This week’s column is dedicated to William Wesley who passed away Oct. 29. The Wesley and Erickson families have been long-time friends of the DeHarts for more than 40 years. William’s wife Sylvia passed away March 4, 2012. The service is Thursday, Nov. 26 at Springfield Funeral Home, 1 p.m. Personal condolences to Ron and Brenda Erickson, William’s daughter and son-in-law, their entire family and many friends.
Career City College, Kelowna’s newest education institute, has opened at 201-1634 Harvey Ave. (Kelowna Business Centre).
The college is owned and operated by Matt Mathai and Satnam Basran. Matt has been in the education industry for many years, teaching at both private and public colleges. He and his wife have owned and operated reputable colleges in the Lower Mainland for the past two decades. Their new college has opened its doors with the idea to help people gain access to affordable and accessible education along with the support required to become gainfully employed. Currently, the college offers accounting, human resources and business programs, along with the Red Seal Electrician IP Exam refresher course. The college is looking into offering health care and medical office assistant programs in the near future. The courses are offered Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check out the website careercitycollege.ca for more information or call 250-317-2222.
After 48 years and nine months working for Safeway, well-known butcher Don Veitch has retired from Dilworth Safeway, where he has worked since 1990. Don began his career with Safeway in Powell River in 1967 after relocating there from Victoria and being offered the job in both the grocery and meat departments. He and his wife Bev then moved to Kelowna in 1978 where he accepted the position of meat manager in the downtown Safeway store until moving to the Dilworth store in 1990. Don is retiring from his butcher career but will continue to help Bev in her business, Interior Retail Supplies. I asked him if he ever thought he would work to make it to the 50-year mark, and he said while he loved his career, it was just time to retire. The couple are also looking forward to traveling more in their motorhome.
Some local trivia. The first radio stations that former Kelowna mayor Walter Gray and Bob Hall started, Walter at the age of 25 and Bob at 35, went on the air 50 years ago today in Salmon Arm. Its companion (satellite) station signed on in Revelstoke the next day. The combo was branded as “The Big R” —First Voice West of the Rockies.” These two stations were the first two commercial radio stations signals you would pick up coming in B.C. from the east after the opening of the then new Rogers Pass. The combined staff of these two stations was seven people including Bob and Walter. CKXR and CKCR were the very last radio licenses awarded by the BBG (Board of Broadcast Governors). The CRTC was then created at that time and continues today. Walter made the trek back to Kelowna six years later and signed on CKIQ in 1971. IQ is now known as AM1150 News/Talk.
Elyse Selig, owner/operator of the first B.C. franchise of Driving Miss Daisy in the Central Okanagan for the past nine years, is retiring. She has sold her business to Lisa Santos, who has worked as a companion and support person for seniors with dementia and also provided hospice respite for the family of one of her clients. Lisa has a Certified Professional Consultant on Aging (CPCA) designation and is passionate about being part of the community working to improve the quality of life for seniors and those with disabilities and special needs. She is also offering seniors consulting services and retirement lifestyle design. Along with transportation from point A to B, Driving Miss Daisy offers clients assistance with many other services. For more information, visit drivingmissdaisy.ca or call 250-860-3272.
Tyson Ralph, the general manager of The Keg Steak House and Bar, contacted me with a wonderful heartfelt story. An anonymous gentleman called him at 10:30 a.m. on Nov.11 and then went to the restaurant and purchased $3,300 in Keg gift cards. He asked Tyson if he could go to the Remembrance Day service at City Park and give $100 gift cards to the veterans after the ceremony. Tyson and his wife Kylene along with their children Kane and Taila had intended to go to the ceremony so he was ecstatic to be a part of this unbelievable gesture. The gentleman said it was a token of thanks to all the veterans and he hoped that Remembrance Day would mean more to the public than just a holiday or day off. Tyson said that as he gave out the gift cards, the veterans were blown away by the kindness of this stranger. One of the veterans, a woman in her 80s came into the Keg with the gift card later in the week and Tyson was delighted to see her.
Each year, the Ministry of Justice recognizes individuals or groups who have demonstrated outstanding contributions to crime prevention and community safety in five distinct categories. Congratulations to Garth Letcher, Kelowna’s very own crime prevention supervisor, on receiving the prestigious Crime Prevention and Community Safety Award. This award recognizes exemplary leadership through developing innovation projects and key activities or initiatives to promote safe communities. Garth was nominated for creating a coalition of partners to support a safer downtown. He brought together many agencies to develop strategies and implement programs for the betterment of the community, especially in downtown Kelowna.
