Venerari archives

Content Note: This story includes reflections on wartime loss and death. Why is Rotary such a big part of my life? 1977 was a low point for me because we had to leave our church. A neighbor, a very good friend, invited me to join Rotary. So, in January 1977, I attended a Rotary meeting and I said, "This is for me." What attracted me to it was service to others; Rotary's motto is "Service Above Self." I was very comfortable with that because my career was being a teacher, wher

I am a Canadian of Chinese descent, and I was born in Vancouver. My mother and father were also born in Vancouver, but didn’t become fully Canadian citizens until after the repeal of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1947, despite being born here. I remember when I was a kid, going to Chinese school after school, but I never learned Chinese for some reason. Then, I got married to this guy from China, and we sent our kids to Chinese school, and they know even less Chinese. They d

One of the interesting things about my childhood is that I lived in a place called Greenwood, B.C. It was one of the places where the Japanese were sent during World War II, so I grew up in a predominantly Japanese community. Most of my friends were Japanese. I think that had a lot of influence on how I saw the world and gave me a sense of knowing what it is like to be a minority. Greenwood was a little tiny town. There wasn’t much there, so I came to Vancouver to work. I got

I was born in the Netherlands. My family was dysfunctional. My father was drunk, and my mother was abusive. She grew up in a very poor family and believed that, for example, I couldn’t have a bicycle because she couldn’t have one growing up either. She walked, so I could walk too.

I was born in the Netherlands. My father worked for a co-op, and he wasn’t making a lot of money. There were six kids at the time, and my mother was pregnant, so we came to Canada. We landed at Pier 21 in Halifax. I was so young, so I don’t remember much, but I went back to Pier 21, and it is amazing. I didn’t speak a word of English. After landing in Halifax, we came to Picton on Thursday, and I started school on Monday. We picked everything up through osmosis. I remember my

I was born in Kingston along with my two brothers. During the Second World War, the Delta Airport was an Air Force base—the highest security base in Canada. There were 15 families. We went out there in 1952, and the house wasn’t even ready, so we had to stay in a hotel in Ladner.