alaska, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal and Thailand, where she taught English.
So theirs was a marriage on the move -- on a tour bus.
"Everyone has a different idea about what is romantic, but we wanted the unusual," Mr. GOSLING says.
"Ron wanted to get married in motion because we both wandered around so much," Ms. OICLES, 34, adds, "and we have this dream of crossing the U.S. in a Winnebago."
On the afternoon of January 23, a 40-foot luxury Canada Coach pulled up to their apartment in the Bathurst and St. Clair neighbourhood. Early arrivals decorated the chapel on wheels, cramming in food, drink, the cake and a slew of musical instruments.
The bride and groom, outfitted respectively in traditional white and a $28 thrift-store suit, boarded the bus, which then navigated snowy Toronto streets to collect Friends and family from homes and hotels.
"I was nervous for a fair chunk of it," Mr. GOSLING, 37, says. "I'd never been married before, and the storage bins hit my head, but the danger just amplified the wedding."
With officiant Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON balancing the bumps and curves, the "I do's" took place somewhere between Main and Danforth, and Greenwood and Gerrard. Passengers defied double-digit negative temperatures to tour key Toronto attractions -- the Distillery District, Royal Ontario Museum and the C.N. Tower -- as onlookers rubbernecked the wedding assemblage. At Harbourfront, the celebrants feted the coincidental birthday of the bridegroom's father with sparklers. Aboard the bus, seven guitarists and a toy keyboard that sounded like a cathedral organ heightened the festivities.
Six hours later, the tour ended at the couple's apartment, where Mr. GOSLING's friend Howard BERTOLO tickled the ivories into the night.
The hardy entourage braved a blizzard the next afternoon to hit the dance floor at the Chick'n'deli, where the groom's father, jazz trombonist Len GOSLING, wound up the group with his iconic Climax Jazz Band, a fixture there since it opened in 1983.
The wedding's rolling venue was particularly appropriate since Ms. OICLES actually worked as a tour-bus driver in San Francisco in 1996 during one of her returns from her international wanderings. "I love driving people around," she says. "But there was a lot of pressure. If anything goes wrong, it is always the driver's fault."
For seven years, she indulged her nomadic urge after graduating in 1993 from the University of California in Santa Barbara.
She hung up her backpack to study psychology at San Francisco State University, and by 2003 she was working in the public-school system while also tutoring a student with Asperger's syndrome.
It was during this sojourn home that she met Mr. GOSLING on April Fool's Day, 2003, in a bar in Fairfax, California, where he was playing guitar.
"She struck me as terrific," he says, "and we made a date for the next day."
Several months of sun, surf and sparks made the two a pair. "Ron is incredibly funny. His music, sense of adventure and high level of honesty make him unusual," she says.
Mr. GOSLING plaintively admitted being homesick and missing snow, however, just when she was ready for the road again. "I was itching to get out of the Bay Area," Ms. OICLES says. "It had become expensive and everyone was working with no time to relax."
With a stop at the Grand Canyon, the duo drove across the country, pulling into Toronto in August.
Mr. GOSLING, who frequently took on work as a house painter ("for the bread part"), is now the superintendent in the couple's upscale apartment building. When not nursing its cranky boiler, he practises: guitar, piano and trumpet. "I'm kind of a Jack of many [instruments], but the bass is my forte. I play on demos or do a gig if someone needs a sub. I just love music."
Despite the new responsibilities, the couple's travels continue, as they cross the border every few months to make sure Ms. OICLES stays on the right side of Canada's immigration laws.
"We go for weekends in Buffalo and Niagara Falls," Ms. GOSLING says. "It is really ridiculous, but we do what we can to stay legal."

