SAABY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-06-09 published
LAMER,
Doctor
Laurent (1931-2008)
Dr. Laurent
LAMER passed away peacefully at Notre-Dame Hospital
in Montreal after a lengthy illness. Doctor Laurent
LAMER dedicated
over 40 years of his life to Notre-Dame Hospital's Ophtalmology
Department and to the Medicine Faculty of Université de Montréal.
Beyond the many patients he has had the privilege of treating,
Dr. LAMER was a pioneer of the use of lasers in the treatment
of retinal disease and in the use of ocular ultra sound as a
diagnostic tool. In recognition of his many contributions to
the advancement of medicine, Doctor
LAMER was honored and granted
a career medal (Médaille de carrière) in 2004 by the Ophtalmology
Department and the faculty of medicine of the Université de Montréal.
He leaves behind his spouse Jocelyne
GAUTHIER, his sons Francis
and Olivier, their spouses Bena
STOCK and Malene
SAABY, his granddaughters
Madeleine and Michelle, his grand_sons Sébastien and Simon, Tamarha
and Jessie
PIERCE (daughters of Jocelyne,) his brothers and sisters
Hubert, Jean-Louis, Claudette and Jocelyne, his brothers and
sisters in law Fernande
LAMER,
Rachelle
LAMER, Jules
JOBIN, Yvon
MATTE,
Pierrette
LUSIGNAN, Jacqueline
APRIL, Françoise and Médéric
DESROCHERS, Monique
APRIL, Hélène
APRIL, Luc
APRIL et Lois
HESS
and numerous nephews, nieces, Friends and colleagues. The family
will receive condolences on Monday and Tuesday June 9 and 10,
2008 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Urgel Bourgie Funeral Home, 1255 Beaumont,
Town of Mount Royal. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday
June 11, 2008 at 11 a.m. at St-Joseph Catholic Church, corner
Thornton and Laird, in Town of Mount Royal. The family, in honor
of his achievements, would appreciate donations to the Fondation
de l'Hôpital Notre-Dame (Ophtalmology Department) instead of
flowers. The family wishes to thank the personnel of the 7th
floor, of the intensive Care Unit and of the Palliative Care
Unit of the Notre Dame Hospital for their devotion and the respect
and dignity of the care given to him during his lengthy illness.
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SAARLOOS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-03-04 published
VANGURP,
Jacob
Abraham
In His appointed time, Sunday March 2, 2008, and with eternal
peace, Jacob Abraham
VANGURP, by grace went to be with his Lord
and Saviour, in his 66th year. Surrounded and ever loved by his
family, Wilma (née
DIELEMAN,) and Children: David and Charlene
VANGURP (Jordan, Aaron, Josiah); Lois and Bob
FORSYTH (Cherish,
Emalie); Jana and Richard
HAMSTRA (Ben, Jeffrey, Janelle, Sarah)
Carol and Johan
TANGELDER (Ethan, Cayla, Julia); Susan and Eric
KNIGHT
(Joshua, Rachel); Nancy and James
ELISEN (Calvin, Craig); Ellyn and
Keith SINKE (Lily, Phoebe); Joel and Amy
VANGURP (Grace). Youngest
brother of Jack
VANGURP;
Nellie;
Gerrie
SAARLOOS; Harry and Jane
Ida and George
JANSSEN;
Casper and
Gretha;
Neil and Theresa; Predeceased
by, Parents Casper and Ida
VANGURP;
Floor
SAARLOOS; Marie
VANGURP
Margaret and Jack
KAASTRA.
Visitation
Wednesday,
March 5, 1-3 and
7-9 at Tillsonburg Christian Reformed Church, Concession St.
W. and a Celebration of Life, Worship Service, Thursday March 6
at 2: 00 p.m. Memorial donations to the Immanuel Christian School
or the Canadian Cancer Society may be arranged by contacting
Ostrander's Funeral Home, Tillsonburg (842-5221).
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SAAVEDRA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-03-25 published
DERSTINE,
Clayton▼
Kolb▼
Our friend, husband and father died on Good Friday at Toronto
Western Hospital. Clay would have liked to have been remembered
both as a writer and as a pioneer in establishing French public
schools in Toronto. Clay wrote throughout his life (including
book reviews for The Globe and Mail) but his magnum opus is his
book Treegodspace. Clay believed in multi-culturalism and in
Canadians speaking both official languages, and was active in
left-wing politics. He devoted his considerable talent and energy
to working to establish a French public school system in Toronto,
and the success that system is now enjoying is due in no small
part to his efforts.
Clay▼ was born in 1928 to Mary Elizabeth Kolb
DERSTINE and Bishop
C.F. DERSTINE of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener. Clay grew
up in Kitchener and was a football star at Kitchener Collegiate
Institute and Waterloo Lutheran. He came to Toronto to do graduate
studies, but fled to Paris, where he sought to come to terms
with the divergence between many of society's values and his
own. He taught himself French from Friends, books and the street,
and worked at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. He returned to Canada in 1958, met and married
Joyce CARTER, his love and companion for the next 50 years. Their
son is Dirk
DERSTINE of Toronto. Clay was also blessed with a
daughter, Julie
SAAVEDRA, born in France. He also leaves his
daughter-in-law Jennifer
PENMAN, his son-in-law Téo
SAAVEDRA
and his grandchildren Madeleine, Benjamin, Lou and Atina. His
brother John and sisters Ruth, Yvonne and Grace will all miss
him as will their families and the rest of his large family.
