ORCA PROBUSCLUB COURTENAY / COMOX

NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2017

President’s PODIUM

The ORCA PROBUS CLUB meets on the second Tuesday of themonth at 2:00 pm. in the Comox Legion Hall.

I sit here with a bit of trepidation (crossword heaven word) as I write myfirst President’s message. Writing was and is not one of my strong points. Ifyou want me to tell you how to rebuild an engine, well that is right up my alley.

Thank you Doug for your dedicated executive years, and Larry for a verysuccessful 2016-17 Presidential Year. Your legacy of archiving all Probus files

will keep everyone on track. Thank you all for giving me the honor of serving as your President,and to everyone who has stepped up, some for their first time, and some with a continuation ofyears of service. I know our club is in good hands with such a strong and supporting executive.Also a huge thank you to all our Activity Leaders and volunteers, it will be another rich and busyProbus year.

I have already had a very difficult decision to make as your President. Be there with you at theNovember meeting or accept our daughters’ invitation to join them and their families, includingour two six year old grandchildren, in Maui. What do you think my decision was.........

A decision that was made that much easier, knowing that the meeting would be in verycapable hands. Thank You Marie for stepping up, and giving me the opportunity to be agrandfather in Hawaii!

I look outside and it’s snowing. It reminds me of the time of year and that leads me toNovember 11��. We recently attended my brother in law’s celebration of life and interment. Theinterment was accompanied with a piper and a bugler. Very moving. Nick was an engineer withthe Winnipeg 20�� Field Regiment. They were involved with the liberation of Holland. 310shipped out, 130 returned. His regiment met every year somewhere in Canada to remembertheir fallen. Nick was the last survivor . He was 95 years young! Makes a person wonder whatwas going through his mind each year he lost comrades. What horrors were witnessed and livedwith, and what stories went untold? On November 11�� please wear your poppy inremembrance. Maybe you have memories of your family’s lives, sacrifices. With what ishappening in the world today, we should keep those memories on hand the other364 days of the year.

Dave Pacholuk, President Orca PROBUS

Dave Pacholuk

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november BIRTHDAYS

1 - Vince Borch 9 - Grant Compton

13 - Lawrence Petkus 14 - Deanna Provencher 22 - Carol Borch

25 - Billie Dancer27 - Rose Jacobson27 - Carol Labine

30 - Harry Meyers

IN THIS EDITION- Birthdays 2

- Event Calendar- Mgmt. Committee- November Speaker 3- Group Contacts- M’g’m’t. Comm. 4- Editor Wanted- Sock Hop! 5- Lunch Bunch- Walking Group- Christmas Dinner 6- Probus Singers

- Hiking Group 7 - Pub Club 8 - Probus Website

- New Members 9- Classified Ads- Activity Leaders 10- Remembrance 11- The Old Farmer 12

ORCA PROBUS MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

President Dave Pacholuk isdavep@shaw.ca 338-6886Vice-President Marie Knowles marieknowles@shaw.ca 871-1823Secretary Ken Talbot kenandjim@shaw.ca 338-7743Treasurer Paul Ellegood pmellegood@shaw.ca 339-5561Membership Pat Ellis ellispat@gmail.com 331-0743 Deanna Provencher gldenpnd@telus.net 331-0389Social & Activities Bev Ouellette bjouellette@shaw.ca 941-1844Facilities Marilyn Morris justmarilyn@shaw.ca 339-0904Newsletter Ian Pratt ianpratt@mail.ubc.ca 338-0780Past President Lawrence Petkus lpetkus@gmail.com 331-0389

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ACTIVITY GROUP CONTACTSBBQ Group Wendy Irwin 334-0607 - wendysplace@shaw.caBridge MaryLynn Rasmussen 338-6807 - ml.ras@hotmail.comDining Out Lawrence Petkus 331-0389 - lpetkus@gmail.comDining In Group Wendy Irwin 334-0607 - wendysplace@shaw.caGarden Club Cricket Price 338-0780 - cricketp@telus.netGolf Group Ross Cowan 871-3769 - ross.cowan99@gmail.comHappy Appie Group Sandi Tetreau 334-0926 - sandit@shaw.caHiking Group Tim Ackerman 703-0048 - acker944@shaw.caLunch Bunch Margo Ellegood 871-5561 - pmellegood@shaw.caProbus Singers Rae Siebert 898-8347 - tumble-weeds@shaw.caand FriendsPub Club Howard Siebert 898-8347 - hcbert@shaw.caQuilters Group Beth Ritchie 339-5435 - ritchie68@shaw.caReading Group Marilynn Morris 339-0904 - justmarilyn@shaw.caWalking Group Doug Payne 334-8430 - dpayne2@shaw.caWine Club Rotating Leaders

Mercy Ships uses the world’s largest charity hospital ship to provide free surgeries andmedical training in Africa. Each year more than 1500 volunteers from around the worldjoin Mercy Ships to donate their time and skills aboard the Africa Mercy.