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-03-26 published
Robin LOCKHART and Daniel MARKS -- Match
By Judith Tenenbaum, Saturday, March 26, 2005, Page M4
New Year's Eve is traditionally an opportunity for new beginnings, and on this most recent one Robin Elizabeth LOCKHART and Daniel Stewart MARKS made life-altering resolutions.
They were brief: I do. I do.
Neither suspected they would be making such heartfelt utterances when they first met in January of 2003.
Mr. MARKS had strolled into Style Garage, a custom furniture store on Queen Street West where Ms. LOCKHART was working at the time, and didn't make much of an impression. Ms. LOCKHART, who'd trained at the International Academy of Design, viewed the Wednesday afternoon walk-in client a little skeptically. "I figured he was either unemployed or independently wealthy," she says.
However, when Mr. MARKS, president of Stonehouse Capital, inquired about design services for his Kensington Market loft, she thawed and offered her card.
"I had a very small need that rapidly grew," he chuckles.
The two became Friends, and initially, at least, their relationship revolved around design.
"I was a single man about town, and Robin was providing all-round style advice," Mr. MARKS says. Ms. LOCKHART's expertise had extended to "GQ-ing" his wardrobe, laughs the divorced father of two. "She put me in the position to be a most eligible bachelor."
"We developed a great working relationship and Friendship," says Ms. LOCKHART, now 30. Decorating can be stressful at the best of times, she says, but Dan "has a beautiful attitude toward everything -- really calm and easy. He'd step back and say, okay, how shall we deal with the problem?"
After a year, their collaborative efforts culminated in a trip to the Bau-Xi Gallery on Dundas Street West. Both passionate about art, they were there to select the final touch for his loft: art to fill an 18-foot wall.
"We were putting together a collection of pieces, dragging around paintings, having a great time, excited about the whole process," she says. Then, suddenly, over a painting, "eyes locked, sparks flew and the energy shifted."
By February, 2004, business meetings had morphed into candlelight and wine. "We took things slowly, as I had just ended a long-term relationship," Ms. LOCKHART recalls. But by early summer their palettes had blended. "We laughed at the fact that it had all started at the gallery, and that I had turned him into exactly what I was looking for."
Mr. MARKS, now 39, compares the gorgeous Ms. LOCKHART to his art collection: "It's about being colourful and alive. I call it zaa, and she's just got it!"
That August, secure in her own business, Robin Lockhart Design, and feeling "a sense of trust," Ms. LOCKHART took the plunge and purchased a Muskoka cottage on Lake Vernon with Mr. MARKS.
"We do boating, tubing, anything you can do behind a boat," he says, "and lots of wine on the dock ranks right up there."
Ms. LOCKHART envisions a further creative outlet: "We're converting the garage to a playhouse (for Mr. MARKS's children,) building a bunkhouse and raising the roof.
"The children are wild about the cottage, have huge grins whenever we say we're taking them up, and are looking forward to spending their summers there."
The next month, wending their way through Paris and Italy and "falling more and more in love," recalls Ms. LOCKHART, they lit on the Amalfi coast in a tiny town near Positano. Mr. MARKS had been toting a ring, hidden in such disparate places as his deodorant and socks. "On a beautiful terrace overlooking the sea, I pulled out the ring," he says, "and said, 'Here's a question for you, how would you like to marry me?' "
The letterhead inviting guests to their New Year's celebration was inspired by the purple and blue art pieces that had brought them together. The venue was the gallery where the pair had felt the first blush of romance. Owner Tien HUANG allowed the couple to hang gallery works that referenced their personal collection: luminescent pieces by Robert Marchessault, punchy squares by Tom Burrows, abstracts by Don Jarvis, and impressionist renderings by Darlene Cole. An éclat of colour bounced off the walls, contrasting with white decorations. "It was a relatively intimate affair, about 85, and with Robin's sense of design everything sparkled," Mr. HUANG says.
At 9 p.m. on December 31, flanked by bridesmaids in varying shades of purple and groomsmen sporting purple and blue ties, the glamorous bride appeared in an atypical sleek Vera Wang creation. Rounding out the wedding party were Mr. MARKS's children -- Sarah, 7, as maid of honour and Ryan, 8, as best man -- and two nieces who were flower girls. The couple then recited personal vows before officiant Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON.
"By midnight the party was bumping," Ms. LOCKHART MARKS says. "Friends said it was the best New Year's Eve they had ever had."

