STAFF
BOARD
Lois Wyndham
President
Lois Wyndham is a retired librarian; she spent most of her career managing small specialized libraries in such diverse areas as fisheries research, rubber and plastics, steel and most recently health care. She participated actively in the Special Libraries Association, the Medical Libraries Association and is a former President and Life Member of the Canadian Health Libraries Association. Lois has always been fascinated by textiles, particularly their history and contributions to cultural development. She is a Master Weaver, a spinner, knitter, sewer and quilter. With her husband Lois especially enjoys sailing Georgian Bay, cottaging, travelling to interesting parts of the world and trying to keep their herb and perennial gardens growing.
Marg Patterson
Secretary
Marg has been a snowmobiler since she retired from Bell Canada. Every year, as a member of the Bass Lake Snowmobile Club, she has taken part in the Snowmobile Ride for Literacy. She was always impressed with the hard work that the ODLC did for this event and thought that maybe she could help too.
Marg is also a member of the Alzheimer’s Society and the Women’s Institute, whose main functions are helping in the community, so why not help in this much needed community volunteer organization.
Shari Menard
Vice-President
Shari has worked with/for a variety of not-for-profit organizations including The Ontario Eco-tourism Society, Green Tourism and a number of volunteer boards.
Shari currently works in the literacy world for the Simcoe/Muskoka Literacy Network and in her spare time dotes on her family and especially her new granddaughter.
Debbie Shaw
Treasurer
I am trained as a social worker and have been retired from a 34 year career in Child Protection for almost 10 years. I have enjoyed an active retirement, working for Statistics Canada for one year and part-time for 5 years with a private foster care agency, Key Assets, in Mississauga. In fact, I continue to complete foster home assessments for that agency on a contractual basis. Many of the children I have worked with over the years have faced learning issues on into adulthood and, hence, I am greatly interested in the work the Orillia Literacy Council does and know that there are many people who can benefit from the services the agency offers. As a mother of two daughters and “Nana” to 6 grandchildren, I understand how difficult it must be for a parent who experiences literacy challenges when called upon to help her children/grandchildren and is unable to do so.
Tim Carrigan
Director
My interest in ODLC stems from my 27 years in the educational field as a teacher, counsellor and support worker. Although semi-retired, I still have the desire to use my skills, abilities and background to help others. Presently, I volunteer and tutor at the ODLC. Offering my services to a worthwhile organization allows me to keep growing and learning as well as continuing to use my skill sets in whatever areas I can. My education took me around the world teaching ESL in other countries and I gained valuable knowledge of other cultures and their process for learning. The one thing that stood out for me in this experience was all students, young or old, are pretty much the same no matter where you are in the world. They all have an innate desire to learn and improve themselves. As a father of 2 teenagers, I continue to offer support to their learning where needed, especially during the pandemic. As a fitness minded family, we take advantage of the walking & biking trails in Orillia. I feel physical activity and learning go hand in hand as the mind and body have a way of balancing out each other. One of my pleasurable duties as a father was reading bedtime stories to my kids. A process I hope they pass down to their kids some day and instill in them and others the desire they grew up having for reading and learning.
Don Ross
Director
J. Donaldson Ross is a graduate of McMaster and MA of Environmental Studies from York University. He was public policy and strategic planner in the Ministry of Natural Resources until moving from Toronto to Orillia where he started a successful independent bookstore. While in Orillia, Don has been the founder in 1992 and three times chair of the Orillia Museum of Art and History, chair of the Orillia Heritage Committee, and the Orillia Hall of Fame; board member of the Mayor’s University Task Force to bring the satellite campus of Lakehead University to Orillia, and the Orillia Cultural Arts Centre. Don relishes a good novel, especially Canadian, Irish and Spanish, but mostly reads history of Champlain, the French Regime, Upper Canada and Scotland. He is also an antiquarian book collector, avid gardener and relentless genealogist. He is married to Evelyn Ross in an 1885 Second Empire home, with two sons- engineer Cameron in Montreal, and artist John in Calgary, and one grandson.