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BECKINGHAM o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-02-16 published
BECKINGHAM, George Edward
Peacefully, with family at his side at Parkwood Hospital, London, Saturday, February 9, 2008 after a long battle with bone marrow disease, George Edward BECKINGHAM in his 87th year. Cherished husband of the late W. Joy BECKINGHAM (née NICHOLS.) Much loved father of Terry (Valerie) of the The Pas, Manitoba, and daughter Susan STEWARD/STEWART/STUART of London. Dear grandfather of Jennifer (Jason) of The Pas, Manitoba, George B. BECKINGHAM (Frances) of Coquitlam, British Columbia, great-grandfather of Adam, Anne, Jack and Jane. Loved by sisters Mary (LANE) and Luella (ALLISTON) of Hamilton and sister-in-law Doreen TREITZ (née Nichols) of Sudbury and Audrey LAMB (née NICHOLS) of North Bay, nieces, grand nieces and nephews. He will also be missed by many other Friends and extended family. George was born to George and Philomena (NIELSEN) BECKINGHAM of Hamilton, October 23, 1921. He was a member of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders and served his country in war with the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, achieving the rank of 1st Lieutenant. After many years as District Manager with the Fuller Brush Company in Winnipeg and Burlington, and known for his meticulous work habits, he was sought after by, and contracted with, many large companies. George was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Br. #501, Lambeth, where he was welcomed and cared for by members and Friends. Many thanks to them and a very special tribute to the nurses and staff of the Western Counties Wing, #3rd Floor "Kent" and Doctor D. CAVANAUGH for their outstanding care of our Dad. At George's request, there is to be no funeral service. Cremation has taken place. Interment alongside his sweetheart "Joy" at Burlington Memorial Gardens. (Arrangements entrusted to Smith's Funeral Home, Burlington, 905-632-3333). In lieu of flowers, George would have appreciated a donation to a charity of your choice. www.smithsfh.com

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BECKMAN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-04-23 published
LESTER, Donald " Ross"
Age 82, of Brigden, at his home on Tuesday April 22, 2008. Beloved husband of Bonnie (McFALLS) LESTER. Loving father of Alan (Marg) LESTER, Charlene (Colin) BECKMAN. Dear grandfather of Robert (Wendy) LESTER, James (Neena) LESTER, great-grandfather of Marissa, Conner and Thomas. Survived by sister-in-law Birdine McFALLS, Dearborn, Michigan, brother-in-law John BAXTER, Sarnia and eight nieces and nephews. Predeceased by his parents Thomas (1962) and Alma (McRAE) (1960,) infant son Robert (1966,) daughter-in-law Phyllis (2005) and sister Marion BAXTER (1999.) Ross was born and raised at Lot 11 Con 4 St. Clair Twp (Moore), where he lived and farmed until 1975, when he and Bonnie moved to their new home in Brigden. Ross was very proud of his pioneer heritage. His great-grandchildren are the eighth generation to live on the family farm. In 1963 he became involved in the oil and gas business, eventually becoming production supervisor for Ram Petroleums. He retired in July 1989. Ross and Bonnie continued their many travels, the highlight being a three month tour of Australia in 1992. Ross was an avid gardener, growing many beautiful gladiolus, which were given to neighbours and Friends. He spent many happy hours in his garden. During his long illness, he was cared for at home by Bonnie, his family and his wonderful Red Cross Personal Care Workers; Joan, Debbie and Christine.. He will be missed by his family, but they have many happy memories. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heart and Stroke or Cancer Foundation would be appreciated. Friends will be received at Steadman Brothers Funeral Home, Brigden on Thursday April 24, 2008 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service will be conducted on Friday April 25th at 11: 00 a.m. from the Brigden United Church with Rev. Sandra FOGARTY officiating. Interment Bear Creek Cemetery. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family through sbrotherfuneral@hotmail.com Steadman Brothers 519-864-1193

