You didn’t say ‘no’ to Sheila McWilliams because she was a magnet for good things. You’d want to share her quiet enthusiasm… Val Cramp, Lori Catteau, Judi Shields, and Sheila’s husband Norm are just a few people who described this determined woman who took her energy into so many areas of need. When Sheila died…

It’s been almost 11 years since I ventured into cyber space and registered donnadouglas.com as a web address. Getting that domain name was like stepping into the unknown. While I was buying an address, there were no bricks and mortar, and that’s what made it such an adventure. I wrote a column or two about…

For a quarter-century, hard core Barrie area Girl Guide enthusiasts and their families and their community have raised money to build a Girl Guide camp. What was the flicker of an idea in 1986 was struck by a match when Sylvia Dufresne was marshalled to lead the charge. Today that Guide Camp, fully paid for…

Retirement in Barrie brought challenges Susan Bracken could never have anticipated. When Susan’s husband (a lifelong non-smoker) was diagnosed with lung cancer, the couple was shattered. She committed herself to his end-of-life journey and recounts two years of horrific suffering, pain, and helplessness. An end of life that nobody should experience. Her husband was 69…

It all started with the crowd we had for dinner on Father’s Day. And it culminated last night with the death of two babaies. In between is a series of simple activities, when cause and effect are unknown to each other. But, back to the beginning… For large family dinners, we have an extra table…

Never mind that Pat Gilbert has dogged this Gilda’s Club idea for a decade. Like a puppy with a bone, she hasn’t let her attention waver from the end goal, and along the way, she passed her enthusiasm to literally hundreds of people who have jumped on board. In June, Gilda’s Club opened its red…

When Patricia Knight picked up an old hospital dividing curtain from a bin at Goodwill, she thought it was a pretty good deal for backing cloth for another project. At $10 per curtain, measuring 14 by 7 feet, it seemed like quite a find. Because Patricia was a struggling art student at the time, four…

It was my wise accountant who counselled me during a rough patch a couple of years ago… don’t look ahead just now, he said, look back; look back at your legacy. Legacy. Legacy. It’s a huge responsibility, and one that induces humility in short order. Legacy. The wonderful Vanessa, the anchor at Barrie’s downtown Grand…

I remember my mother’s amazement when Kid One was born. She looked at her baby grandson and she marvelled over the new wee undershirts that swept under the back, under the rubber pants and domed at the front… a series of domes for growth. “Boy, I wish we’d had those,” she said. All we had…

If the calculator is working, 32,200 kids have shed their street clothes, slipped on leotards and run for the dance floor. And that’s not counting adults. These are the numbers who have participated in Carol Gillstrom’s dance classes since she opened her doors in the main living room at the Knights of Columbus Hall in…