Oct. 2015 - honeywell retiree club

Times
R E TIR EME N T
By Al Shearer
Editor/Publisher
Early on in my time at the
School of Journalism at Ryerson
University, I was taught that
newspaper reporters (which I and
my classmates were training to be)
always ended their typewritten
copy (no computers or word
processing in those days) with this
symbol…- 30 -. The symbol
showed our editor and the
typesetters that that was the end of
the story. There was no more.
It’s why I have chosen to use the
symbol as the headline for this
article. Because this is the very
last issue of Retirement Times.
There will be no more.
As I mentioned at the Fall
Banquet, it has been my privilege
and pleasure to be editor and
publisher of Retirement Times for
19 of the Club’s 25 years. That
amounts to over 200 issues and
over 800 pages, not counting the
flyers announcing events. My job
was made much easier because of
the many Club members who
contributed articles and stories. I
am forever grateful to them.
I will miss the Retiree Club and
I will miss the newsletter. I hope
some of you will also.
A Newsletter for Honeywell Alumni
Volume 26 Number 9, October, 2015
- 30 -
A Large Number of Members,
Guests Attended Final Banquet
Over 160 Club members and
guests attended the Retiree
Club’s 25th and final Fall
Banquet at the Thornhill Golf
and Country Club.
It was an evening of nostalgia
with touches of sadness as some
members talked about the past.
A past president of Honeywell,
PETER RANKINE talked
about the formation of the Club.
BILL SEELEY, an original
me mbe r o f t he So c ia l
Committee, talked about his
experiences at Honeywell. A
past Club president, JIM
HARPER, talked about the
Club’s leadership.
And AL
SHEARER talked about the
newsletter.
C lu b P r e s id e nt JO H N
MACMILLAN spoke of the
reason for the Club and its many
benefits to the membership and
thanked members of the Board
and the Social Committee past
and present (see Letter From The
President on Page 2).
Included in the best attendance
ADDRESS LETTERS AND COMMENTS TO:
Honeywell Retiree Club, 85 Enterprise Boulevard, Suite 100,
Markham, ON L6G 0B5. Or phone 289-333-1214 or e-mail us at
[email protected]
for this event in the last few years
were a number of members who
hadn’t attended a Retiree Club
event for quite a few years and
even some who were attending
their very first event. A special
and very welcome attendee was
SHIRLEY RAYCROFT, widow
of the Club’s founder, Jim.
Shirley was previously granted an
honorary lifetime membership in
the Club because of Jim’s
contribution.
In recognition of this final
banquet, one of the choices on the
dinner menu was a special surf
and turf selection.
A number of attendees at the Fall
Banquet were Club members who
have not attended an event for
some years and who are no longer
on the mailing list, and some
persons who were attending their
first ever event. If you know
people in either group and you
think they might like to receive
this, the last, newsletter, please
call the editor at 416 291-4750
and he will make sure they get a
copy.
Make your newsletter more fun by
sending your contributions. Don’t
worry about writing ability. Just send
your stuff. We’ll do the rest.
P ag e 2
A Letter From The
President
by John MacMillan
I feel like someone who had
won an Oscar and is now standing
before the audience with many
people to thank and hoping I don’t
miss anyone. In fact, I’d like to
apologize in advance to anybody I
fail to mention when I should
have.
I’d like to begin by thanking my
Board members. Our secretary,
BETTY ATKINSON, the ladies
who handle our membership data
and event entries, LYNN
DIGHTON and JUDY
GOLDSTEIN, our Treasurer,
MIKE OPALEYCHUK, the guy
who sends you the electronic
newsletter and our resident
paparazzi, ART ROBINSON,
ADEL SHEARER, chair of the
Social Committee, and last, but
c e r t a i n l y no t le a s t , o u r
indefatigable newsletter editor,
AL SHEARER.
Now, I’d like to thank our
Social Committee, who kept our
interest over the years by the hard
work in organizing monthly
events for our participation. In
addition to Adel, we have
RALPH PARK ER, BILL
SEELEY, SHEILA SIDLO,
BILL WILSON, and ENID
WILSON. And where would we
be without our good friend
DOROTHY ADAMS?
We also have some people who
were not on the Board or Social
Committee but helped enormously
in the operation of the Club, the
convener of our annual golf
t o u r na me nt ,
R O N
CUNNINGHAM, the technical
wizard who established and
maintains our website, STEVE
BRUETON, and the lovely lady
who set up and downloaded
photographs to our Picasa
websit e, MARGARET
MACMILLAN.