Clay was a believer in wonder, joy and close observation triumphing
over order-mongering and those who define interest, profit and
riches in money. We loved him and we are all blessed by his memory
and example, while poorer for his absence. A celebration of his
life will be held Sunday, April 6 at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse,
106 Trinity Street, Toronto, at 5 p.m. until whenever.
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SAAVEDRA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-03-28 published
DERSTINE,
Clayton▲
Kolb▲
Our friend, husband and father died on Good Friday at Toronto
Western Hospital. Clay would have liked to have been remembered
both as a writer and as a pioneer in establishing French public
schools in Toronto. Clay wrote throughout his life (including
book reviews for The Globe and Mail) but his magnum opus is his
book Treegodspace. Clay believed in multi-culturalism and in
Canadians speaking both official languages, and was active in
left-wing politics. He devoted his considerable talent and energy
to working to establish a French public school system in Toronto,
and the success that system is now enjoying is due in no small
part to his efforts.
Clay▲ was born in 1928 to Mary Elizabeth Kolb
DERSTINE and Bishop
C.F. DERSTINE of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener. Clay grew
up in Kitchener and was a football star at Kitchener Collegiate
Institute and Waterloo Lutheran. He came to Toronto to do graduate
studies, but fled to Paris, where he sought to come to terms
with the divergence between many of society's values and his
own. He taught himself French from Friends, books and the street,
and worked at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. He returned to Canada in 1958, met and married
Joyce CARTER, his love and companion for the next 50 years. Their
son is Dirk
DERSTINE of Toronto. Clay was also blessed with a
daughter, Julie
SAAVEDRA, born in France. He also leaves his
daughter-in-law Jennifer
PENMAN, his son-in-law Téo
SAAVEDRA
and his grandchildren Madeleine, Benjamin, Lou and Atina. His
brother John and sisters Ruth, Yvonne and Grace will all miss
him as will their families and the rest of his large family.
Clay was a believer in wonder, joy and close observation triumphing
over order-mongering and those who define interest, profit and
riches in money. We loved him and we are all blessed by his memory
and example, while poorer for his absence. A celebration of his
life will be held Sunday, April 6 at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse,
106 Trinity Street, Toronto, at 5 p.m. until whenever.
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SAAVEDRA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-04-30 published
Rebellious writer returned from Paris and helped install French
in Toronto schools
Raised on the Sawdust Trail, he learned oratory from his bishop
father but strayed far from his religious roots
By Noreen SHANAHAN,
Special to The Globe and Mail, Page S8
Toronto -- When Clayton
DERSTINE was 9, he joined his father
on the Sawdust Trail, a trek across the Deep South made by Christian
evangelists during the Depression. C.F.
DERSTINE, a Mennonite
bishop from Kitchener, Ontario, headlined for Billy Graham while
his son ran errands inside the crowded tents. Clay listened to
his father preach to hardbitten farmers, sometimes for up to
five hours at a time, and learned some of his oratory skills.
Years later, Mr.
DERSTINE put those skills to work in a campaign
of his own - an effort to have French-language education taught
in Toronto's public schools. In the process, he discovered a
style of proselytizing much more to his liking.
Mr. DERSTINE helped create the first French public school in
Toronto. He also chaired the Toronto Board of Education's French
language advisory committee, was instrumental in creating the
Francophone Educational Planning Council for the Toronto Region,
and co-ordinated the Ontario Coalition for Language Rights. The
impact of his vision and the breadth of his labour is still felt
in several Toronto communities.
Clayton DERSTINE was the oldest child born to Bishop
DERSTINE's
Canadian family and Mary Elizabeth
KOLB. It was his father's
second family - he had previously had three children with a first
wife in Pennsylvania. His mother kept strictly to her tasks at
the church but later in life was sometimes seen loosening her
kerchief and cruising down the streets of Kitchener in a black
car. Clayton was a bright boy but couldn't keep his mind on his
lessons. He slid into all kinds of mischief - a rough beginning
for a boy whose father had penned well-thumbed sermons with the
titles "The path to noble manhood" and "Hell's playground: theatres
and movies."
During Bishop
DERSTINE's revival meetings, one of Clay's jobs
was to lean across a five-foot wooden scroll and wind it along,
displaying the images as his father told the Mennonite history
of the world. After the meetings, devout women who had stood
in the hot sun all day prepared supper for them, sometimes dripping
sweat into the mashed potatoes. Clay didn't like that too much
- he politely asked for a couple of boiled eggs and peeled the
shells himself. A rebel from the start, he continued on this
path and later exhibited some particularly curious eccentricities,
drawing him far from his rural, religious roots.
