SYMES o@ca.on.manitoulin.howland.little_current.manitoulin_expositor 2003-11-05 published
Patricia Marilyn
THORPE (née
THOMAS)
Passed away suddenly on August 28, 2003 in London, Ontario, at the age of 70 years.
Patricia was born October 7, 1932 in Saint Thomas, Elgin County,
Ontario. Daughter of the late Hon. F. S. (Tommy) Thomas (1957) and
Myrtle (SYMES)
THOMAS (1982.) Wife of the late Cameron George
THORPE
(1969,) partner of William Henry
WADDELL.
Beloved mother of James
(Suzanne) THORPE,
Burbank,
California and Jane
THORPE, Ottawa.
Sister of Carolyn
THOMAS, Saint Thomas, Shirley (Harry)
FOSTER and
Robert (Margery)
THOMAS and aunt of Brien, Bruce, Kate and Mark
THOMAS,
all of Union, Ontario. Dear friend of the late John M.
PECK (1994,)
Grand
Bend,
Ontario (son Jeffrey, daughter Sandra,) and the
NITSCHE
family, London, Ontario. Adoptive "grandmother" to Emily, Valerie, and Jamie.
A dedicated teacher, Patricia touched the lives of thousands of
children. She began her educational career in 1951 in Ottawa and
subsequently taught for various Ontario school boards including
Windsor, Toronto, Welland, Port Stanley, Lynhurst and ending with her
retirement from the London Board of Education in 1986.
Patricia was also a talented musician and composer who played the
piano and accordion, as well as a published poet, author and
photographer. Her passion for learning continued on into her
retirement years where she continued to pursue higher education in
the arts and foreign languages.
Once met, never forgotten -- Patricia was a vibrant spirit whose
gifts of love, courage, laughter and song will continue to bring joy
and inspiration to her family and Friends for many years to come. Cremation, no service.
S... Names SY... Names SYM... Names Welcome Home
SYMES - All Categories in OGSPI
SYMONDS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-24 published
Composer, jazz musician worked with Ellington
By Mark MILLER,
Friday,
October 24, 2003 - Page R11
Toronto -- Ron
COLLIER, a well-respected composer and teacher
in the Canadian jazz community, died in Toronto on Wednesday
of cancer. He was 73.
Mr. COLLIER, who was born in Coleman, Alberta., played trombone
during his teens with the Kitsilano Boys Band in Vancouver then
moved in 1950 to Toronto.
While working in local dance bands and studio orchestras there,
he was involved with Gordon
DELAMONT,
Norman
SYMONDS, Fred
STONE
and others in the late 1950s as a performer and composer in "third-stream"
jazz, an idiom that framed jazz improvisation in such classical
forms as fugue, sonata and concerto.
Mr. COLLIER turned exclusively to composition in 1967, the year
that he led a studio orchestra for the LP Duke Ellington North
of the Border with the noted American pianist as guest soloist.
Mr. COLLIER subsequently collaborated personally with Ellington
on a ballet, The River, in 1970, and a symphonic work, Celebration,
in 1972, although his contributions went largely unacknowledged.
He also wrote for ballet, radio, television and film and completed
arrangements for recordings by Moe Koffman and the Boss Brass
his last major work was a big-band setting of Oscar Peterson's
Canadiana Suit/, premiered in 1997.
Mr. COLLIER, a warm, direct man, taught for many years in Toronto
at Humber College, where his influence was felt by at least two
generations of musicians now active on the Canadian jazz scene.
S... Names SY... Names SYM... Names Welcome Home
SYMONDS - All Categories in OGSPI