As you know, we are
celebrating our Club’s existence
of 25 years so there are many
others who have served in some
capacity over the years and some
of them are in the audience
tonight. In addition to PETER
RANKINE and JIM HARPER,
I’d like to recognize someone
who was in at the beginning and
was a former Board President,
JACK WEBSTER. Then we
have former members of the
Board MIKE WILSON and
GRAEME HAILL, a former
Chair of the Social Committee
and member of the Board,
GREG SMITH, a founding
member of the Board, HELEN
BARTLETT, and a previous
convener of the golf tournament,
ROSS INGRAM.
Another
founding member of the board
was JIM RAYCROFT and his
wife SHIRLEY is here tonight.
As you know, I occasionally
write some letter that Al has
been kind enough to include in
our newsletter and, if you’ll
indulge me, I’d like to return to
one I wrote following our 20th
anniversary banquet, in which I
listed the reasons why people
generally join a club such as
ours. As I went through the list,
I pondered on which category
would most apply to the question
“Why would anyone join the
Honeywell Retiree club?”
Clearly, we have a common
interest...we previously worked
for Honeywell. But is this bond
between us enough to merit the
establishment of a club such as
ours? Some of us may have left
Honeywell under less than
pleasant circumstances, victims of
downsizing, right sizing or
whatever euphemism is used these
days. This could even provide a
good reason for some to keep
away from previous colleagues,
far less join them in a social
environment.
I thought back to an email from
KEITH COUCH which was
printed in our August, 2010
newsletter in which he ended by
saying: “The reason I stayed so
long at Honeywell (over 40
years!) was the most wonderful
assembly of highly-talented,
helpful colleagues one could ever
hope to have.” When you think of
it, during our working life we
probably spent more waking hours
with our colleagues than our own
families. In this Information Age
with email and smart phones,
probably even more so.
We made friendships at work
that have carried over into our
retirement.
We enjoyed the
camaraderie, the teasing, and the
teamwork as we solved our
problems together. This was our
common interest! While there is
no doubt that working for
H o n e yw e l l p r o v i d e d t h e
opportunity for this (and our
pensions, of course!), it was this
spirit of working together in
friendship that made work a little
more pleasurable than just getting
a pay cheque at the end of the
week.
Sadly, our Club has now run its
course, but friendships have not.
They will continue to endure.
Page 3
to go out with a big positive
bang than a future whimper
down the road.
Some Retiree Club members
recently attended the 100th
birthday party for Lil Turner
(extreme right). Lil has been a
regular Retiree Club event
attendee along with her friend
Dorothy Adams (extreme left). Lil
and Dorothy are also avid
Toronto Blue Jays fans and often
attend games. Also shown is
Gwen Wharram. The three are all
residents in the same retirement
home.
Some of her friends and Retiree
Club colleagues also attended the
90th birthday party for Audrey
Sedgley. The party for Audrey,
shown cutting her cake, was held
at the Donalda Club of which
Audrey is a member.
We Heard From...
Your editor received emails
from DOUG and GLADYS
MCDONALD and PAM FELL:
“Good morning Al and Adel.
Just a quick email to say how
much we enjoyed last night (the
Fall Banquet). Outstanding food
and abundant wine all in the
company of good friends. Great
“A big thanks to you two for
your dedicated Club work over
the years and also to you Al for
the family mention in your
comments. As well, keep us upt o -dat e on birt hs/deat hs/
pregnancies etc. and we will do
the same from this end.
“Love and cheers, Doug and
Gladys.”
“Al, I wanted to thank you and
all the wonderful people who
worked on the Retiree Club who
made it so successful. I truly
enjoyed the dinner Thursday
night and John’s speech rang
very true with me.
“He said how much of our
lives were spent working at
Honeywell and we were
fortunate to work with such great
peo ple and make man y
friendships during that time.
Not many people are able to stay
with a company as long as many
of us were able to. Honeywell
had been good to its employees
throughout the years and I think
we were there when it was more
of a family and I’m grateful for
that.
“The work you have done on
the newsletter has been stellar.
You can be very proud of that.
Having worked on the Cathedral
Bluffs Symphony Orchestra
newsletter for a few years, I
know the work involved.
“I truly hope that once in a
while somet hing can be
organized that retirees can go to.