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-04-23 published
Amy WRIGHT and Wright STAINES -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM, Saturday,▲▼ April 23, 2005, Page M4
The careers of choreographer Amy Elizabeth WRIGHT and lighting designer Wright Harold STAINES intersected on the yellow brick road in a production of The Wizard of Oz at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario As in that tale, the captivated couple would soon fly over their rainbow, meet the wicked witch of bureaucratic delay and recognize they had the power to control their destiny.
But first, the tornado of fate had to throw them together.
Technically speaking, that happened in December, 2002, during the Wizard of Oz run, but the two didn't actually connect until later. They were too busy concentrating on the demands of their work, which has involved a variety of high-profile celebrities. She has worked with stars that range from Peter O'Toole and Jeremy Irons to Hilary Duff and Woody Harrelson. He has worked with some of the biggest names on Canadian stage.
The two didn't notice each other until April, 2003, during a production of The Music Man at the Grand, when they bumped into each other in the theatre's elevator. Sparks flew, but the pair tried to keep their mutual attraction quiet. Savvy members of the cast soon noticed their ardent glances, however, as Ms. WRIGHT cozied up to the lighting table.
"Wright was the first person to encourage me to share my feelings, and he's funny," she says. "He's the first guy I really trust and can be myself with 100 per cent, and he'll still love me at the end of the day. Even if I argue with Wright, it's still okay."
The beguiled Mr. STAINES calls her "bright and shiny like a penny, gregarious and vivacious."
By December, he proposed. Mr. STAINES had been married once before, and his divorce papers hadn't been finalized. But with career obligations forcing them to spend much time apart, he says he decided "to risk marriage again because I can't give her up, and if I didn't, somebody else would get her."
He was familiar with life on the move, working as a roadie doing lighting design for rock and roll bands before settling into a long-term position at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and later in his current position as head of lighting design at the Grand Theatre. At 44, he now sticks close to London, while Ms. WRIGHT has a working life that's more peripatetic.
Now 33, she was inspired by a workshop at the University of Western Ontario and "followed her dream as a dancer," enrolling at the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto. A part-time stint with Stephanie GARIN, casting director for such Toronto productions as Mamma Mia and Rent, led to a modest choreography assignment where her prodigious talent soon became apparent. In addition to many live-theatre productions, she has choreographed two dozen movie and television features, from 1999's Superstar to the coming The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.
While working on the latter, she taught Woody Harrelson and Julianne Moore the foxtrot. "I ended up teaching Woody, his wife, and two girls how to tap dance at their house after the shoot," she says.
Their wedding was scheduled for August of 2004, but a stray marriage certificate put a glitch in Mr. STAINES's divorce proceedings and their plans appeared to be unravelling. "I was having a breakdown, saying, 'Oh my God, we can't get married,' Ms. WRIGHT says. "I was so upset, and devastated that I was going to call off the wedding."
Officiant Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON, however, proposed a solution: a commitment ceremony. The idea thrilled the couple. "We decided because we had come so far with our wedding plans we would go with it," Ms. WRIGHT says, "and if the paperwork arrived in time to do it legally, fine. If it didn't, we'd have the most important part, committing and saying we love each other."
The ceremony took place on August 23, an off-night Monday for their theatre colleagues, on a sunset cruise in Toronto Harbour aboard the chartered yacht Yankee Lady III. The onboard reception for 110 guests was a summery barbecue, enlivened with red and white gingham and lantern accents. Later, as the vessel headed to shore, a coincidental pyrotechnic display at the Canadian National Exhibition lit up the sky, heralding the occasion.
Almost six months later, the tardy divorce papers finally in hand, the couple staged the legally prescribed finale on Valentine's Day, exactly 35 years after the bride's parents were wed, in a Rosedale home. The principals, minister, vows and wedding dress were a repeat performance. Graham COFFING, who appeared in the musical Bat Boy, stood for the bride, and Jenny KENT witnessed for her brother, the bridegroom. "Who gets to wear their wedding dress twice?" enthuses the bride, delighted with her new name, Mrs. Wright STAINES. " Two Wrights are too confusing."
As for others who find themselves on a tortuous path of marital red tape, the bridegroom has this advice: "Don't wait for love. If it's important to you, just have a commitment ceremony, and finish the legalities later."

