MAPP o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-06-21 published
VAISLER, beloved wife travelled the globe
By Glynnis
MAPP,
Sun▼
Media,▼
Thurs.,
June 21, 2007
Sydney VAISLER didn't play favourites.
"It didn't matter whether you were a wealthy businessman or someone
who just went in for a new outfit once a year, he always gave
you his best," said
VAISLER's eldest son, Barry.
The man who would become known as a dedicated family man and
a well-known member of London's business community, started his
company --
VAISLER's -- in 1938, opening his first store on Dundas
street.
He died Tuesday, after battling several strokes. He was 91 and
is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sari, three children and
seven grandchildren.
VAISLER was the
son of a poor tailor from Romania. He grew up
in Saskatoon and moved around in his youth, with his family finally
settling in London.
Although he made a name for himself with his four Southwestern
Ontario clothing stores for 55 years -- with stores in Hamilton,
Brantford, and two in London --
VAISLER had always dreamed of
becoming a doctor.
Before he went into the clothing business,
VAISLER completed
one year at University of Western Ontario for pre-med studies.
But he had to drop out after the first year because his family
couldn't afford the tuition.
"He was a man who liked to be his own boss, but he always encouraged
us to pursue medicine," Barry
VAISLER said.
Barry VAISLER and a few of Sydney
VAISLER's grandchildren have
gone on to study medicine.
VAISLER's wife remembers
VAISLER as a bright and ambitious man,
who was well read and loved to travel. The couple travelled extensively
to Europe, Africa and Asia.
They met in 1946 while
VAISLER was in Montreal visiting Friends
on a business trip.
When he returned to London,
VAISLER phoned Sari and asked her
on a date.
Two years later, the couple married. They celebrated their 61st
wedding anniversary last November.
"We were very blessed to be together for so long. We went all
over the world together. And we loved it," she said.
In addition to being an avid traveller who "loved staying in
hotels and dressing up," Barry said his father loved to socialize
with family and Friends.
"Growing up, we always had a lot of gatherings."
As well as being a dedicated father and grandfather,
VAISLER
contributed to his Jewish community. He was president of the
B'nai Israel Synagogue and a founding member of Or Shalom Synagogue.
"People in our community looked up to him and they were encouraged
to make a better life for themselves, and start up their own
businesses," said Fanny
GOOSE, operator of J Goose Family Clothing
in London.
"He was always giving back to the community… he would always
chat with his customers. He really helped to build London businesses."
VAISLER continued to go to the office to oversee operations into
his 80s, but had to stop after he fell ill.
The downtown
VAISLER's store was the last of his businesses to
close, in 1991.
VAISLER's funeral is today at 2: 30 p.m. at Or Shalom Synagogue,
534 Huron Street, London.
Donations in his memory can be made to Or Shalom Synagogue.
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MAPP o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-07-01 published
Tiny, feisty woman big on independence
By Glynnis
MAPP,
Sun▲▼
Media,▲▼
Sun.,▲▼
July 1, 2007
When
Amy
Elizabeth
GRIEVE was born, doctors said she wouldn't
make it to her first birthday because of a "funny heart."
GRIEVE proved them all wrong.
Born in 1906 in Tyendinaga Township near Belleville, she lived
through the sinking of the Titanic, two World Wars, the Great
Depression and Canada's Centennial.
GRIEVE died on June 20 at the Dearness Home. She was 101.
Her family believes
GRIEVE's secret to her agility -- she walked
nearly five kilometres a day in her 80s -- and long life was
in her diet.
GRIEVE didn't smoke or eat junk food and rarely drank alcohol.
Fruits and vegetables were the mainstays of her diet. On special
occasions, she would allow herself a small glass of rye and ginger
ale.
"That was her one treat for herself. She always made sure to
eat three good meals every day and was very active mentally and
physically," said her daughter Sharon
ZEISNER.
Standing four-foot-11,
GRIEVE may have been small in stature,
but she was larger than life, relatives say.