Mercy Ships Canada supports surgical and medical training projects that align with theglobal organization’s core values and goals. We also support Canadian volunteers whodonate their time and talents to the organization. Mercy Ships’ Canadian office, located inVictoria, is part of a network of 16 national offices around the globe, all working togetherto bring hope and healing to some of the world’s poorest people.

Darcie Acton, CFRE is the Interim Manager of Advancement for Mercy ShipsCanada. Originally from northern Alberta, she is happy to be spending quality time onbeautiful Vancouver Island. She is a proud member of the Association of FundraisingProfessionals (Vancouver Island Chapter and Edmonton & Area Chapter), and hasserved as a board member for the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy – Canada.

Darcie will share stories and video about the amazing and innovative work thathappens aboard the Africa Mercy, the Mercy Ships service model, and the waysCanadians are making a big difference in some of the poorest nations on the planet.

novemberspeaker

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Editor Wanted!I’ve been happily editing the Orca newsletter for six years, but now I need to pass the

job along to someone else. Knowing that this process might take some time, I have toldthe Management Committee that, if really necessary, I will continue until May, butdefinitely not beyond that.

Note: this is not a really difficult job. You would need to be comfortable with yourcomputer, but modern software makes the work surprisingly simple,and there is lots of reward here.

Any member who is interested in taking over should contact me,and I’ll do everything I can to assist with information, software, etc.

Even if you think you might be interested, let’s have a chat.

Thanks. Ian Pratt 250 338-0780

2017 - 18 management committee

Left to Right: Ian Pratt, Newsletter; Marilyn Morris, Facilities; Dave Pacholuk, President; Marie Knowles, Vice-President; Ken Talbot, Secretary; Paul Ellegood, Treasurer;

Pat Ellis, Membership Co-chair.Inset: Lawrence Petkus, Past President; Deanna Provencher, Membership Co-chair;

Bev Ouellette, Social & Activities Coordinator.

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THE WALKING GROUP has coffee……..

On Oct. 16th we were supposed to have a walk by the Royston Sea Park,but it was raining and blowing and just bad weather. Anyway, I talked BillieDancer into to going out there to see if any one turned up, and after about aminute or so we figured that no one was going to show, so we took off.(I found out later that Larry and Deanna came just after we left…)

Anyway, I suggested to Billie that we go walk around Walmart and have a cup of coffeeat the MacDonalds in there afterwards, which we did. When we went to get the coffee,they had run out of medium size cups so we had to get Large cups..and they were havingsome sort of a giveaway thing where, if  you pulled off a tab on the cup,  you could winsomething. Well, be darned if Billie didn’t win sixty thousand dollars, and she wanted togive me half, which I didn’t want..so we  had a real Canadian stand off. Man, is she everstubborn…….. so we  decided to give it all to charity……which we did………

- Doug Payne………

SAVE A DATE!!!!!!!!

March 3rd 2018

Come out to the Little Red Church in Comoxfor a

50's-60's Sock Hop and Music Trivia Night

Love to see you "Rock Around the Clock!!!

Stay tuned for detailsin the upcoming months!!!!!!!

- Tim Ackerman [!!!!]

lunch bunchIn October the lunch bunch tried out a newrestaurant in Cumberland--4 Quarters--we werereally pleased with the food and service.In November we will be off to the Avenue.Come one , come all and join us.Cheers, Margo

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The “Undecideds” are preparing for their firstSingalong of the season . If you haven’t heard, we arehaving an “All Beatle's Night" of songs sprinkled withBeatle trivia to add to the fun evening.

If you loved the Beatles, and still enjoy their music,you won’t want to miss this month’s gathering. It’sbound to have you “rockin’ in your seat!

We look forward to seeing returning singers, and welcome new members, familymembers, friends and neighbours. All are welcome!