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-08-06 published
Lisa PIJUAN and David NOMURA -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM, Saturday,▲▼ August▼ 6, 2005, Page M4
It took a couple of encounters with David Robert NOMURA, orchestrated by his sister Catherine, to shift Lisa Susan PIJUAN's view of him from askance to starry-eyed. Of their first meeting at a party in 2002 she recalls, "I thought he was pretty cute, but gay. He and two Friends wore red shirts and I was obnoxious, pretty loud, a party girl and didn't see him again for a few months until his sister invited me to the Rivoli, saying, 'By the way, my brother is coming.' "
"This is great," Ms. PIJUAN lamented at the time. "The guy is gay and can't stand me." However, she was wrong on both counts.
Charmed by her candour, Mr. NOMURA spent the next 24 hours endearing himself to her, confessing that he had just ended a 10-year relationship, was emotionally bankrupt, committed to remaining single for a year, and needed time to clear his head.
Meanwhile, Ms. PIJUAN could attest to her own series of heartbreaks, but had come to the realization that with her cats, books and support of Friends and family, she was strong enough to live alone and remain single. Yet, determined to avoid her pattern of romantic disasters, she had established protective boundaries: "I won't say I love you for four months, will only see you twice a week, won't move in for a year, or marry for two." So she wished Mr. NOMURA luck, and, convinced that she'd never see him again, countered, "You don't have to be alone to heal," and they parted.
Unexpectedly, he e-mailed the next day. "I made up my mind to break my commitment to myself," he laughs. The pair began dating, their respective concerns flying with a flutter.
A turning point came two months later in August, 2003, before a kayaking trip at a friend's cottage near Georgian Bay. "I drove in the dark, and when I saw my sister's car I knew Lisa was there. My heart tingled, and flooded with joy and anticipation," he remembers.
Their shared love of the outdoors -- hers visual, his practical -- would collide a few months later on a madcap escapade to Algonquin Park. His sister had arranged for five veterans and novice Ms. PIJUAN to trek and canoe to an isolated cabin on Thanksgiving. Dave had the canoe and there were about nine kilometres of portaging and canoeing," Ms. PIJUAN recalls.
Mr. NOMURA, an experienced camper, admits, "It was the most extreme trip I'd been on."
When Ms. PIJUAN stumbled and hurt her tailbone, the other five decided to split up temporarily. Some searched for the cabin, and others retrieved the canoes. Alone, Ms. PIJUAN heard the howling of wolves across the water. Thankfully, the wolves ignored her, her companions returned, and they paddled to the cabin -- only to find it occupied by a gun-toting squatter. The stranger refused to leave but affably shared stories and their Thanksgiving dinner, cheerfully departing the next morning in his pickup. "We later found out we were trying to negotiate with Greg SARAZIN, chief Algonquin land-claims negotiator since 1991, to get out," laughs Mr. NOMURA.
Ms. PIJUAN, a graduate of the now-defunct School of Physical Theatre, formed GirlCanCreate and is currently working on the puppet production The Zoe Show, which began as part of the Groundswell Playwright Unit with Nightwood Theatre in Toronto. She also curates RED, a night of live performance integrating dance, puppetry, music and film, which will again be performed next Wednesday at the Lula Lounge.
Mr. NOMURA's passion for photography was rekindled last summer when the couple explored Newfoundland. This May, he started a one-year sabbatical from his software career to test that hypothesis.
Meanwhile, an overwhelmed, stressed Ms. PIJUAN was organizing her October, 2004, opening of RED without funding when she asked Mr. NOMURA, " What am I doing? This is insane!" Suddenly, he tapped her on the shoulder and proposed. She tearfully accepted, but, always unconventional, insisted, "Why am I supposed to get a ring with a diamond? I'm about equality and togetherness." Soon, the two displayed matching engagement bands.
The wedding was scheduled for Toronto's Algonquin Island and the date was destined to be June 25, close to the summer solstice. It was two years and five days since their first date. She and her mother were born on the 25th and their phone number ended in 0025.
An entourage of 50 disembarked the ferry to be greeted by the harmonies of flamenco guitarist Nicholas Hernandez, violinist Chris Church and pennywhistle player Dan Restivo, who synthesized the bride's Spanish and the bridegroom's Japanese/Celtic heritage. As tree fluff fell like magical summer snow, the assemblage, led by two 13-foot puppets from the Clay and Paper production where the bride had starred as Lilith, and resembling the couple, serpentined to the lawn of the island clubhouse. There beneath Noah Kenneally's canopy, the bride, 33, in a twenties-vibe chantilly lace Lowen Pope creation and the bridegroom, 35, in a sixties Mandarin-collared black suit, exchanged personal vows in front of Reverend Sarah BUNNET- GIBSON. Later, they danced to The Rainbow Connection, popularized by Kermit the Frog.
In lieu of a honeymoon, the PIJUAN- NOMURAs flew to Prague to help create a puppet version of Carmen to be performed at the world's largest street theatre festival in Austria. They are living the vows they exchanged from Walt Whitman's Song of the Open Road: "Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?"

