ADAMS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-11-18 published
Helen ALLEN, Journalist (1907-2006)
She laboured for decades to improve the lot of unwanted children, many of whom were better off because of her efforts, writes Sandra MARTIN. At the end of the Vietnam War she also helped rescue orphans in Saigon
By Sandra MARTIN, Page S11
The concept may seem bizarre today, but in its era, the Toronto newspaper column Today's Child was an innovative force intended to improve the lives of thousands of emotionally needy and often physically damaged children. In the early 1960s, back in the days when having a child "out of wedlock" was socially unacceptable and before reliable contraception or abortions were generally available, many young women gave their unplanned babies up for adoption. The ranks of healthy infants were swelled by older children who had been abandoned by parents unable or unwilling to raise their own offspring or who had been removed from dangerous situations. Many of these "hard-to-place" children trundled from one foster home to another or marked birthday after birthday in orphanages and other residential institutions.
Helen ALLEN, a journalist who became a crusader for adoption, believed that all children deserved parents and a home to call their own. For nearly 20 years, she devoted her energies to the task through her column Today's Child in The Telegram in Toronto and the long-running television program Family Finder. Although, nobody knows for certain how many of these adoptions were successful, there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that many, many children were happier and healthier because of Ms.  ALLEN's actions.
"Some social workers were very reluctant at the thought of exposing children to the public in this way, because it was an invasion of privacy, but I was all for it," recalled Victoria LEACH/LEECH/LEITCH, a former social worker and adoption supervisor who knew first-hand the dire circumstances of these children's lives. She and Ms.  ALLEN became colleagues and good Friends, sharing the same dedication and sense of humour.
The late media mogul John BASSETT, who was the last publisher of The Telegram, considered Ms.  ALLEN's long-running adoption column "her real life's work." Ms.  ALLEN "has helped this country enormously by giving new hope and new opportunities to the nation's richest resource, our children," he wrote in a tribute to her in 1982, and "nothing has given me greater pride than being associated with her in this task."
Helen Kathleen ALLEN was born near Saskatoon, the only child of a Presbyterian minister and a school teacher. The family eventually settled in Aurora, north of Toronto, as her father moved from one congregation to another. He died of meningitis when Helen was five and her mother worked as a supply teacher to support them both. Ms.  ALLEN later described her childhood as happy, although she regretted that there was never enough money to buy her a bicycle. It was only much later that she looked back as an adult and realized that "it's too bad to be an only child, too bad not to have a Dad."
After graduating from high school in 1925, Ms.  ALLEN moved to Toronto to do a four-year degree in modern languages (French and German) at University College at the University of Toronto. By then, her widowed mother had married a man named PALMER, so Ms. ALLEN boarded with a family named GRIFFITHS while she attended university, financed with $2000 from her mother's savings. That's how she met the GRIFFITHS' daughter, Phyllis, who became a classmate, then a journalism colleague and a dear friend and housemate until she died more than 50 years later in 1978.
At U of T, Ms.  ALLEN joined the German club, which turned out to be a lively collection of people, including professors Geoffrey HOLT and Barker FAIRLEY, who got together on a weekly basis to sing German songs. An older cousin, who worked on the student newspaper, The Varsity, introduced Ms.  ALLEN to the editor, a young man named Charles STACEY. (A year older, he was destined for a stellar career as a military historian and became very well known as a biographer of Prime Minister Mackenzie King.) "Somehow I found myself accepting an assignment to cover a freshie tea that first week. It showed up on the front page, without a word changed, and I was hooked," she presciently told Judith ADAM/ADAMS, the author of the 1982 Ontario government publication, Today's Child and Helen ALLEN.
After graduating in 1929, Ms.  ALLEN went to work as a reporter for The Telegram, a newspaper founded in 1876 by John Ross ROBERTSON as a vehicle to promote British and Imperial sentiments. For the next three decades, Ms.  ALLEN did general assignment reporting, reviewed movies, covered political events and criminal trials, and edited the women's pages. In covering the 1939 Royal Tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth she wrote: "Everyone who has seen her is talking about the Queen. The Queen's smile. The Queen's charm. The Queen's beauty. The Queen's lovely gowns."
What made her name, however, was an assignment that she took on reluctantly in 1964 to write an adoption column for the paper. Instead of being the brainchild of one person, the idea came about as a confluence of incidents, experience and inspiration dating back to the early 1960s when The Telegram ran a front-page story about a young boy being publicly beaten by his father on a downtown street corner. Publisher John BASSETT assigned reporter Andrew MacFARLANE to investigate and write an article on child abuse.
Mr. MacFARLANE contacted the office of Doctor James BAND, the deputy minister of welfare in Ontario, who supplied huge amounts of information on child protection services and took Mr.  MacFARLANE to visit an orphanage which housed dozens of children three years of age and under. Mr.  MacFARLANE quickly realized that many of these children had short attention spans, played aggressively, and, despite being "cuddled" by volunteers, appeared lacking in warmth and curiosity. Both men believed these children needed families and permanent homes, if they were to have any chance of growing up emotionally healthy.