Mark your calendar for this special Beatles Night event:

Location: Home of Marie (Knowles) and Harry (Meyers) 3416 Crown Isle Drive, Courtenay

Date: Tuesday, November 28Time: 7:00 pm

Please call Rae Siebert if you have any questions. (250-898-8347)

ORCA PROBUS CHRISTMAS DINNER/DANCEBlack Fin Banquet Room (Comox Harbour)

Tuesday, December 5��Doors Open 5:30 Cocktails/Appys 5:45 Dinner 6:30

Cash BarBlack Fin Specialty Appys & Signature Buffet

featuring New York Strip Loin & Coconut Curried Seafood

Entertainment & Dance w/ Jilli Martini BandSemi formal evening

Tickets: Members-$42 / Non Member-$62

Please contact Margo Ellegood for tickets/wait list: Email: pmellegood@shaw.ca telephone: 250 871-5561

**ONLY 3 TICKETS LEFT**

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HIKING GROUP Many hours, days and weeks have been fruitlessly spent inthe search for “Lost” items, including “Slumach’s Lost GoldMine” in the Lower Mainland of BC, and the world renowned“Lost Dutchman Gold Mine” in Arizona. However, this did notdeter 8 intrepid Probus hikers from setting out on Oct. 11�� insearch of Campbell River’s infamous “Lost Lake”! Mere minutesafter leaving the trailhead, the group had located “Lost Lake”:must have been Bruce’s exceptional leadership abilities!

Having accomplished this so quickly we carried on with aquick trip up to the Lookout, and back to the “Lost Lake Loop”. Lookingat the map, we discovered a side trip which would add about 1K to ourhike, the “Three Pigs”, “Cinnamon Girl”, and “Vlad The Impaler” loopwhich would bring us back to the “Riley Lake Trail”. Let’s just say itadded only the afore-mentioned 1K, but little of it was horizontal!(Brings to mind a saying from our mentor “ No Net Elevation Gain!”).

We found a nice lunch stop at the summit, just in time for Tim,where we fuelled and rested for the descent down via the “Riley LakeTrail”, “Oggles” and then the “Tri Mac” trail back to the parking lot. Agreat day with the rain holding off! - Barry

When Barry reported on the 25�� that the Ripple Rock trails were wet and slippery, our groupopted to do the Big Qualicum River loop instead. We started at the fish hatchery, where weenjoyed an educational talk from a staff member, but we were too early for the next bigspawning run which is predicted to happen about Nov. 11.

While we were wandering the hatchery we encountered a film crew setting up a drone tofilm a segment for the food video under “Moose Meat and Marmalade” found on the Internet.Turns out Marmalade was there and is a friend of Jill’s! Small world!

We started hiking on the dry, open, safe side of the river but, once at the turnaround, wedecided to take the challenge and cross the river via the slippery bridge and ‘greasy’ rocks.Fortunately, Rod’s short slide produced no injury, but made the rest of us more cautious!

Of course there were many dead fish carcasses strewn along the river banks, partially eatenby bears or birds, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise for us to come around a corner to find Mr.Black having his lunch! Howard was leading, but Jill, second, saw the bear first and began yellingand clapping her hands, thus saving Howard from becoming lunch meat. [What? No photo?]

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PUB CLUB NEWS

Well we did eventually have a decent turnout forour October event at the Longlands club house. Untiljust before the meeting I was wondering if we wouldhave to cancel the event due to the low responsenumbers. In fact we used up all of the available seatingspace. The one problem was that not knowing theactual expected turnout resulted in slow service as there was not enough staff to dealwith our numbers. Anyway everyone understood the situation and adapted to it.

Now the leaves and the snow have started to fall way too early we’ll have to snugglein for the winter. One thing about it is that Alberta and Saskatchewan have been dealtthe same hand as we have and they are sharing our misery. Also the golf season hasbeen disrupted in a major way and some of us are thinking we should maybe park theclubs until spring. It’s time to read all of those books we snapped up at the annualRotary book sale.

Even the chum salmon run is way behind schedule this year. At the Qualicum RiverHatchery only 10 percent of last year’s return have showed up so far. I believe the runin the Puntledge River is doing OK so far.

This month we will be going to the Ocean’s 7 Bistro at the Kingfisher Resort inRoyston. This is one time I will have to limit the numbers as they can accommodate only37 people. So watch for the notice in a few days and respond promptly if you wish toattend. I will not be taking names before the notice comes out so that everyone gets anequal chance to attend.

The Oceans 7 Bistro is quite attractive with great views. The appie and drink pricesare competitive with other venues we have attended.

- Howard

PROBUS NATIONAL WEBSITEHave you looked at the PROBUS website?? If not, take a few minutes, it’s worth your

time. Start at www. PROBUS.org, the international page. You’ll be amazed at theamount of information to be found there, with links to Probus in 23 countries, includingCanada.If you follow the link to the Canada page, you’ll find all sorts of information about ProbusCanada and its operation, and a listing of all our clubs by province, with links to many oftheir websites or newsletters, etc.

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welcome!

To OURMOST RECENT

new members

and to 2returning

formermembers.