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-08-13 published
Nicholle BAKER and John RUSSELL -- Match
By Judith TENENBAUM, Saturday,▲ August▲ 13, 2005, Page M6
As he was being gurneyed into surgery for a liver transplant in 1998, John Charles RUSSELL smiled at his tearful family.
After being ill for years, Mr. RUSSELL was philosophical about the procedure. "I was weeks away from dying. I'd either make it or I wouldn't; live or die. I finally had an opportunity to have a life and was ecstatic," he said.
Drained of his vitality, he had succumbed to the ravages of hepatitis C when he received the call from the University Health Network, Toronto General. After the operation, he was told that his liver had been so cirrhotic that it actually fell apart.
As he convalesced, his heart was captivated by the "warmth in the eyes" of Nicholle Elizabeth Anne BAKER, a nurse on the transplant team. "She was cute, and had a wholesome look, someone I could see myself with, but at the time we were both in relationships," he says.
His condition required ambulatory visits during which the pair maintained a rapport, and as he recuperated, Mr. RUSSELL would often sneak peeks at Ms. BAKER working in her hospital office. In March, 2004, now unattached, he sent out his new e-mail address and an immediate mouse click from Ms. BAKER queried his well-being. "I looked down at my desk, saw a pair of Colorado Avalanche tickets, knew she liked hockey, and asked if she'd go."
Emotionally fragile after a past relationship, and circumspect about dating a former patient, she accepted but kept it platonic by meeting him at the game. Despite living only blocks from the Air Canada Centre, he optimistically parked his car there, and persuaded Ms. BAKER to accept a lift to the Oakville GO station.
"As we sang along with the radio, I felt strange. Those little endorphins were going off. When we said good night, I had butterflies flying around in my stomach," he recalls.
Euphoric, and contemplating a second date, he then floored it to Whitby, where his Friends were playing a rock 'n' roll gig. Noting his early arrival, they concluded, "The date must have sucked," but he exclaimed, "It was the best I ever had."
Ecstasy turned to agony when the following Friday he read her e-mail. The decorous Ms. BAKER had decided that dating a former patient mandated a velvet brush-off. "If I were in a different role.... I don't want to be construed as hurting you in any way.... you are a wonderful person," she wrote.
Mr. RUSSELL, who had been a successful developer before his illness, was not ready to capitulate and fired off an impassioned response: "I'll go to another doctor. I'll switch to the transplant unit in London."
"I poured my heart into it," he recalls, pleading, "It's about taking a chance in life. Whatever happens, happens."
At the time, Ms. BAKER felt defined by her snappy convertible, home in Oakville, her decision to adopt two girls if still single at 35, and her career as a transplant co-ordinator. Yet, in a rare display of vulnerability, she shared his poignant e-mail with colleagues, and her mother, who, all moved to tears, urged her to follow her heart. Her mother's proviso to the gourmet cook: "If you're not quite certain, don't impress him; just have him over and order pizza."
On their second date at her home with the hockey game as a backdrop, Mr. RUSSELL could hardly contain himself. "I wanted Nicholle to know everything there was to know about me, the good, the bad and the ugly. I gave it all to her in three hours, this is who I am and I'm not changing," says Mr. RUSSELL, now 45, who had emerged from a divorce and had no children.
Ms. BAKER was left without doubts and shortly took him to meet her mother. He wheeled up in a silver-bullet muscle car. Surreptitiously, with maternal concern, she noted down his licence-plate number but now asserts, "I love him because he makes my daughter's spirit soar."
It was Oakville's historic lighthouse at the end of the pier that illuminated the couple's commitment in July, 2004, only a few months after their first date. In response to Ms. BAKER's "I love you," Mr. RUSSELL posed, Does that mean you'll love me forever?" He then dropped to one knee and proffered a ring.
Family and Friends were thrilled although Mr. RUSSELL could not resist self-parody. "Nicholle dated academics who went to the U of T. I went to the University of the Street. My Friends think something's wrong with her if she's with me, and suggest she check her eyes," he laughs, but admits he's redefined his life.
A recent honours graduate in Human Service Counselling and winner of the Award of Excellence from George Brown College, he now plans to work with addicted youth.
Ms. BAKER, now 33, left the transplant unit, moving to Public Health as a high-school liaison in injury, violence and substance-abuse prevention for Halton Region. But with a master of science in nursing focused on transplant hepatology, she stays apprised of progress in the field. "I changed so that should anything happen to John I could be at his side," she says. "And living and working in the same community has made me more politically active, and socially aware."
On June 25, candles flickered to a string-quartet rendition of Over the Rainbow at the Carlu. The bride in a silk blush Justina McCaffrey gown, clasping white peonies, was escorted partly down the aisle by her father, and then led by her stepfather to the Rev. Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON, where the couple exchanged personal vows.
"It's been like a fairy tale," Mr. RUSSELL says. "I was broken down and sick, fortunate enough to receive a transplant, and Nicholle happened to be there. I thought I knew what love was, but never did until now."
A thankful new Mrs. RUSSELL urges readers to visit the Trillium Gift of Life Network at http: //www.giftoflife.on.ca.
I've already signed up to donate. But then, I could hardly say no. Mr. RUSSELL is my new son-in-law.