In 1964, Doctor BAND sought out Mr.  MacFARLANE, who by then was The Telegram's managing editor, and suggested he run an "advertising" feature to make the public aware of the plight of these forgotten children. Both Mr.  MacFARLANE and Mr.  BASSETT took up the idea enthusiastically and assigned the column to Ms.  ALLEN, telling her to contact the more than 50 regional Children's Aid Societies that operated in Ontario under the Child Welfare Act, find some children who were waiting for families, and run their pictures and write about them in the paper. The plan was to run Today's Child for a few weeks and check the response.
Children's Aid Societies, which are protective by definition, were largely horrified at the idea of parading children, along with their physical and emotional problems, in a public newspaper. To them, the column reeked of "freak shows" at carnivals. Only three were willing to participate -- Hamilton, Kenora and Toronto. Although disappointing, the response was strong enough to give Ms. ALLEN enough children to produce a daily column for three weeks.
The first child was a 15-month-old girl of mixed race named Hope, a difficult placement in those homogeneous days before the immigration rules relaxed and Canada had an official multiculturalism policy. Nevertheless, 40 prospective adoptive parents wrote in response to the story about Hope. Their letters were passed along to the Children's Aid Society for screening, assessing and processing. "I wrote abut 23 children in those first Today's Child columns that summer," Ms.  ALLEN recalled years later, "and when the results were finally assessed, 18 of those youngsters found homes."
After three years of daily columns, Today's Child expanded to other daily and weekly papers throughout Ontario. The following year, Ms. ALLEN proposed doing a television version of the column based on the daily Ben Hunter Program in California, which delivered commercials for a variety of products, saving one day a week for children wanting to be adopted. Armed with a tape of the American show, Ms.  ALLEN and Victoria LEACH/LEECH/LEITCH, then Ontario Adoption Co-ordinator, approached CFTO, the Toronto television station that was part-owned by Mr.  BASSETT. "It took them all of 15 minutes to make up their minds," Ms.  ALLEN reported later. Family Finder, which ran commercial-free, debuted in the fall of 1968 and for years was the longest-running program on the channel.
When The Telegram folded in 1971, the Ontario government hired Ms. ALLEN as an information officer in the Ministry of Community and Social Services. She continued to write the column three times a week (which was syndicated by the government to more than 20 daily newspapers including The Toronto Star), do the television program and speak about adoption to community and service groups.
In the early 1970s, television and newspaper reporting from Vietnam publicized the plight of many of the children who had become victims of the continuing conflict. The orphanages in Saigon were overflowing with abandoned or parentless children. Social changes, including a declining birth rate, had put an end to the baby surplus of a decade before. That fact, plus the human desire to help needy children, had lots of North Americans flying to Vietnam and trying to pick up babies in exchange for cash or services.
The local adoption agencies were floundering, so the Ontario Ministry of Social and Community Services sent Victoria LEACH/LEECH/LEITCH and Ms. ALLEN to Saigon to work with the Vietnamese. As the Viet Cong advanced and the Americans pulled out, the two women rescued close to 60 children, brought them to Canada and found homes for them. "The deputy minister told me, 'if we are going to do this, we will give it the same service we give our own children,' Ms. LEACH said.
Ms. ALLEN received many honours, including being named to the Order of Canada and an honorary doctorate from York University and the Award of Merit from the City of Toronto. In the late 1970s, she was at an Order of Canada reception when she encountered fellow laureate and University of Toronto military historian Charles STACEY. " When I was at college, I dated Charles, who was then editor of the Varsity. He was in fourth year and I was in second," she told Ms.  ADAMS. "He went off to Oxford and then Princeton; I went on to the Tely as a reporter."
Ms. ALLEN and Colonel STACEY, a widower, renewed their Friendship and their affection for each other and were married in a small wedding at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Toronto on October 3, 1980. The bride was 73, and the groom 74. A little more than a year later, she officially retired from Today's Child (Judith ADAM/ADAMS took over the column for another seven years) and Family Finder, but continued to spend two days a week answering mail and writing Adoption Bulletins while her husband wrote his books.
The STACEYs were a very companionable couple. They loved to entertain at small dinner parties at Massey College, to read Jane Austen novels aloud to each other and to travel. Col. STACEY died suddenly of a heart attack in November of 1989, after nearly a decade of marriage. She continued to live in their Rosedale apartment until she suffered a heart attack and a fall late in 2002, and moved into the Leaside Retirement Residence.
Helen Kathleen ALLEN was born in Dundurn, Saskatchewan., on August 16, 1907. She died in Toronto of congestive heart failure on November 9. She was 99. Predeceased by her husband Charles STACEY and by her dear friend Phyllis GRIFFITHS, she is survived by her god-daughter Nadine BELL and her family.