WHITEIan & Liz

647 Aston Place,Courtenay, V9N 9J2

(250) 871-1737ifwhite2001@gmail.com

eh-white@shaw.ca

KLINE / CHRYSLERKelly & Judy

1625 Pintail Place,Courtenay, BC V9N 8L8

(250) 641-0402rkkline@netbistro.com

FORDNorm & Phyllis

874 Timberline Drive,Campbell River, BC

V9H 0A8(250) 923-3067

phyllford@telus.net

classified ads

Bicycle For Sale:

Specialized Vita Comp model.● Very light weight, aluminum frame, carbon fork etc.● 26" wheel base, 24 gear.● In excellent condition.● $500.00 firm price.

Tess Mead tmmead@shaw.ca

Bicycle For Sale:

“Dahon” – Classic III Fold Up Bicycle $250.00 Perfect for your RV or Boat

Louise Reed. Phone (250)890-0103Like this, but red.

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our activity leadersFor contact info, see listing on page 3.

MaryLynnRasmussen

Bridge

WendyIrwin

BBQ Group

LawrencePetkus

Dining Out

WendyIrwin

dining in

CricketPrice

garden club

RossCowan

golf group

SandiTetreau

(H)Appie Group

TimAckerman

hiking group

MargoEllegood

lunch bunch

RaeSiebert

probus singers

HowardSiebert

pub club

BethRitchie

quilters

MarilynMorris

Reading Group

DougPayne

walking group

RotatingLeaders

Wine clubThis spaceavailable

for new activity

NoPhoto

Available

NoPhoto

Available

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Why Remember?We must remember. If we do not, the

sacrifice of those one hundred thousandCanadian lives will be meaningless. They died forus, for their homes and families and friends, for acollection of traditions they cherished and afuture they believed in; they died for Canada.The meaning of their sacrifice rests with ourcollective national consciousness; our future istheir monument.¹

These wars touched the lives of Canadians of all ages, all races, all social classes.Fathers, sons, daughters, sweethearts: they were killed in action, they were wounded, andthousands who returned were forced to live the rest of their lives with the physical andmental scars of war. The people who stayed in Canada also served—in factories, involuntary service organizations, wherever they were needed.

Yet for many of us, war is a phenomenon seen through the lens of a television cameraor a journalist's account of fighting in distant parts of the world. Our closest physical andemotional experience may be the discovery of wartime memorabilia in a family attic. Buteven items such as photographs, uniform badges, medals, and diaries can seem vague andunconnected to the life of their owner. For those of us born during peacetime, all warsseem far removed from our daily lives.

We often take for granted our Canadian values and institutions, our freedom toparticipate in cultural and political events, and our right to live under a government of ourchoice. The Canadians who went off to war in distant lands went in the belief that thevalues and beliefs enjoyed by Canadians were being threatened. They truly believed that"Without freedom there can be no ensuring peace and without peace no enduringfreedom."

By remembering their service and their sacrifice, we recognize the tradition of freedomthese men and women fought to preserve. They believed that their actions in the presentwould make a significant difference for the future, but it is up to us to ensure that theirdream of peace is realized. On Remembrance Day, we acknowledge the courage andsacrifice of those who served their country and acknowledge our responsibility to work forthe peace they fought hard to achieve.

During times of war, individual acts of heroism occur frequently; only a few are everrecorded and receive official recognition. By remembering all who haveserved, we recognize their willingly-endured hardships and fears, taken uponthemselves so that we could live in peace.

Website: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/

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The Old FarmerHello Orca friends,I was talking to The Old Farmer about gardens and he told me about a garden in a

small town which has a special flower. I hope that you enjoy his special flower and thetown that it came from. - Lawrence Petkus

looking for a small town: Mercythere is a small town full of loving peoplewhere forgiving flows like honeythe people smile and the weather is sunnythey are patient and the town is always peaceful.they know the difference between free will and fatethey follow the dharma road throughout their travelthey thread a needle that never will unravelthey know that kindness never should come late.they drink from the cup of reason, they never go thirstythough they may have nothing, they always givecommunity and fraternity is how they survivethe name of their town is a place called Mercy.

the citadel: Compassionid, ego, super ego. there is a wall around eachand there is a wall around me.i live in a citadel with a skeleton keyglancing down on plains that are out of reach.I am a prince in my citadel with a promissory noteproud of my storage rooms full and lockedholding a gun with the trigger cockedand the draw bridge up across the moat.I am on the other side of the River Styxwith a barque on the shore that can set me freefrom the castle of fear, self loathing, and gluttonyto have peace of mind without the scourge of whips.i must leave for the garden that never goes out of fashionin the plains far from that darkened towerwhere charity and love blossom in a summer shower.the sweetest flower there: most delicate Compassion.