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-01-21 published
Kelly Lynn Irene BELBIN and Lee Garrett Patrick MYSKA -- Match:
By Judith Tenenbaum, Saturday, January 21, 2006, Page M4
A mutual friend, convinced that Kelly BELBIN and Lee MYSKA would hit it off, shaved a few years from his age, added several to hers and persuaded the pair to meet in February, 2002.
The ploy didn't entirely work -- "I think he thought I was younger than I was supposed to be," recalls Ms. BELBIN, now 28 -- but intrigued by his conversation, she gave him her number, which led to dinner and a movie.
The pair were soon an item. Although their lives meshed with a plethora of common interests, a semi-generational gap occasionally reared its head. Mr. MYSKA, now 41, is a devotee of seventies and eighties television. "It was funny she didn't know anything about shows I'd watched when I was younger: Sanford and Son, The Rockford Files or Bob Newhart," he says. However, shared evenings watching cable enhanced her appreciation for these small-screen classics.
Still, Ms. BELBIN wasn't sure how serious he was -- until he introduced her to his now 89-year-old grandmother. At their first meeting, "she was quiet, listening to what I had to say," Ms. BELBIN recalls, "but the next time, she asked my religious background and how I grew up." For the future bride and groom, both from close-knit families, it was an important sign.
Ms. BELBIN felt mutual respect and compromise bridged their difference in age. "At parties, I was nervous. I didn't know his Friends, and they'd talk about their kids and the old days," she says. Yet she fondly notes that Mr. MYSKA encouraged her to tread her own path. "I think it's understanding you are in different spots in your life," she says. "My Friends still like to go to clubs, and Lee's done that."
Earlier, work at a summer camp for adults with disabilities had Ms. BELBIN abandon two years of psychology at Trent University to enroll in the development services program at Humber College. That led to her present position with Community Living Toronto, where she instructs in a variety of subjects including social and life skills. The union activist and steward says her philosophy and politics can clash with those of Mr. MYSKA, a manager of trust accounting at Manulife Mutual Funds.
Fortunately, the pair have learned to separate labour relations from personal relations. "Sometimes the discussions do get a little heated," Ms. BELBIN says. "We… have an open mind about each other's views. If it gets too tough, [we] drop it and revisit it.
"We balance each other."
On October 22, at the Toronto Board of Trade's Airport Centre, officiant Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON performed a non-denominational ceremony.
To the rhythm of This One's for the Girls, the bride's aunt, Nancy PAUL- DUDDY, presented a slide show of women whose influence had helped sculpt the bride. Her inspiration came from the valiant effort of the bride's grandmother, Cara PEACOCK, who succumbed to cancer September 9 without realizing her dream of attending the wedding. "The girls in our family have an unbroken bond," asserts Mrs. PAUL- DUDDY.
Less than a minute into their first dance to Van Morrison's Sweet Thing, Mrs. MYSKA, who will retain her maiden name professionally, lost a shoe, but didn't miss a beat. "I knew if I kicked the other one off, I would have fallen on my dress for sure," she laughs.

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-06-03 published
Linda Anna Aminah DE WITT and Graeme Harris TURNER -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM, Page▼ M6
As dragon boat crews marshalled on the docks of Ontario Place for the annual September competition in 2003, Graeme TURNER inched toward the beguiling, statuesque Linda DE WITT.
"I didn't notice Graeme until we were lining up. I remember thinking, 'He's a good-looking guy, but I'm not here for that,' " recalls Ms. DE WITT, a last-minute substitute recruit who crossed her arms, turned to avoid eye contact and focused on winning.
Unfazed, Mr. TURNER tapped her on the shoulder. "It was a defensive mode I was facing, and I had to have my wits about me," he laughs. With a quick query, he elicited her team's name, Who's Your Daddy?, shouted encouragement and added, "See you around."
When the preliminaries ended, scores of dragon boaters mulled about, and just as he abandoned hope of ever seeing his anonymous enchantress again, a teammate who knew he was smitten suddenly gestured frantically to Mr. TURNER. In megaphonic tones across the crowd he belted, "Who's Your Daddy?" Ms. DE WITT looked up, Mr. TURNER spotted her, and said, "See you tomorrow."
That comment cemented her decision to sub again the following day, even though she had originally planned to participate only once. Her team was bumped to the consolations and his advanced to the finals. In the interval between heats, he and his Friends took in a film at Cinesphere, while Ms. DE WITT, "on the hunt with her girlfriend," scoured Ontario Place for him. Just before race time, their paths crossed and their hearts leaped. "Picture, if you can, this guy walking with his right hand eagerly out for 10 feet ready to shake," laughs Ms. DE WITT, now 25 and the account executive with Food for Tots.
The competition over, their beer-tent rendezvous led to a kiss on the cheek, and a call the next day. Mr. TURNER's heart was on his sleeve, he says. "I decided not to play the waiting game, but to let her know I was interested." Several weeks later, he e-mailed, "Exclusive?" and their lives meshed.
In a June, 2005, visit to the Netherlands, Mr. TURNER explored the scene of her first eight years, and when they moved on to Scotland she mixed with his relatives, observing where he had passed summers as a child.
"There was a lot of pressure on that trip for my getting engaged, from both families, but I wasn't about to let anyone tell me when to do it," chuckles Mr. TURNER, now 34, an office manager for consulting engineers Charles G. Turner and Associates. At the time, he envisioned a proposal at the upcoming September Dragon Boat Festival.
There, he was unable to row with his new teammate Ms. DE WITT because of a separated shoulder from a flag-football injury. Yet on the pretext of celebrating their anniversary, they heli-toured the cityscape, and looped the SkyDome to the cheers of Blue Jays fans. Their eight-minute whirl winding down, he pulled a ring box from his sling, and using headphones from the prepped pilot, made an unadorned proposal over the rotor's din.
An ecstatic Ms. DE WITT had the conundrum of dividing attention between her dazzling ring and the dizzying view. "I felt, 'How many times is anyone in a helicopter?' and Graeme was paying, but I didn't want to stop staring at my ring."
Friends, family and teammates who were let in on the secret cheered, and applauded their landing before trundling off for a lakeside champagne picnic.
Dutch tulips set the scene at Casa Loma on May 12, as the wedding party, the bridegroom and his groomsmen in kilts were piped before Rev. Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON. Former professional ballroom dancers, "my parents can still cut a rug," Mr. TURNER says, and he and the new Mrs. TURNER twirled in their own celebratory dance at the reception that followed.