GRIEVE was known for her gourmet cooking, a hobby she thoroughly
enjoyed. Up until she was in her 80s, she cooked a roast for
herself every Sunday and froze the leftovers.
"She was bright, vivacious and fiercely independent. She was
just a wonderful woman and a joy to be around," said her daughter
Shirleyan ENGLISH.
GRIEVE trained in North Bay to become a teacher and went on to
work at schools in northern Ontario.
One of the schools was in Tomiko, a railway stop on the line
between North Bay and Cobalt.
Elliott GRIEVE, who worked as a telegrapher at the train station,
immediately became enamoured with the "feisty" and self-sufficient
new teacher in town.
"My dad was only five-(foot)-three so they were perfect for each
other. He spotted her right away,"
ZEISNER said. "When my mom
stepped off of the train, (one of his co-workers) said to my
dad, 'That's the woman for you.' "
The couple married in 1934.
ENGLISH remembers living in a house filled with love and her
parents "making suggestions instead of arguing."
In 1956, GRIEVE's husband died and she was left to figure out
how to support her three young daughters and make ends meet on
her teacher's salary.
To make additional income,
GRIEVE invested in real estate, buying
and selling small properties for profit.
"In that day, not a lot of women were investing in real estate,"
ENGLISH said. "She was very clever. She would sell the houses
and sometimes rent them out. She could calculate monthly mortgage
payments in her head."
Even as she aged, family said
GRIEVE was "sharp as a tack," remembering
family birthdays, phone numbers of her children, eight grandchildren
and eight great-grandchildren.
In 1991, GRIEVE moved from her home in Haliburton County to London
to be closer to her three daughters.
ENGLISH said the opinionated family scion would frequently give
seasoned advice on family academic pursuits, careers and relationships.
"She was very astute and a really strong woman and led by example,"
ENGLISH said.
"She showed us we could be ourselves and be independent women,
in or out of a marriage. We could do whatever we wanted to do
in life."
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MAPP o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-07-30 published
Quarry tragedy claims teen
A fall at a Beachville quarry claims a budding photojournalist,
19, while another man is killed by a train at Richmond Row.
By Jennifer
O'BRIEN, and Glynnis
MAPP, Sun Media, Mon., July 30,
An Oxford County teen about to embark on his dream of a career
in photojournalism was one of three men killed in a tragedy-filled
weekend in the London area.
Michael STOOP, 19, of Salford, near Ingersoll, was killed about
2 a.m. yesterday when he slipped on loose rocks while hanging
out at a quarry in Beachville with five Friends, Oxford County
Ontario Provincial Police said.
"It's hard to accept… it's such a loss for us," said
STOOP's
aunt, Ellen
ESSELTINE. "He was a clever and bright kid and a
well-liked kid… he was just awesome."
The Ingersoll Collegiate grad, who played on his school's football
team, was going to attend Loyalist College in Belleville starting
next month to study in its prestigious photojournalism program.
His family just helped him buy a new camera for school.
Police said that after slipping,
STOOP fell down the rock embankment
at the quarry. He was pronounced dead there.
"He fell about (three metres). It's a very unfortunate thing,"
said Ontario Provincial Police Const. Mark Foster. "I don't think
we've had a quarry death around the area in a long time."
Elsewhere in the region, police investigated the deaths of two
other men in separate tragedies: A 23-year-old man who was hit
by a train in London near Richmond Row -- less than an hour after
STOOP's death -- and a 27-year-old who drowned while boating
with Friends in Chatham-Kent.
In the train tragedy, London police said alcohol may have been
involved in the death of the 23-year-old man who was killed while
crossing the tracks, located near a popular strip of bars.
Police didn't name the man, but said he's not from here.
The incident happened just after 2: 30 a.m. yesterday, at the
rail tracks at St. George Street near Piccadilly Street, just
north of Richmond Row.
Police don't suspect foul play in the man's death, said Const. Darrin
BROWN.
"There is nothing suspicious about it."
BROWN said police didn't know where the man had been before trying
to cross the tracks, but police had spoken to a couple of witnesses:
who had "dealt with him."