Perhaps one get-together could
be golfing and dinner (I have only
golfed a couple of times so a
nearby mini-golf at the same
course would be nice). Another
idea is a bus trip to New York.
That’s on my bucket list as I’ve
never been there so am throwing it
in.
“Anyway, please relay my
sincere thanks to the Board and
it’s not goodbye but until we see
each other again.
“Sincerely, Pam Fell.
Another email from Pam Fell
reads as follows:
“Well, I completed my 18th year
participating in the Terry Fox Run
on a beautiful sunny day. The
10km route in Gravenhurst is a
beautiful and scenic route and it is
fun participating with so many
enthusiastic people. They have a
great group of people who
organized it and made sure
everything ran smoothly.
“If you sponsored me I sincerely
thank you for your support in this
important fundraising event for
cancer research.”
Board member ART
RO B INS O N r eceived t he
following email from JIM
THOMSON:
Hi Art. I would like to take this
opportunity to thank you for all
the newsletters that you have
forwarded to the group. Although
I have never been an active
me m b e r I ha ve e n jo ye d
Retirement Times. All the best in
the future.”
Art also received the following
(see We Heard From on Page 4)
Page 4
(We Heard From from Page 3)
PIERRE ARCAND, President of
the Quebec retiree group:
“ Bonjour Art.
Hope this
message finds you in good health.
“We, from your Quebec sister
club, would like to wish the
Toronto group the best of luck as
you wind down your operation.
“We have attached a short
message that we would like you to
pass on to the editor of Retirement
Times.”
(The message reads as follows.)
“Re co g n iz ing t hat t he
Honeywell Retiree Club is in its
final countdown, we, of Le Club
Québécois des retraités de
Ho neywe ll, want ed to
acknowledge the 25 years during
which your organization has
provided opportunities for its
members to get together and enjoy
each others’ company.
“We especially wanted to
recognize the work of the
members of the Social Committee
who, for so long, gave their time
and effort to create these outings
and report on them in Retirement
Times.
“We will miss these monthly
updates, including the pictures and
comments that your group shared
wit h us over t he years.
Retirement Times allowed me to
recall some fond memories of my
golden years at Honeywell.
“In spite of the physical distance
and the language barrier, the two
organizations managed to hold
joint activities over the years, half
-way between Toronto and
Mo nt real (Gananoque and
Gatineau to name a few) in order
to enjoy a few days together.
T hese o ut ing s beca me
memorable moments in our Club
history.
“We may no longer be able to
organize joint events, but we
wanted to extend an open
invitation to all Honeywellers
who are planning a trip to La
Belle Province to get in touch
with us and possibly join us in
one of our activities. From our
annual visit to a sugar shack in
April to our Christmas party in
December, we try to provide our
retirees with a monthly outing to
keep our members connected.
“Feel free to drop us a line at
clubdesretraitesdeHoneywell@g
mail.com if you want to know
more about our group and our
scheduled activities.
“Best regards, Pierre Arcand,
President.”
ADEL SHEARER sends in
the following:
“When Al turned 80, our three
kids took us to New York City
for four days...no spouses, no
grandchildren...just the five of
us.
“This year it was my turn and
the Original Five toured
Chicago.
What a wonderful
town! Reminiscent of a
convention we attended 44 years
ago at the Palmer House, a
magnificent old hotel on State
Street.
“Visits to Navy Pier (what
Chicago can teach us about our
waterfront), architectural tour on
the river, a hilarious Gangster
Tour and fabulous food. What a
way to celebrate!
“On another note, our final
banquet at Thornhill Golf and
Country Club was impressive. So
nice to see old friends and meet
new ones. A touch of sadness, but
hopefully some of you will keep
in touch.
“It’s been a great time for me.
Thank you.”
The Retiree Club even got a
couple of mentions on Facebook.
Here’s one from BERNADETTE
BERGER:
“Had a lovely evening at the last
Honeywell Retiree dinner. Many
came because it was the last and it
was fun to see them.
And this Facebook posting from
PAM FELL:
“Like Bernadette Berger I was
also at the Honeywell retiree
dinner last Thursday and it was
great to see so many former
coworkers. Congratulations to the
directors of the Honeywell retiree
club and thank you so much for all
of your dedication and hard work.
“I truly hope we can arrange get
- togethers through this medium of
Facebook at least once or twice a
year. I am so happy that this
Facebook page has been created.”