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GIBSON m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-06-17 published
Leila Andrée SHENOUDA and Joseph PERSAD -- Match:
By Judith TENENBAUM, Page▲ M5
When they started dating at the age of 15, Leila SHENOUDA and Joseph PERSAD had no idea they would build a life together.
She was a shy rocker chick in fishnets; he was confident and stylish.
"At first, I didn't think I'd want to be with someone like him," she says. "But we were such good Friends, and communicated so easily…. There were sparks, and that was it."
"I was a one-track person -- my way or the highway," Mr. PERSAD recalls.
"But Leila made me listen and look. I was set in one genre, and she made me more accepting about the world and what it had to offer."
Theirs was the classic high-school romance until she learned at 18 that, because of a medical condition, it was unlikely she could conceive. "Being a mother had always been a No. 1 goal in life," Ms. SHENOUDA says. "I dreamed of it playing with my Barbies."
With her maternal aspirations devastated, it was an improbable event when she found herself pregnant four years into the relationship. At 20, the couple were the proud parents of Zephan Shenouda PERSAD.
"His name is about the only thing we never agreed upon. I was flipping through the Bible and saw Zephaniah, and if you say it three or four times, Zephan works," chuckles Mr. PERSAD.
Their little miracle motivated Ms. SHENOUDA, then working at Royal Bank, to change her career.
"The day that I had my son, I realized I wanted to work with people on a real level…. My life had been touched and blessed, and from that moment I felt I owed the world and wanted to serve God and do good," she adds.
"But I think every nurse goes into the profession because they want to help."
Thus, with sacrifice and much support from her family, Ms. SHENOUDA became a registered nurse. She is now in the cardiology unit of the University Health Network at Toronto Western Hospital.
"Her job is gratifying. She comes home knowing she's helped people every day, and it shines on her," notes a proud Mr. PERSAD, now a compliance officer at Georgeson Shareholders.
His first marriage proposal, in his parents' basement at 17, was a little premature, he says with a laugh.
The second came years later, in October, 2004, when Ms. SHENOUDA helped him choose a ring and then went on to foil his candlelight-and-wine plans, asking: "Aren't you going to give it to me now?"
But the marriage would wait until all their ducks were in a row: her education and career change a fait accompli, a new home purchased in June, 2005, and their son attending school.
The Canadian-born couple had already bridged their cultural differences he is Catholic, with a Trinidadian background and Hindu grandparents, while she was raised Coptic Orthodox by her Egyptian father and French-Canadian mother.
"We've learned to embrace all of that throughout the years with religious events, different foods, and family gatherings," she says.
On April 23, at Bluffer's Restaurant in Scarborough, the pair, both 26, recited personal vows, including one to the ring-bearer, Zephan, who lit his own unity candle.
"Neither one of us wanted to convert," says the new Mrs. SHENOUDA- PERSAD, "and Sarah" -- Sarah BUNNETT- GIBSON, a non-denominational minister -- "offered us something unique, just as our relationship has been."
"Leila trusted me and my groomsmen to decorate. We had flowers, butterflies, doves, stars, and glitter," Mr. PERSAD jokes.
"I was in black and silver. I wanted blue and white -- but it didn't matter, the Leafs weren't playing."
The honeymoon was classic: a trip to one of the seven wonders, Niagara Falls, with the eighth, their son Zephan, in tow.