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BECKMAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-03-01 published
BECKMAN, Margaret▼ Armstrong▼
After a long illness, peacefully, at Beechwood Manor Retirement Home in Waterloo, on Thursday, February 28, 2008, in her 84th year. Beloved wife of the late Arthur BECKMAN and cherished mother of Christopher (Kip) and his wife Adele, Susan and her husband, Paul HUTTON, David and his wife Paula. She will be fondly remembered and missed by her six grandchildren, Jan and Sarah BECKMAN, Bronwyn and David HUTTON, and Liam and Daniel BECKMAN.
In 1942, when Margaret edged her way into a "boys only" physics class, it was a foreshadowing of major accomplishments to come. A staunch career woman, in the early 1950's, pregnant with her first child, she "hid" in the basement of a university library, cataloging books because pregnant employees were supposed to be fired. It was a humble beginning for the woman who would go on to become the chief librarian of the University of Guelph's McLaughlin Library in 1971. As the only woman heading up a university library in Ontario at the time, she was a pioneer. Margaret went on to become an internationally renowned expert in library management, automation and building design. She was hired by the University of Guelph as a documentation librarian in 1966. She worked with architects on a new library building and pursued her vision of an automated library system despite critics who believed automation was nothing more than an "expensive toy". During her career she spoke and published widely acting as a consultant in the design of libraries throughout Canada and the world. She was the first woman and first Canadian to receive an honorary professorship form the University of Essen, Germany, and the first Canadian to receive the American Academic Librarian of the Year Award. A supporter of lifelong learning, she graduated with a Bachelor of Library Science from Wilfred Laurier University, in 1946. She completed a Masters of Library Science at the University of Toronto in the late 60's while working full time and raising, with her husband, three children. She represented Canada at a number of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Library Buildings' Conferences and taught at the School of Library and Information Science the University of Western Ontario. As well she served as President of the Advisory Board on Scientific and Technological Information for the National Research Council of Canada. She holds honorary doctorates from Laurentian University and University of Western Ontario. In 1975, she was recognized as one of 25 outstanding women in Ontario, and in 2007 was honoured by the City of Waterloo for her leadership contributions.
There will be a memorial service at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 54 Queen Street North, Kitchener, Thursday, March 6 at 2: 00 p.m. Reception to follow. Donations to the Margaret Beckman Memorial Fund at Wilfred Laurier University would be appreciated by calling the Erb and Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King Street South, Waterloo, at 519-745-8445 or through www.wlu.ca/giving.
The care and understanding of the staff at Beechwood Manor Retirement Home is gratefully acknowledged.

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BECKMAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-03-11 published
KELLER, George▼
Peacefully at home with his wife by his side on Monday March 10, 2008. Beloved husband of Suzy (Zsuzsu) for 24 years and the late Vera.▼ Devoted▼ father and father-in-law of Susan and Robert HECKLER the late Veronica POPPER; George▼ POPPER and Kim BECKMAN. Precious brother and brother-in-law of Pani and Laci KELLER. Cherished▼ grandfather of Andrea HECKLER and Guy ABOODI; Lisa▼ and Diana HECKLER; Niki▼ and Adam POPPER and step-grandfather of Zack and Ari KORN. Adored▼ uncle and great-uncle of Peter, Sylvie, Melissa and Emily KELLER; Mary and Issie WEXLER; Vivian and Aaron BLIDNER. Devoted employee until his final days at Viceroy Rubber. Cherished and loyal friend to so many in Montreal, Toronto, the U.S., Hungary and Israel. Funeral service from Paperman and Sons 3888 Jean Talon W. on Wednesday March 12 at 12 noon. Burial at the Memorial Park Cemetery, De La Savane. Shiva at 5070 Ponsard Avenue. Contributions in George's memory may be made to The Cancer Research Society, (514) 861-9227, or to Temmy Latner Center for Palliative Care, www.mtsinai.ca or to the charity of your choice.