At Mitchell's Bay yesterday, rescue workers continued to search
for the body of a 29-year-old Chatham-Kent man who went missing
on Lake St. Clair Saturday evening.
The man was out with four others in a small boat off Mitchell's
Bay marina, said Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police.
He was in the water about 6 p.m. when his Friends realized he
couldn't get back to them.
As they tried to help him get back to the leisure boat -- which
was about six kilometres from the marina -- the man slipped under
the water, police said.
He is presumed dead, said Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police
Const. Aaron
McPHAIL.
Members of the Chatham-Kent Fire Department, the Canadian Coast
Guard and the Ontario Provincial Police were searching a one-kilometre-square
radius for the body of the man while an Ontario Provincial Police
helicopter buzzed overhead.
"This is a recovery mission,"
McPHAIL said.
Police did not identify the man or the passengers.
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MAPP o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-08-10 published
Keen student drowns in waves
By Glynnis
MAPP,
Sun▲▼
Media,▲▼
Fri.,
August▼ 10, 2007
The mother of a Michigan girl who drowned off Grand Bend on Wednesday
remembered her daughter yesterday as an avid tennis player and
ambitious student who loved ballet and Irish dancing.
And a Grand Bend-area resident described the desperate attempts
to save her that ultimately failed.
Jule Marie
KOVAR, 14, drowned Wednesday night when high waves
pushed her into an area off the Lake Huron resort, not patrolled
by lifeguards, that police called "highly dangerous."
"She was like the sunshine… always happy and dancing. She was
gorgeous," Anna
KOVAR said of her daughter.
The girl, from Fort Gratiot, Michigan., had been in Grand Bend
visiting family and Friends for a day of shopping and fun, including
swimming.
"She had been planning this trip for some time," her mother said,
noting her daughter was excited to be in Grand Bend for the first
time where she visited a longtime friend from Sarnia.
Jule Marie was swimming off the south end of the Bend's public
beach, about 7: 20 p.m. with a friend, also 14, in metre-high
waves, Ontario Provincial Police said.
The friend's mother called them back ashore, police said.
The friend made it back, but strong waves pushed Jule Marie north
of the pier where the water was "extremely treacherous," police
said.
The area, not patrolled by lifeguards, is known for high winds
that cause large waves and a dangerous undertow.
A Beachville male, 17, whom police said was a friend of Jule
Marie, tried to save her but was overcome by the waves and had
to be pulled out. The teen, whose name was not released, was
treated at hospital.
The Sarnia friend's mother also went into the water to try to
save Jule Marie but couldn't.
Police and volunteers searched the water and found Jule Marie's
body about 40 minutes later south of the Grand Bend pier.
Brian DALE, a Grand Bend-area resident, helped initiate a search
about 25 minutes after Jule Marie slipped under.
He said he rounded up off-duty lifeguards -- who had finished
their shifts at 5 p.m. -- from the other end of the beach to
help in the search.
"No one seemed to be doing anything or knew what was going on
when we got there… so I ran to the lifeguarding house and got
them to bring out equipment.
"I cleared water from her throat… by the time we found her it
was obvious it was too late,"
DALE said of efforts to revive
the girl with cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
At the south end of the beach, the area where Jule Marie drowned,
there's no publicly accessible water safety equipment. There
are signs posted at entrances and on the beach warning swimmers
the south end is not patrolled by lifeguards.
On Wednesday, there were red flags on the beach warning of treacherous
water conditions. It isn't known if Jule Marie and her friend
were aware of the flags.
John BYRNE, chief municipal administrative officer for Lambton
Shores, said he'll raise the issue of beach security at council's
next meeting, in early September. "It is an unsupervised beach
and we ask people to use their discretion when they swim there.
"We always try to monitor the area, but it is dangerous there&hellip
we will try to determine whether we can implement better safety
measures."
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MAPP o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-08-13 published
Young dad among 5 dead
Kevin GONCALVES might have survived the afternoon of road carnage
had he been wearing a seatbelt.