(Editor’s Note: For those who
might want to maintain contact
with retirees through Facebook,
here’s a reminder:
The only requirement to use
Facebook is that you must register
first.
If you haven’t used
Facebook before, don’t be
(see Facebook on Page 5)
Page 5
(Facebook from Page 4)
intimidated by this. Just go to
Facebook.com and you’ll see the
registration form. All you need is
your name, valid email address
and birth date. You can add more
information such as pictures,
vid eo s, wo r k e xp er ie nce,
education history, etc. But that’s
up to you.
The site will also help you to
modify the settings if you’re
worried about who sees what
information.
Once you’re registered and
logged in, go to the Honeywell
page at www.facebook.com/
groups/559864480714082 You’ll
be prompted to send a request to
join and, once you have, you’ll be
able to see all the latest news and
events.
(with thanks to Steve Brueton)
Last Two Event Trips
Were Well Attended
A total of 77 Retiree Club
members and guests attended the
last two events prior to the Fall
Banquet.
The first was Mystery Theatre at
the Old Mill August 26. Thirtyfive participants enjoyed the
fabulous buffet lunch and then
chuckled at the antics and murder
myst ery at t he Superhero
Convention featuring Axoria,
Wondering Woman, El Chihuahua
Furiosol, Frozina and special
guest Captain Fantasmic.
The show featured many jokes
and even more double entendres.
Lil Turner, a guest of
DOROTHY ADAMS, received a
standing ovation when it was
announced she had just
celebrated her 100th birthday.
Credit for this fun-filled event
goes to Social Committee
member SHEILA SIDLO.
The second event, attended by
forty-two members and guests,
was “Carousel” at the Avon
Theatre in Stratford, September
17.
Following a comfortable ride
in a luxury coach, the group
stopped at Ten Thousand
Villages, a specialty shop
featuring hand-made products
from all over the world.
Than it was on to New
Hamburg for lunch at The
Waterlot Restaurant, a beautiful
old converted home built in 1847
and situated on a millpond near
the Nith River.
Following lunch, the group
travelled on to Stratford for the
performance of “Carousel”,
perhaps Rodgers and
Hammerstein’s darkest musical
about two star-crossed lovers.
Songs featured were “You’ll
Never Walk Alone”, “If I Loved
You” and “June Is Bustin’ Out
All Over.”
This delightful day was due to
the hard work of Social
Committee members BILL and
ENID WILSON.
Editor’s Note: When I was
ed it o r - in- c h ie f o f t he
Ryersonian, the daily newspaper
produced by the School of
Jour nalis m st udent s, t he
newspaper staff decided to print
a list of the over 300 students
who had attended the annual
Spring Prom.
Despite this
dubious decision, it was one of the
best-read issues we had ever
produced. So, nothing ventured,
nothing gained, here is a list of
those who attended the Fall
Banquet, not in alphabetical order
to make you search:
Maureen Telford, Fern Kerr,
Kathi and John Waldon, David
and June Weind, Barbara Marmei,
Chris and Jackie Street, Bill and
Gloria Seeley, Jack Junkin,
Audrey Sedgley, Jim Harper and
Ann Keller, Heather and William
Gibson, Roger and Barbara
Leshyshyn, Nives Re, Marilyn
Newell, David Moffatt, Mary
Williams and Howard and Ruth
Barret, Jack Webster and Joan
Nicholson, Bill Jablonsky, Evelyn
Godfrey, Joe and Joan Baker,
Eino and Inge Rentola, Albert and
Ruth Lenz, Audrey Dean and
Kaye Bradford, Joe and Sally
Nealon, Al and Adel Shearer, Fred
and Kay Parkin, Michael Wilson,
Steve Brueton, Gord and Shirley
Riding, Jack Remmer and Rose
Blackstone, Sheila Sidlo, Betty
Atkinson, Tony and Rose
Lapegna, Marilyn and Jim Koval,
Gunter and Lesley Jacksch, Lynn
Dighton and Pauline Strother,
Dennis and Fran Medland, Barry
and Dianne Drew, Erwin and Erna
Roscheng, Doug and Gladys
McDonald, Tom and Linda
M a t t h e w s , K e it h C o u c h,
Evangelia Romas and Helen
Terzis, John and Margaret
MacMillan, Keith and Barbara
Cribb, Tamas and Judith Vepy,
Werner and Deanna Wolf and
June Wagner and Nancy James,
Bruce and Jane Taylor, Tom and
Jean Doyle, John and Margaret
Mason, Dorothy Adams and Lil