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ADAMSKA o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-03-30 published
NOWAK, Janina Maria (ADAMSKA)
At St. Joseph's Health Centre, London, on Tuesday, March 28, 2006, Janina Maria (ADAMSKA) NOWAK in her 72nd year. Beloved wife of the late Jan "John S." NOWAK (2005.) Dear mother of Peter NOWAK (Gerta) and Anna KUBIAK- WITKOWSKA (Lech) both of London. Loving grandmother of Michael and Monica. Sister-in-law of Maria ADAMSKA of London. Also survived by several brothers and sisters in Poland. Visitors will be received at the O'Neil Funeral Home, 350 William St. on Friday from 6: 00-9:00 p.m. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated in Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, 419 Hill Street, on Saturday at 10: 00 a.m. Interment Saint Peter's Cemetery. Prayers Friday at 8: 00 p.m.

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.peterborough.north_monaghan.peterborough.the_peterborough_examiner 2006-02-28 published
GROSE, Bob S.
At Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Rogers Street Site. On Saturday, February 25, 2006. Bob GROSE in his 93rd year. (Retired Peterborough Cardboard) (World War 2 Veteran Army). Beloved husband of the late Arvella May MacArthur (1991). Loving father of Karen GROSE of Lakefield. Dear brother of the late Edgar GROSE and Gertrude ADAMSON. Dear Uncle of Lenore and Arnold ALLEN, and Arlene and Richard KEARNS. Great Uncle of Jeffrey and Matthew ALLEN, Trudy-Ann and Trevor PICKREM. Great Great Uncle of Alexander and Jonathan PICKREM. Beloved son of the late Thomas Edgar GROSE and Ellen BROWN. Visitation will be held from the Kaye Funeral Home "Memorial Chapel", 539 George St. N. Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service will be held Thursday, March 2, 2006 at 2: 30 p.m. Canon J. Michael A. WRIGHT officiating. Those wishing to commemorate Bob through memorial donations please consider the Victorian Order of Nurses.

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-06-21 published
ADAMSON, John Fraser " Tim"
Tim died on May 24, 2006 in Toronto, Canada. Born in England, Tim came to Canada in 1962 and graduated from the University of Toronto in mining engineering in 1964. After a long career with Rio Algom, Tim retired in 1992. He will be fondly remembered by Friends at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club for his love of his boat "Red Fox". Tim is survived by his brother, Ewen, nephew, Ben, and niece, Helyne. A reception to remember Tim will be held at Humphrey Funeral Home, 1403 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, at 3: 00 p.m., on Friday, June 23, 2006. Service and interment will be held at Stoke Poges Church, England.