By Glynnis
MAPP,
Sun▲
Media,▲
Mon.,
August▲ 13, 2007
At 22, Kevin
GONCALVES of Arkona was well on his way -- he had
a job, a baby and a BMW he'd saved up to buy.
All that vanished Saturday, in one of four crashes on Southwestern
Ontario roads that left five people dead.
Had he worn his seatbelt,
GONCALVES might have survived his crash,
police said.
"He was a good father and he loved his daughter very much," Larissa
VAN
LIESHOUT, the mother of
GONCALVES' four-month-old daughter,
Rozlynn, said yesterday.
GONCALVES died when the BMW he was driving crashed about
2: 30 p.m. on Melbourne Road in Adelaide Metcalfe, west of London.
GONCALVES lost control while passing on a curve and crossed into
the opposite lane, striking a pickup truck, police said.
An unidentified passenger in the BMW, also 22, wasn't wearing
a seatbelt, either, police said, and was flown to to a London
hospital. The passenger remained in critical condition.
The pickup driver, Alyse
MALLET of Melbourne, 19, who wore her
seatbelt, was treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
In Strathroy,
GONCALVES'
Friends were still recovering from the
loss.
"He was really outgoing. Everyone liked him. He would always
help out a friend if they needed it. That's what he would always
do for me," said Steve
WRAITH, who met
GONCALVES in Grade 9 when
both attended Strathroy District Collegiate Institute.
Along with
GONCALVES,
WRAITH and his girlfriend had also welcomed
a newborn girl only a few months earlier.
GONCALVES worked as a shipper and receiver with egg distributor
Greyridge Foods. He told Friends he was trying to save up for
a condominium of his own.
WRAITH said the couples gave each other baby advice as both pregnancies
developed and were excited about the births, a first for all
of them.
"It was a busy time for all of us," he said.
Across the London region, other fatal crashes Saturday occurred
near London, where an elderly woman died; in Huron County, where
a driver plunged to his death off a bridge; and
in Chatham-Kent,
where two motorcycle drivers were killed in a head-on crash.
- Near Wheatley, the two motorcycle drivers died in the collision
about 2: 30 p.m. that followed what police described as an attempt
by one to evade an officer -- stopped on Zion Road and out of
his patrol car -- trying to motion him to pull over for not wearing
a safety helmet. Police said a motorcycle, driven by 21-year-old
Harley PALMER of Wheatley, bypassed the officer through a field
and emerged on Talbot Trail where the bike collided with another
driven by Daniel
McCALLUM, 26, of Dearborn, Michigan., killing
both. Other motorcyclists travelling with
McCALLUM were able
to avoid the collision.
Ontario's police watchdog agency, the Special Investigations
Unit, was notified, but is not investigating since the officer
wasn't pursuing the motorcycle bike driver, police said. The
Special Investigations Unit probes police actions that lead to
serious injuries or death.
- In Huron County, a 31-year-old man from West Perth, in Perth
County, whose name wasn't released, died after the vehicle he
was driving went off a bridge at 3: 30 p.m. near Dublin.
- In Middlesex County, just outside London, a two-car collision
about 2: 30 a.m. at Nairn Road and Oxbow Drive sent three people
to hospital, including Marie Mae
LUNHAM, 73, of Forest, who later
died of her injuries. Andrew
CLASSEN, 23, of London, is charged
with failing to yield to traffic.
A Deadly Saturday
- 2: 30 p.m., Kevin
GONCALVES, 22, of Arkona, dies in car-truck
collision in Adelaide Metcalfe. - 2: 30 p.m., Harley
PALMER, 21,
of Wheatley and Daniel
McCALLUM, 26, of Michigan, die in Wheatley-area
crash of two motorcycles. - 2: 30 p.m., two car-collision near
London sends three to hospital. Marie Mae
LUNHAM, 73, of Forest,
later dies of her injuries.
- 3: 30 p.m., Unidentified Perth County man, 31, dies after vehicle
goes off Huron County bridge.
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