He was a football hero during high school, a force to be feared
on the field. But he was a bookish jock, preferring Dickens and
Descartes over retelling stories from the game. His yearbook
included comments about his tackling and running, as well as
how he tended to "sling around a mean vocabulary."
In 1949, after graduating from Waterloo Lutheran University (later
Wilfred Laurier) with a degree in English literature, he went
to graduate school at the University of Toronto, studying under
Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan. He spent hours at the Royal
York Hotel's King Cole Room, discussing great shifts in intellectual
thought with his mentors and fellow protégés. These conversations
became a launching pad for him as a thinker and a writer. His
problem was that his intellect and ambition never quite met up
with a solid body of discipline. As a writer, he was often mired
in esoteric dreaming. He dropped out of school in 1951 and looked
for the cheapest route to Paris.
For the next seven years, he lived in a tiny top-floor garret
with a view of Notre Dame, no doubt aware of the cliché but succumbing
to its charms regardless. He surrounded himself with Scotch,
cigarettes and a steady supply of black notebooks, in which he
inked his impressions of the city. If he wasn't in his room writing,
he was in cafés discovering the particular flavours of French
society, and sometimes sponging work off his new Friends. He
was an office boy for United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization for a few years, then hired to do translations.
If the French words didn't come easily enough, he'd pop into
Café de Flore on Boulevard Saint-Germain to swallow un petit
jaune (pastis) and ask someone to help fill in the blanks.
During this period, he dated Mariel
CLARMONT, a Parisian he met
in one of the cafés. She gave birth to their daughter, Julie,
just before he returned to Canada in 1958. Mr.
DERSTINE held
Julie at birth but then did not see her again until she turned
21, by agreement with Mariel.
In the meantime, Mr.
DERSTINE returned home to life in the basement
of his parents' Kitchener home. It wasn't long before he met
and fell in love with Joyce
CARTER, a young reporter at the Record
newspaper. The couple moved to Toronto, where Ms.
CARTER went
to work for The Globe and Mail. After they had lived together
for a few years, they were married by Bishop
DERSTINE in their
living room, his hands shaking so much from Parkinson's disease
that he could hardly hold the Bible. His son reached out and
took his father's hand to steady it.
In 1965, their son Dirk was born and Mr.
DERSTINE became a stay-at-home
father, a rarity then. He also worked as a freelancer, consulting
with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on a series about
Mennonite history and writing book reviews for The Globe. He
also kept busy working on Treegodspace, a memoir loosely based
on his Paris notebooks.
"This book is written mostly either from a sofa just inside the
window, or from a canvas chaise, shuffled regularly to follow
the sun's patches across the lawn. If it's 3 p.m. I'm beside
the lilies," he wrote. In this dense, impressionistic book, Mr.
DERSTINE
embarked on a journey to see where he would wind up - as he put
it, "To see the macrocosm in the microcosm."
He was deeply committed to his writing project and continued,
season after season, pumping out the words, certain that he'd
eventually find an appreciative audience. He once left the manuscript
on Dennis Lee's doorstep, hoping the Toronto writer would find
it a good home. But after repeated rejections from publishers,
Mr. DERSTINE mourned for a while, then bounced back with a new
vigour for an old passion: the French language.
Inspired by Pierre Trudeau's move toward bilingualism and multiculturalism,
Mr. DERSTINE also believed strongly in Canadians speaking both
official languages. But during the late 1970s, Toronto students
could immerse themselves in French only at expensive private
schools or through the separate school system.
Mr. DERSTINE set about finding a more inclusive solution. In
1972, he helped create the first French public school in Toronto,
École Gabrielle-Roy, named after the Manitoba writer. Five years
later, Mr.
DERSTINE was involved in forming a French secondary-school
module at Jarvis Collegiate. Beginning in 1977, he served for
eight years as vice-chair and then chair of the French Language
Advisory Committee at the Toronto School Board.
"Clay was one of those unique individuals," said Tony
SILIPO,
a trustee on the Toronto School Board in the early 1990s and
another member of the committee. "As an anglophone parent, he
was one of the most fervent proponents of French-language education
in the city. He lived it. He believed in it so strongly."
According to Pat Case, who also served on the board, Mr.
DERSTINE
was a strong proponent of multiculturalism who threw in his lot
with the other minority communities seeking recognition to "come
in from the margins." French wasn't just for Quebeckers, he understood,
but for immigrants from countries such as Haiti, Senegal and
the Ivory Coast.
In the late 1980s, the paradigm shifted. French school boards
replaced the advisory board; Mr.
DERSTINE served on the new body
until he was defeated at the polls in 1992. From that point on,
his world mostly consisted of life in a West Toronto neighbourhood,
where neighbours would spot him reading the morning paper on
his front porch or walking his dog with a crusty baguette tucked
under his arm.
Clayton DERSTINE was born July 1, 1928, in Kitchener, Ontario
He died March 21, 2008, in Toronto after a stroke. He was 79.
He is survived by wife, Joyce
CARTER, and children Dirk
DERSTINE,
of Toronto, and Julie
SAAVEDRA, of Paris.
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