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-09-16 published
JENKINS, Ethel (ADAMSON, née NICKERSON)
On Monday, September 11, 2006 in her 96th year. Loving mother to Bonnie ADAMSON (Dick MILLAIS) and Kay MacDUFFEE (Dick). She will be missed but lovingly remembered by grandchildren, Misty, Jamie, Cameron and Kira, and great grandchildren, Laura and Bryn. "The St. Catharines Sweetheart", as she was once known, was a songbird with a gift of music and a generosity of spirit that brightened the world. Memorial service at Caledon East United Church at 2 p.m. on Mon. October 9. If desired, memorial donations made to The Salvation Army or Sleeping Children Around the World would be appreciated. "Thank you for the music."

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-10-28 published
WEST, Russell Carlisle
Peacefully into the Lord's hands, in the loving presence of his wife Grace, on Friday, October 27, 2006, at Sunnybrook Hospital, at age 57. Cherished father of Sarah and Russell. Beloved son of Russ and Margaret WEST of Charlotte, Vermont. Dear brother of Margaret ADAMSON, Claude, Patricia PIGEON, Mary and Gary. He will be lovingly remembered by his in-laws, nieces, nephews, family, his teaching colleagues, students and many Friends. In 1998, Kiwanis honoured Russell as Etobicoke Teacher of the Year. His lifelong passions were family, children, sports and gardening. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at Rexdale Alliance Church, 2459 Islington Avenue, (north of Highway 401), Toronto, followed by a reception at the Church. In lieu of flowers, donations in Russell's name may be made to World Vision Canada (905-565-6100). "I thank God for my wonderful life"

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-10-31 published
DOUGLAS, James Ian, C.M., K.St.J., C.D., Q.C.
Peacefully, in his 87th year, at Toronto on October 30, 2006 in the company of his loved ones. Much beloved husband for 63 years of the late Phyllis (d. 2005) and father of Ian, Diana and Jane. Adored Boppa of Loris ADAMSON (Douglas) and Alexandra DOUGLAS, Donna MUNRO, Bill, Jake and Ted JENNINGS and Andrew, Amy and Kate OLIVER. Loving companion of Marion DICK. son of the late Howard and Clara DOUGLAS and brother of Nancy WATT and the late (C.R. Larry) DOUGLAS. Graduate of Upper Canada College ('39,) Trinity College ('42) and Osgoode Hall ('49). Served overseas with the 48th Highlanders of Canada in England and Scotland and in the invasion of Sicily. Prisoner of War in Italy and Germany 1943-45. Following the War, he served in the Militia, retiring in 1958 as Lt. Col., Partner of McCarthy and McCarthy. Past Chairman of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. While holding that position he activated the Sunnybrook Foundation and led its first capital campaign. Past National Chairman of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. Past President of the Fort York Branch of The Royal Canadian Legion. Member of the Senate of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada. In recent years a dedicated and proud supporter of the interests of Veterans and advisor to Veterans Affairs Canada awarded the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation. Humanist and early promoter of diversities and equalities. Faithful parishioner of Grace Church on-the-Hill. President and Chairman of many clubs and organizations. Member of the Order of Canada and awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal. Distinguished and generous soldier and comrade, husband, father and grandfather, lawyer and leader. A long life, well-lived, founded on principle and service to his country, his Regiment and the Army, his family and his many communities, now embarking on what he called his last great adventure. Services at Grace Church on-the-Hill at 11: 00 a.m. on Thursday, November 2, 2006, followed by private family interment in the family plot at Mt. Pleasant. Visitation at the Humphrey Funeral Home - A.W. Miles Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue, on Wednesday, November 1, 2006 from 2: 00 to 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The family thanks Doctor Fred SAIBIL of Sunnybrook, palliative care nurse Igal YAGUDIN and caregivers Ami and Elvie for their profoundly good care. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Veterans Comfort Fund, c/o The Administrator, K Wing, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto M4N 3N5 or to Grace Church on-the-Hill, 300 Lonsdale Road, Toronto M4V 1X4 would be most appreciated.