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BECKMAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-05-14 published
BECKMAN, Margaret▲ Armstrong▲
Wife, mother, grandmother, librarian, innovator. Born January 22, 1925, in Hartford, Conn. Died February 28 in Waterloo, Ontario, of pulmonary fibrosis, aged 83.
By Kip BECKMAN and Sarah BECKMAN, Page L10
Throughout Margaret's final months, not a day went by that we didn't hear her say, "When summer comes, I am going to go sit out by the pool and dip my feet in the water."
That was Margaret - she vowed against all odds that she would get better. This would be the culmination of a life driven by determination.
In 1942, Margaret found her way into a "boys only" physics class. At the time, teachers wouldn't let girls into physics classes, but Margaret persisted.
A few years later, when she attempted to land a job at the London Public Library in Ontario, she was turned down because employing married women was strictly prohibited. Margaret was finally hired by the University of Western Ontario's library, but there were more obstacles to overcome. Library rules at the time were that women had to leave the job after their third month of pregnancy. While pregnant with her first child, Margaret was hidden in the basement for an extra three months because her boss knew she needed the money.
Later, at another job as a university librarian, Margaret was fired for being too "ambitious." She pursued her goals, accepting a position at the University of Guelph. As the only woman heading a university library in Ontario at the time, she was a pioneer. In 1986, she became the first Canadian to win the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries in the United States.
While pursuing her career, Margaret met her future husband, Art, at a mutual friend's wedding. They raised three children, Kip, Susan and David, in Waterloo and enjoyed 52 years together.
Margaret took up downhill skiing in her 50s and had a passion for reading about the American Civil War.
She developed caring relationships with her six grandchildren. One of her granddaughters once said she was fortunate to have her own example of a pioneer in her grandmother. When Margaret was fired for being too ambitious, she refused to resign herself to the fact that women would always be trapped in subordinate standings.
Margaret's determination turned out to be a mixed blessing as her health deteriorated. She reluctantly agreed to move out of her house, a home she had purchased from her parents in the 1960s. Although she dreamed of leaving her retirement home and returning to her house to enjoy everything she loved about it, including the pool, she passed away before that dream could be fulfilled.
Kip BECKMAN is Margaret's son and Sarah BECKMAN is her granddaughter.

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BECKMAN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2008-03-11 published
KELLER, George▲
Peacefully at home with his wife by his side on Monday, March 10, 2008. Beloved husband of Suzy (Zsuzsu) for 24 years and the late Vera.▲ Devoted▲ father and father-in-law of Susan and Robert HECKLER the late Veronica POPPER; George▲ POPPER and Kim BECKMAN. Precious brother and brother-in-law of Pani and Laci KELLER. Cherished▲ grandfather of Andrea HECKLER and Guy ABOODI; Lisa▲ and Diana HECKLER; Niki▲ and Adam POPPER and step-grandfather of Zack and Ari KORN. Adored▲ uncle and great-uncle of Peter, Sylvie, Melissa and Emily Keller; Mary and Issie WEXLER; Vivian and Aaron BLIDNER. Devoted employee until his final days at Viceroy Rubber. Cherished and loyal friend to so many in Montreal, Toronto, the U.S., Hungary and Israel. Funeral service from Paperman and Sons, 3888 Jean Talon W., Montreal on Wednesday, March 12 at 12 noon. Burial at the Memorial Park Cemetery, De La Savane. Shiva at 5070 Ponsard Avenue, Montreal. Contributions in George's memory may be made to The Cancer Research Society, 514-861-9227, or to Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care, www.mtsinai.ca, or to the charity of your choice.

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BECKMANN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-03-01 published
BECKMANN, Margaret (formerly DEGRUYL)
A loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, left this world, but will always be remembered forever in our hearts. Passed away on Wednesday evening February 27, 2008 at Grey Bruce Health Centre in Kincardine after a long battle with cancer. Predeceased by first husband Peter DEGRUYL, survived by her husband Adrian BECKMANN. A loving and compassionate mother to Sylvia ANTOLINI- STOKES and Rick DEGRUYL. Dear grandmother to Gino, Lisa and Lynn Antolini, and Richard, Jo-anne, Ashley and Christine DEGRUYL. Dear great-grandmother to Roman, Sofia, Salena and Mateo ANTOLINI. Missed by sons-in-law Brad STOKES and Gino ANTOLINI. Margaret will be missed greatly by everyone whose lives she has touched. There will be no services or funeral at Margaret's request. Please remember her in your own special way and always cherish the memories. Mom, "I Love You"; thank you for being such a compassionate, loving, caring mom throughout my whole life, I will miss you!

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BECKON o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-06-16 published
HENRY, Donald Leroy
Of Saint Thomas on Saturday June 14, 2008 peacefully surrounded by his loving family at the Saint Thomas-Elgin General Hospital in his 87th year. Dearly loved husband of 64 years of Marian (BRADO) HENRY. Loved father of Rick (Pierrette) HENRY of Saint Thomas, Sharron (George) DEVERELL of Aylmer, Ronald (Ruth) HENRY of New Brunswick. Carol Ann BECKON (Rob DE LA PENOTIERE) of Saint Thomas and Randy (Debbie) HENRY of Saint Thomas. Dear brother of Barnard "Barnie" of London. Loved grandfather of Ken, Chris, Steven, Matthew, Mitchell, Cletta, Erica and Amy. Sadly missed by 11 great-grandchildren. Predeceased by a grand_son Brian HENRY and by 3 sisters and 4 brothers. Don was born April 15, 1922 in Saint Thomas the son of the late Ansell and Pearl HENRY, He worked at Canron (Iron Foundry,) Westminster Hospital and Valleyview. He was a member the Royal Canadian Engineers. Resting at Williams Funeral Home, 45 Elgin Street, Saint Thomas where funeral service will be held Wednesday at 3: 00 p.m. with Rev. Clarence ROBERTS officiating, Interment to follow in Elmdale Cemetery. Visitation Tuesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Remembrances may be made to the Cancer Society.