Happy 15th anniversary Carey and Magda Kapp (BrainTrust Canada) on Nov. 25.
Kim Grout has been appointed as chief executive officer of the Agricultural Land Commission as of Dec.14. Kim is a registered professional chief administrative officer, agrologist and a registered professional planner with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture from UBC. Prior to this appointment, she served the City of Pitt Meadows for 11 years in roles including chief administrative officer, deputy CAO and director of operations and development service.
Do you have any old DVDs or do you have DVDs that you don’t know what to do with? Now that there are sites like Netflix, how many DVDs do you purchase? There is a dedicated group of volunteers in our city who collect them, repackage them and distribute them to patients at the Kelowna General Hospital free of charge through one of KGH’s critical nurses. Their mission is for every patient to have a variety of DVDs to choose from during their stay. The reason for doing this is it’s very costly for patients to purchase cable either daily or for extended stays. This initiative will make a patient’s hospital stay a little more comfortable and less costly. I think this is a great idea with very little cost. They would appreciate any DVDs that deal with children’s shows, sports, documentaries, TV series or concerts, but none will be turned away. For pickup or to arrange delivery call Charles Keith at 250-769-5668 or Jaimie Moffatt at 250-215-3349.
Rodney Warren is celebrating the grand opening of his new store, Gem Wellness Centre, at 3670 Hoskins Rd. in West Kelowna. The opening is Saturday, from 1 to 5 p.m. Watch for demonstrations, door prizes, a water demo, appies and lots of fun. Call 250-870-1255.
The Earthly Creations Floral Art Gift Gallery, 2630 Pandosy St. in Kelowna, owned and operated by Marie Shandalla, will celebrate its 16th anniversary in business from Nov. 19 to 25. If you have never visited Marie’s world (as she calls her business), you are missing out. Not only is the store a florist shop, but Marie also has a huge eclectic array of products and gifts for everyone. She believes in fresh and local products and you will need some time to browse in the shop. Marie invites her customers to stop in and have coffee or tea and visit for a while during her anniversary celebrations. There will be in-store specials and lots of door prizes. Call 250-861-5825; email marie@earthlycreations.net.
EntireTea is a new tea shop that has opened at 104-1912 Enterprise Way (corner of Enterprise and Spall). Owned and operated by Alexey Spehalski, who is originally from Russia and has been in Canada for three years, the shop offers exquisite teas, accessories and tea gifts. EntireTea has a great selection of unique accessories and gifts for tea lovers, including many fine bone china cups, tea books (tea in books, not books on tea) and tea pots. Most of the tea selections are imported from Germany, but there are also selections from China and Sri Lanka. The store offers about 150 different varieties of tea and all samples are displayed on the shelves. Tea is sold by the 50-gram package or larger and there are also blooming teas with pots. My favourite tea was the pumpkin spice. It had an incredible aroma. Alexey is constantly adding new teas to the collection and is hoping to open a small tea café on the premises in the future. Open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m,. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 236-420-4201.
The Kelowna & District S.H.A.R.E. Society’s Adopt A Family Program matches up community partners wiling to sponsor a family in need every Christmas season. A hamper includes foodstuff to help provide Christmas dinner and gifts for a wish list provided by the family. To sponsor a family in need call 250-763-8117.
Urban Barn is again hosting the Blanket the Country in Warmth Campaign until Dec. 6. The Kelowna location for Urban Barn is at 1500 Banks Rd. With every $5 in-store donation, a brand-new fleece blanket will be donated to a local shelter within our community. Last year, Urban Barn collected nearly 13,000 donated blankets. Deborah Tycho is the manager of the local Urban Barn.
Birthdays of the week: Carl Stef (Nov. 19); Ed Schiller (Nov. 20); Luanne Kumagai (Nov. 20); Craig Garries (Nov. 20); Mike McLoughlin (Nov. 20); Mike Krevesky (Nov. 21); Gail Schlosser (Nov. 21); Rudy Metzger (Nov. 21); Doug Illman (Nov. 22).
Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna city councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546, 250-862-7662, fax 250-860-3173, email maxdehart@telus.net.
