How They Lived
Gaston Tonnellier used his hands to make his living — until a wedding ring went on his finger. He was known as “Tough Gus” Tonnellier during his pugilistic career, fighting on both sides of the international border and even becoming Western Canada’s Golden Gloves champion.
But after marrying “Ma Fille” Edith, he hung up his gloves and not long after became a teacher.
I don’t know if his students ever knew that the hands that held chalk had once punched other boxers, but he taught many high school students, including at Glenlawn, Silver Heights, and Westwood Collegiate.
And, while he hung up his gloves, he kept one thumb in the profession, training and coaching for years at the Pan Am Boxing Club.
He died after fighting his last foe, Parkinson’s disease, on May 13 at 90 years of age. Read more about Gaston.
Teenie Myketa, who died on May 16 at 85 years of age, had no idea when she walked into Wellington School to volunteer to teach knitting to a group of interested school kids that it would change her life.
She was so great with kids that she was encouraged to become a teacher’s aide, which she did, getting her high school equivalency diploma and then getting hired to work at Springfield Heights School.
She later transferred to Donwood School and, by 1998 when she retired, she had been an aide for almost 25 years.
She then started volunteering at Seven Oaks Hospital and was part of the ladies quilting group which met weekly.
Her volunteerism there was recognized by not just the hospital, but she also received the Premier’s Volunteer Service Award. Read more about Teenie.
I well remember Sidney Schwartz on the bench. During my years covering the Law Courts for the Free Press, he was a judge who helped me out numerous times.
I could always tell, when I suddenly walked into a courtroom midway through a trial, that he would start asking questions of the Crown attorney, which probably exasperated the prosecutor, but quickly brought me up to speed about what was happening.
Schwartz practised as a lawyer for several years before being appointed as a judge on the county court in 1983 and, a year later, a Court of Queen’s Bench justice.
Schwartz served on the bench until 2004, and presided over numerous cases through the years including being the judge who decided that an elderly woman didn’t have to share her $11.4 million lottery win — one of the largest at the time — with her homecare worker.
He was 87 when he died on May 17. Read more about Sidney.
Walter Nilsson spent his life fighting fires. Nilsson, who died on May 19 at 95, joined the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War in 1942, and served on a number of missions in the North Atlantic.
After his discharge in 1946, he returned to Winnipeg and joined the Winnipeg Fire Department. He rose through the ranks and by the time he retired 38 years later he had served as acting fire chief.
And, when he wasn’t at work, Nilsson supported his community, helping build the South Transcona Community Club with friends. Read more about Walter.
Wayne McLeod cast a large shadow in helping northern residents get medical care. He began with Keewatin Air in 1997, flying aircraft out of the company’s Rankin Inlet base, before joining its air ambulance program.
He joined the provincial government’s Air Services Branch before returning to Keewatin Air in 2002 as Chief Pilot and then president and CEO. And sometimes, besides flying planes, he would put on the red suit and white beard and stand in for Santa Claus for children in northern communities.
In his honour, Keewatin Air has registered one of its medevac planes in his honour as C-FDWM. He died at 55 on May 14. Read more about Wayne.
Edwin Nicholls touched the lives of many children and adults living with special needs in both his working career and retirement. Nicholls, who died at 73 on May 7, taught throughout Ontario early in his teaching career before coming to Manitoba.
Here he taught for the Seine River School Division, including in special education as well as kindergarten to Grade 8.
After retiring, he volunteered thousands of hours at St. Amant, helping the students and teachers at the school there, as well as people in Adult Health Services and St. Amant’s community residential program. And, with his own dogs, he helped start the Pet Visitor program. Read more about Edwin.
A Life’s Story
Dave Baxter, who has written several of our A Life’s Story features in our Passages section in recent months, is leaving us, but before he did he wrote about the life of Menorah Waldman.
Waldman, who died in November at the age of 95, and was described as an “ageless wonder,” was still teaching weekly fitness classes at the downtown YMCA when she was 89 years old.
And that’s not all this woman did during the latter part of her life. When many were slowing down, she was speeding up. She began training at the age of 60 to become a certified fitness instructor for the Y and she swam competitively, competing until she turned 89 at the Masters level and winning dozens of medals.
“She would just keep doing everything she was doing because she always had a goal and would say, ‘I’m working towards this goal or training for this goal’, and she just did it,” said her son, David. Read A Life’s Story about Menorah.
Supplied photosMenorah Waldman, who lived to be 95 years old, was committed to her community and her family. She died in November.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
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