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-01-11 published
STUTLEY, Patricia (née ADAMSON)
At Home at last on Sunday, January 8, 2006. Pat (née ADAMSON,) beloved wife of Bryan. Loved mother of Cheryl and her husband John CARR. Devoted Grama of Natalie and Stephanie. Sister of Jim and his wife Marilyn and predeceased by Johnny, Paul and Larry. Friends will be received at the Pine Hills Visitation, Chapel and Reception Centre, 625 Birchmount Rd. (north of St. Clair Ave. E., 416-267-8229) on Friday, January 13, 2006 from 5-9 p.m. A service to commemorate Pat's life will be held in the Chapel on Saturday, January 14, 2006 at 1: 30 p.m., with interment and a reception to follow at Pine Hills. A memorial donation in Pat's name may be made to Pickering Pentecostal Church "Caring Fund", 1920 Bayly Street, Pickering, L1W 3R6.

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-03-11 published
ADAMSON, Selwyn Sylvester
Suddenly as a result of a motor vehicle accident while visiting in Trinidad on Friday, March 3, 2006 at the age of 62 years. Selwyn, beloved husband of Norma (née JAMES.) Loving father of Dionne and her husband Noël HAMILTON, Lorraine both of Mississauga, and Dwayne ADAMSON of Brampton. Cherished grandad of Khyara and Noelani. Dear brother of Peter of Boston, and of the late Julin and her surviving husband Sam CORRIDON of Trinidad. The family will receive Friends at the Scott Funeral Home, "Brampton Chapel", 289 Main St. N., 905-451-1100, on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A Funeral Service will be held in the Chapel Wednesday at 11 a.m. Interment Brampton Memorial Gardens. Sign an online book of condolences at www.scott-brampton.ca

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ADAMSON o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-04-13 published
SAVAGE, Patricia Anne
Peacefully at Peel Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, April 11, 2006, Patricia passed away quietly with her husband by her side. Beloved wife of John. Loving mother of Shawn ADAMSON and Reneé and her husband Michael KORBAN. Cherished grandmother of Cheyenne. Fondly remembered by her sister MaryLou CAUZ. Patricia will be greatly missed by her many nieces, nephews and all who knew her. Special thank you to the doctors, nurses and volunteers at the Palliative Care Unit at Peel Memorial Hospital for your kindness, thoughtfulness and care of Patricia. Family will receive Friends at the Ward Funeral Home, 52 Main Street South, Brampton (905-451-2124) on Saturday, April 15, 2006 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Private interment to follow at a later date.

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ADAMTHWAITE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2006-10-09 published
DECKER, Frederick Karl
At University Hospital, London, after a short and peaceful bout with cancer, on Saturday, October 7, 2006, Frederick Karl DECKER in his 83rd year. Beloved husband for 55 years of the late Ruth (ADAMTHWAITE) DECKER. Proud father of Brian and Heather DECKER, Randy and Angela DECKER, Tim DECKER, and Susan and Bruce McDONALD. Predeceased by his son Wayne DECKER and his daughter Jennifer CAISSIE. Grandpa will be missed by 15 grandchildren. Karl was born in Zurich, lived and farmed in Huron County until 1972, when he and Ruth retired to their lakefront home at Lake McQuaby, near Nipissing, Ontario and developed a passion for woodworking. Returned to the London area after Ruth's passing in 2002 and continued his extensive hobby. Per his wishes there will be no visitation or funeral service. An Open House to reminisce with family and Friends will be held at the home of Susan and Bruce McDONALD, 169 Harris Road, Delaware on Sunday, October 15th from 1: 00 to 4:00 p.m. Special thanks to Karl's caregivers at University Hospital, 4th Floor. A. Millard George Funeral Home (519-433-5184) entrusted with arrangements. On line condolences accepted at www.amgeorgefh.on.ca

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