(see List on Page 6)
Page 6
(List from Page 5)
Turner, Frank and Jennifer
Flower, Ron Brown and Margo
McCutcheon, Ray and Anne
Lloyd, Kenneth Toy and Chun
Moy, Bill and Enid Wilson, Greg
and Betty Smith, Bernadette
Berger and Bea Beaudry, Frank
Blackstone, Shirley Raycroft, Bob
and Christine Maxwell, Helen
Bartlett, Irene and John Gerrie,
Mary McCalmont, Don and Joan
Wood, Glen and Irene Langford,
Henry Pasnick, Ray and Beverley
Rigg, Ruby Delbeek, Joe and
Mary Ann Calderone, Mike
Etcher, Peter and Mary Lou
Rankine, Ralph Parker and Veda
Lindsay, Betty Douglas and her
son Allan, Ken Tully and Sharon
Burgess, Pauline Sambourne, Don
and Carolyn Twigger, Anna
Fedor, Ron and Jud y
Cunningham, Margaret
Doroshenko, Ron Warner, Jean
MacRae and her daughter Jean,
Diane Waddell, Susanne Gray, Ed
and Nora Kong, Alma Brace, Hy
and Judy Goldstein, Art Robinson,
John and Christina Bantis, Pam
Fell, Raj and Neelam Bhasin.
Apologies to any misspelled
names, anyone missed or anyone
on the list who shouldn’t be there.
In Memoriam
The Board of Directors,
members of the Social Committee
and Club members offer sincere
condolences to the families and
friends of the following:
DAVID MILNE. David and
VICTO RIA w er e r egu lar
attendees at Club events.
GORDON COX. Gord and
GAETANE were also regular
attendees at Club events.
My Bonnie’s Still
Over The Ocean
By Art Robinson
For those Club members who
don’t know me well, you will
probably also be unaware that I
have a passionate interest in
motorcycles, which goes back to
my mid-teens when I lived in
Liverpool, England. This passion is
still a large part of my life and I
relish nothing more than riding my
Kawasaki sport bike on a twisty
Ontario road.
Wh en I c o mp l et ed my
engineering apprenticeship at the
grand old age of 21, I purchased a
new and very beautiful Triumph
Bonneville motorcycle. It has since
become an iconic machine. Two
years later, I sold the bike to get
married and soon after my wife and
I moved to Canada.
Like most of us going back in our
lives and reviewing all the
possessions we have discarded and
realizing, in hindsight that we
always let the valuable items go, I
never forgot the beautiful bike I had
so briefly owned.
A year ago I attended a vintage
motor cycle gather ing which
displayed many old British bikes
and I became quite sentimental
about my old ‘62 Bonneville. I
decided to do an Internet search to
see if it would show up anywhere
and, on my second hit, to my
immense surprise, I found my exact
bike still bearing the same licence
plate number and looking identical
to the bike I had ridden away from
the dealer 52 years before! My
heart skipped several beats!
I tried the website to make contact
with the present owner. No reply.
Next I tried a UK ex-police officer
motorcycle friend. Again, no luck.
Finally I contacted the UK vehicle
licensing authority, filled out the
forms, wrote a letter explaining
my interest and adding the
sweetener that I still possessed the
original bike’s tool kit and wished
to give it to the present owner.
My letter and money order
forms were returned to me two
weeks later with a letter
explaining that I could not be
accommodated due to privacy
issues. It seemed hopeless until I
came to the last sentence which
said, “If I were to send an
unsealed letter to the present
owner it would be forwarded.”
This is I did and within a week I
was talking to the present owner
on the phone. We have much in
common...similar age and choice
of manufacturing engineering as a
career path. We talked for over an
hour like we had been friends for
decades.
In the summer of this year, my
wife and I surprised by baby sister
Eileen (still in Liverpool) for her
70th birthday (another story) and
while we were in the country we
visited the Bonnie’s new owner
and spent a very memorable day
with him, his family and my
beautiful Bonnie, who is now
reunited with her original toolkit!
Clever thing this Internet!!
Art Robinson (left) is shown with the
current owner of his Triumph Bonneville
motorcycle presenting the new owner
with the bike’s original took kit.
Honeywell Retiree Club Final Banquet 2015