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BECKS o@ca.on.manitoulin.howland.little_current.manitoulin_expositor 2008-07-23 published
BECKS-In loving memory of a dear husband and father, Donald, July 17, 2005.
We never knew that morning,
God was going to call your name.
In life I loved you dearly, In death I do the same.
It broke my heart to lose you,
You did not go alone.
For part of me went with you
The day God called you home.
You left me beautiful memories,
Your love is still my guide.
And although I cannot see you
You are always at my side.
Our chain is now broken,
And nothing seems the same.
But as God will surely call me
The chain will link again.
Forever loved and missed every day. Doris, Dawna, Douglas and Christopher.

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BECKWITH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-03-13 published
'The Sibelius of Latvia' made his mark in Canada as a composer and teacher
He fled his homeland at the end of the Second World War and settled in Toronto in 1951 to produce a steady stream of symphonies, concertos, cantatas and chamber music
By Ken WINTERS, Special to The Globe and Mail, Page S9
Talivaldis KENINS was a major musical figure in the latter half of the 20th century, both retroactively in his native Latvia and pro-actively in Canada.
He arrived in Canada in 1951 to serve as organist and choirmaster of the Latvian congregation of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Toronto, and stayed on to carve out a career as a teacher, conductor, performer and composer. A professor emeritus of the Toronto's faculty of music, he was celebrated for his chamber music as well as for composing symphonies, concertos, cantatas and for the organ.
Prof. KENINS was born into a cultivated Latvian family. His mother was a writer, while his father was a lawyer, diplomat, politician and nationalist who would later die in a Soviet gulag.
Young Tali, as he was called, began playing the piano when he was 5, but as he said, "music was never forced on me because I was not expected to be a musician." Instead, everyone anticipated he would become a diplomat. With that career in mind, he was sent to the Lycée de Grenoble, in France, where he graduated in 1939. He returned home to Riga, where he turned instead to music and took up studies at the Latvian State Conservatory. He was compelled to leave Latvia when the Soviet Union occupied Latvia at the end of the Second World War.
He returned to France, where he won a scholarship to the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1950, his Cello Sonata, which he composed for his graduation, had its premiere at the Salle Gaveau concert hall in Paris by French cellist Maurice Gendron.
After graduating, he had some difficulty making a living. By that time, he had fallen in love with Valda DREIMANIS, a young countrywoman he had met in Paris. They married and were soon expecting their first child. He was playing the piano in bars to keep bread on the table when a letter arrived from Canada offering a job as organist and choirmaster at the St. Andrew's Latvian Lutheran Church on Jarvis Street in Toronto.
The KENINS soon set sail for Canada. They arrived in Halifax in November, 1951, and took the train to snow-covered Toronto to begin their new life.
The salary at St. Andrew's was nominal, and to supplement it Prof. KENINS took a job delivering refrigerators and stoves for Simpson's, the department store. Desperate, he asked for a meeting with Arnold WALTER, the director of the newly established faculty of music at the University of Toronto. Celebrated Canadian tenor Edward JOHNSON, now chairman of the board of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, was also at the meeting. Both men agreed that he should join the faculty of music to teach composition, contrapuntal techniques and keyboard harmony at an annual salary of $2,000.
Thus began a teaching career that Prof. KENINS considered as important as his writing. Composer John BECKWITH became his closest colleague on the faculty. "He and I were appointed to the University of Toronto faculty of music in the same year, 1952," Prof. BECKWITH said. "I had just returned from studying in France. Tali had spent the immediate postwar years at the Conservatoire in Paris, in the same class as Pierre Boulez. He was the only colleague with whom I could enjoy habitually conversing in French."
Prof. KENINS, who became a Canadian citizen in 1956, went on to teach such pupils as pianists Arthur Ozolins and William Aide, musicologist Walter Kemp and composers Edward Laufer, Bruce Mather and Ben McPeek, plus a generation of younger composers.
He continued along his twin paths as teacher and composer with unflagging ebullience until 1984, when he retired as professor emeritus. His composing, however, continued apace.
