Who we are!

Posted by Danny Bereza 
on Jan 19, 2015
 

In our last newsletter I asked everyone is s/he would be interested in providing a personal profile to be inserted in the newsletter.  I'm happy to report that we have received a very positive response so here we go!  

We still plan to do it in alphabetical order but to make it interesting we'll start at the end of the alphabet - and at the beginning - so we'll meet in the middle. With that in mind, Audrey Yates, Ben and Iris Vansterkenburg and Gaynor and Danny Bereza will be the first to let us know their life histories, adventures they have been on, what they did in life, their hobbies, maybe some pictures of them when they were young, or whatever they would like to include.  Basically we'll get to know them much more than some of us do now.  This will be helpful for our newer members who may not know too many of our people.
 
So, what can you do?  How about writing a story of yourself and your family?  Make it as long or as short as you want. Add pictures if you like and send it to me at dannybereza@gmail.com or if you don't like to write using a computer, mail it to me at 556 Monarch Drive, Courtenay, BC V9N 8R7.  
 
Don't worry about 'quality of writing'. I ain't the best writer in the world but I'll edit it and put it in the newsletter so all our members can read it.  Remember, ONLY OUR MEMBERS WILL HAVE ACCESS TO THE NEWSLETTER (eBulletin) because it is emailed directly to each of us.  We will have access to past newsletters but will have to log in to the website to read them.
 
 
    So, here is Audrey Yates' story:
 
I was born in Neepawa, Manitoba.  My father was a telegrapher with the railroad so I spent my early years moving from Manitoba, to Saskatchewan and Ontario.  In later years any young man who showed up at our home was asked, “How would you like to go out and work on the railroad?”  Before they could tap S.O.S. they were in the wilds of Northern Ontario. 

I remember poor Sadie Hawkins waving goodbye, clutching a wilted, five dollar corsage in the Winnipeg station.  That was a lot of money in those days and not spent unless it was the real thing.

Eventually Li’l Abner returned and we tied the knot.  That first year we lived in eighteen different stations with populations varying from five to fifteen – no roads - no stores.  I could be the mayor one week and he the next.  Later we spent a year in Churchill then had a few more moves before settling in Dauphin for thirty years.

Because I had travelled to Europe many times I got involved in the travel business, escorting groups to Europe and North America.  I spent a lot of time playing Bingo throughout Saskatchewan!

I wrote a travel column for thirteen years.  My husband said that he didn’t realize what a good time he had until he read my column???

We retired to the Comox Valley in 1990 and I’ve never seen any place I’d rather live!
 
And here is Ben and Iris Vansterkenburg's story:
 

 
Ben and I enjoy camping and fishing, travelling, good books and bridge, and did I mention bridge?
 
We have explored much of BC as well as southern Alberta and the north western United States in our motorhome.  We’ve also taken bus tours to Costa Rica, the Maritime Provinces and to Utah and Arizona.  We highly recommend bus tours which give one the opportunity to cover a lot of area and see highlights in a short period of time.
 
We also travelled in Europe for 6 weeks with a Eurail Pass in 2001.  We had no particular itinerary.  We started in Portugal and made our way through Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and into Holland, Ben’s birthplace.   There he met for the first time in 45 years two of his older sisters ... an electric moment;  they could only communicate through the younger generation;  in those intervening years, Ben had lost his Dutch.  (But he soon got it back.)
 
 
Ben and I met in Prince George in 1976 when I applied for a job at his construction company.  I asked  him some months later why he had hired me and he delighted in telling me I was the only applicant.  He left Prince George for the warmer climes of the Comox Valley in 1979.  We got together in 1996, he telling his friends that I was a good match because I liked fishing ... I telling his friends that he was a good match because he knew how to make coffee.  {In Prince George, he was always the first one in the office in the morning and had no problem (as some men did back in those days) putting on a pot of coffee.} 
 
This is our second year with Probus.  We were sponsored by Max and Marjorie Zaharko who unfortunately had to let their membership lapse.  We’ve enjoyed the monthly speakers and many of the tours and activities offered and look forward to more in the future.
 
      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And here is Danny and Gaynor Bereza's story:
 
Danny
 
I was born in Vancouver in 1938, the same year that Hitler took over Austria and Orson Welles hoodwinked everybody with his radio classic, The War Of The Worlds.
 
When WW2 ended I was probably the only kid in Vancouver who was upset.  I wanted to be a fighter pilot like George Beurling but the ceasing of hostilities quashed that idea.  As I grew up my focus was to become a pilot for the RCAF but when I was 16 years old I was told by an optometrist that I would never be accepted due to weak eyesight.  In a fit of remorse I joined the  Canadian Army.  The Army gave me two years of schooling, the discipline I needed and lifelong friendships with several close buddies.  I stayed in the military for five years then returned to school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.  I had earned my Private Pilot license but still yearned to fly commercially so after finishing the first year, decided that I was going to make aviation my career.  With help from my Dad I bought a little airplane and built up over 300 hours.  I got my commercial pilot license in 1963 and flew for Herman Peterson in Atlin, Island Airlines in Campbell River and the BC Government.  I was eventually hired by Nordair in Montreal and when Canadian Airlines International was formed from CP Air, Pacific Western Airlines, Wardair, Nordair and Eastern Provincial Airlines, I moved to Vancouver in 1998 and that's where I met Gaynor.   I had a Sports Fisherman boat that I chartered to scuba divers and one day after the divers had left, their hair still wet from a dive, I was walking up the ramp at the marina and down the ramp came this beautiful girl - well, Gaynor can tell you the rest of the story.
 
Gaynor
​
 
 
I met Danny the day I went to Harbour Ferries Marina in Vancouver - looking for a boat and found a husband. We were married within a year. The boat came shortly after; a 47ft coastal cruiser with twin diesel engines and all the bells and whistles including a dive compressor. We lived seven years onboard before moving to the Comox Valley.. sold boat - bought house and no regrets.
 
In my previous life, I arrived into this world in August, 1949 in Merseyside, England. My father was in the Merchant Navy and perhaps this initiated my love for the sea and island life.
 
Driven by the desire to travel, I graduated with a Hotel Management degree in 1969 and was employed at the world famous Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland before moving to Eleuthera in the Bahamas, where I was employed by Arnold Palmer at his Island Inn and Golf Resort.
 
I later went on to work in Bermuda at the South Hampton Princess Hotel and Golf Resort where I worked until emigrating to Canada in 1978. My first home and place of employment was the Post Hotel in Lake Louise, Alberta which was followed by the position of manager of the Spruce Grove Hotel in Banff, Alberta.
 
A move to Calgary led to a change of career where I was employed in Commercial Property Management with Merrett and Cascade Development. A transfer led to employment in Vancouver which ultimately led me back to the water I missed so much in Alberta. It also prompted me to look for a house boat and who should be walking up the boat ramp as I was walking down to view a boat - my future husband, Danny.
 
Gaynor is very involved with the 60 Minute Toastmasters in Courtenay, is Past President of our PROBUS club and loves to walk her dog, Rocky. 
 
      
Danny is also involved with our PROBUS club as Webmaster/eBulletin Editor, plays guitar with the Silk Pajamas band and plays Pickleball.