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GIEC m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2003-05-24 published
Forthcoming Marriage - GIEC / PEARCE

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GIES m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-09-23 published
KERSHAW, Don and Anne - Still in love after 50 years
September 15, 1956 Join us in wishing Anne and Don congratulations on their 50th wedding anniversary. You are truly an inspiration to all those who love you! Wishing you many more happy years together. Lots of love, Dawn and Steve HALLIGAN, Adrianne and Jim GIES, Holly and Derek LEDUC and grandchildren.

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GIFFEN m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-07-16 published
JENKINS, Hadley and Verda - Golden Wedding Anniversary
July 16th
Thru thick and thin, rain or shine, their love has prevailed!
Truly a match made in heaven, united here on earth!
Congratulations!
All Our Love Nancy and Dave, Christena and Hadley JENKINS- GIFFEN

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GIFFEN m@ca.on.simcoe_county.nottawasaga.stayner.stayner_sun 2008-01-23 published
GIFFEN, Murray and Dorothy - 60th Anniversary
The family of Murray and Dorothy GIFFEN wish to invite all family and Friends to a Come and Go Tea to celebrate their 60th Anniversary Saturday, January 26, 2008, 1: 00-4:00 p.m. at Saint Mary's Church Hall, Collingwood
Best Wishes Only
Page 10

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GIGUERE m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2003-08-02 published
Forthcoming Marriage - GIGUERE / SHEPHERD
Suzanne and Robert of London, Ontario and Muriel and John SHEPHERD of Forest, Ontario announce with pleasure the wedding of their children Shelley and Rob. The cermony will take place August 16, 2003 in Forest, Ontario.

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GILBERT m@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2005-10-07 published
Couple ties the knot on Roxy's stage
By Bill HENRY, Sun Times Staff, Page A3
Instead of "get me to the church on time," it was to the theatre for Collene and Sean BULLOCK's wedding Wednesday.
As a longtime member and also the box office assistant there, Collene GILBERT- BECKETT said the Roxy Theatre stage was the natural place for her wedding.
"We're not overly religious, so it was a great place to get married," Collene said. "It's absolutely beautiful but not in a church. It's a great alternate location."
She has worked at the Roxy box office with her mother Jondre BECKETT, the box office manager, off and on for about five years. The couple chose Wednesday afternoon for the wedding because it was the third anniversary of when they began dating, BULLOCK said.
About 100 people attended the wedding, on stage with a backdrop from a recent play, and the reception after in the Roxy lobby. It's the first wedding there in several years, although another is scheduled later this month.
"It was certainly something very special for us," BULLOCK said. "And the stage was great because with all the light you couldn't see the audience, which helps with the nerves."
The newlyweds live in Owen Sound.

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GILBERT m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2003-09-20 published
SHAPIRO / GILBERT
Andrew and Carol MILLS and Etoile McCANN and Bill GILBERT are pleased to announce the engagement of their children Wendy Lynn to Gilbert.
Their special day will be June 14, 2004.

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GILBERT m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-01-22 published
GILBERT / REIS
Mr. and Mrs. Larry NORTON and Mr. and Mrs. Jose REIS are pleased to announce the forthcoming marriage of their children Melissa GILBERT and Carlos REIS.
The wedding is planned for March 12, 2005.
Lots of Love and Best Wishes from all of us.

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GILBERT m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-03-22 published
GILBERT / PARKING -- Forthcoming Marriage
With Love, the Parents of Rachel GILBERT and Jeremy PARKING announce forthcoming marriage June 14, 2008 in London. Their Friends will honour them with a Buck and Doe on April 26 at the Mutual Building, Woodstock.

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GILES m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2003-07-05 published
Happy 70th Wedding Anniversary Cecil and Hazel GILES
July 6, 2003
Congratulations and Lots of Love to the “Greatest Parents in the World ”, from Lorene and Phil; Wayne; Linda and Ken. Hugs from your “Grandkids ”– Rob, Ann, Patrick Jennifer; Tracey Austin; Laurie & Randy.

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GILES m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-10-07 published
GILES, Bob and Kay - 55th Wedding Anniversary
Bob and Kay were married October 6, 1951 at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Windsor, Ontario. They celebrated their latest milestone with their three children Kathy, Bob and Nancy along with their grandchildren and families up north. We are all very proud of them. Way to go Mom and Dad!

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GILES m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-11-18 published
GILES, Ruth (BLOOMFIELD) and Cliff - 50th Wedding Anniversary
November 17, 2006
(1605 Greenway Dr., Parkhill, Ontario N0M 2K0)

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GI surnames continued to m200gi02.htm