Prof. BECKWITH, who retired from University of Toronto as professor emeritus six years later, said Prof. KENINS excelled as a pianist and improviser. "What Tali had was craft. He had it up to his eyebrows. He was at home in counterpoint and fugue. He had that fluency that all composers strive for but many find hard to achieve."
His compositions deserve to be better known, said Prof. BECKWITH. "In Latvia, despite his emigration, Tali became known as the country's national composer, like Neilsen in Denmark or Tubin in Estonia. He was also the Latvian Sibelius, with eight superb symphonies in his output. Symphonies, I might add, which Canada's major orchestras have ignored, a fact I find not surprising but absolutely appalling."
The Eighth Symphony, commissioned for the Latvian Song Festival in Toronto, had a major role for concert organ, to take advantage of the Gabriel Kney organ at Roy Thomson Hall, where the work was premiered in 1986.
Latvian-Canadian pianist Arthur Ozolins is a champion of Prof. KENINS's music. He plays all four piano sonatas, including the Schumann Paraphrase, and the concertos. He has recorded the First Sonata, and he gave the premiere of the Concerto for Piano with Strings and Percussion in 1991 at Roy Thomson Hall. Mr. Ozolins hears the influence of French composer Olivier Messaien in these works, but points out Prof. KENINS's highly personal use of the octatonic scale (alternating semi-tones and tones) and his fondness for discords of the seventh and the minor second.
Mr. Ozolins was a pupil and protégé of Prof. KENINS since his arrival in Canada in 1958. "He treated me almost as a son. He loved to spend his summers in a cottage in Wiarton, on Georgian Bay, where he did most of his composing. His wife was not much interested in music, but she was a superb cook… and she babied KENINS. I spent a summer with them and it was an idyllic time. I remember his younger son, Andy, who then was about 15, copying his dad's manuscripts in the most beautiful, meticulous hand in India ink."
The elder son, the cellist George KENINS, also remembers an earlier summer, when he was in his mid-teens, sight-reading with his father the Beethoven cello sonatas. "We would also do solfège to Bach fugues. So when I got to the University of Toronto, I was ready. He was a teacher to me, but I was seldom aware of it. His aim was to make his pupils think in music for themselves."
He said his father always composed to order. "He agreed with Hindemith, who said, 'The muse has learned to be prompt.' He also didn't like revising things. He would rather write a new piece. He wasn't attracted by the wave of minimalism which swept up composers of the time. He said, 'I am not a minimalist; I am a maximalist.' "
Prof. KENINS also liked to say he was not an innovator, but a follower. "But as a follower, I try to put in as much as I can of my own mind, my spirit and my message… But I can tell you I learned a very great deal indeed from my teachers… I also always followed the advice of Jean Cocteau, who said 'The great masters are inimitable; therefore, imitate them.' My model was Maurice Ravel. His aim was, in the minimum of time, to say important things."
For all that, Prof. KENINS said that in writing symphonies, he chose to take new paths in different directions. "The Third was a stepping stone, when I realized I was able to express my priorities in music and drama in a symphonic language," he said. "In the Fourth, I set out to find whether the latest devices, or catalogues of devices, would fit my musical thinking.
"They have said in France and Canada, and now in Latvia, that KENINS has lots of craft. I hope that, besides the craft, there is some talent and some music, too."
Prof. KENINS received Latvia's highest honour, the Order of the Three Stars.
In 1994, he finished what he vowed was his last large work, the Nonet, subtitled L'Ultima Sinfonia. He had spent eight years on it and declared that it included all he knew and had to say. "You know, Copland said, 'To write one minute of music is nothing, but to write two minutes is already more complicated.' Here, I have written a 40-minute work, and that was extremely complicated and very exhausting. So this will be the last."
Four years later, however, he was inspired to write his Viola Concerto. Commissioned by the great violist Rivka Golani, at her request, it was premiered by her in 2000. The work really was his last.
He was, according to Latvian composer Peteris Plakidis, a witty writer of music. "His music is full of self-irony, just like the man. He said, 'I don't like my own compositions very much, but I like terribly to compose them.' "
Talivaldis KENINS was born in Liepaja, Latvia, on April 23, 1919. He died of pneumonia in Toronto on January 21, 2008. He was 88. He was predeceased by his wife, Valda, in 2006. He is survived by his sons George and Andy and his grandchildren Aleks, Amanda, Laura, Christie and Daina.

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