Eeva Annikki Kantokoski was born May 8, 1924 in Alajärvi, Finland to Matias (Matti) Niilo Kantokoski (born 1901), and his wife Anna Milia (born 1903). The family name was shortened from Kantokoski to Koski, but it is unclear when exactly this occurred. Eeva Annikki and her parents immigrated to Canada in 1924. They arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on August 2, 1924, and then settled in Sudbury, Ontario. In December 1925, Eeva Annikki’s brother, Veikko Vesa Matias Kantokoski (Koski) was born. Sometime after their arrival in Canada Eeva Annikki's name was changed to Ann Eva, though others often referred to her as Anne, Anni or Annie. The family's early years were spent in Sudbury, Ontario. After the death of their mother in 1933, Ann and her brother Veikko lived with their father in Sudbury during the summer months and their aunt Ida Marie (Koivula) Lehti in Oshawa during the winter. Ann completed her education in Sudbury, Ontario in 1939, and gained a High School Entrance Certificate, though she did not attend due to the cost. Once she completed her schooling in 1939 she found employment in domestic service for Mrs. J. Ferrier, in Sudbury. Between 1940 and 1941 she worked at Korpela's Grocery Store on Bancroft Drive, and Maki's Restaurant on Elgin Street in Sudbury, Ontario. In 1942, Ann moved to Malartic, Quebec to work in a bunkhouse and kitchen in a mining town. There she met Archie Chisholm, whom she married in Montreal on May 24, 1942. Their first child, Carl Richard, was born on December 24, 1943. When her husband was posted overseas during World War II, Ann returned to Sudbury to stay with relatives, and completed a Red Cross Volunteer Nursing Service course during that time. After the Second World War, Ann and Archie had two more children; Leslie Karen, born March 8, 1947, and Barry Neil, born October 8, 1955. While living in North-western Quebec, Ann contributed her time to the Protestant Elementary School Board and the Canadian Air Force Ground Observer Corps. In 1974, she separated from her husband and moved to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. There she completed high school and went on to study nursing. She became a Certified Nursing Assistant, and obtained a post-graduate diploma in psychiatric nursing. Between 1976 and 1986 she worked at the Nova Scotia Hospital. Ann Eva Chisholm died on March 12, 2000 at the age of 74, and is buried in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Robert John Keir was born in Port Colborne, Ontario, on April 15th, 1931. While Keir's British grandfather was a professional journalist, Keir himself never recieved formal training in journalism; instead, he developed and honed his journalistic skills through years of on-the-job experience. Keir began his journalism career at an early age as a paperboy for the Globe & Mail. As an adult, Keir began writing for The Evening Tribute of Welland, Ontario, from 1950-1952. It was also during this time that Keir was given the opportunity to work as a “stringer”, writing additional local stories for large media outlets The Toronto Star and the Buffalo Courier-Express. In 1954, Keir became an out-island feature writer for The Nassau Guardian of Nassau, Bahamas, under a six-month contract. When his contract expired that same year, Keir relocated to Sudbury, Ontario. Once in Sudbury, Keir continued to pursue his journalistic interests, covering local affairs for The Sudbury Star from 1954 until 1956. From 1956 to 1957, Keir reported City Hall proceedings for CKSO Radio and Television and from 1957 to 1959, reported these proceedings for The Sudbury Star.
In 1955, Keir was appointed Northern Ontario Correspondent for The Globe and Mail and retained this freelance position for more than ten years. In 1959, Keir founded the Northern Information Service Company Limited in Sudbury, Ontario. As General Manager, Keir played a participatory role in handling freelance news coverage, public relations, advertising, and photography until he ended the company in 1970. In addition, Keir was one of the founders of The Sudbury Sun in 1962, serving as publisher and editor.
By the early 1960’s, Bob Keir had become an active supporter of local interests. This resulted in a shift in career interests, which saw Keir serve as Public Relations consultant for the City of Sudbury from 1960-1961. Keir served one term as Alderman (1964-1965), and despite not continuing as an elected member of city council, Keir stayed on as a volunteer, serving on various community committees (such as the Sudbury Planning Board and the Parking Authority of Sudbury). Keir moved to Toronto in 1970 to work as Senior Communications Manager for the Ministries of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy at Queen’s Park, but returned to Sudbury in 1982 to serve as Executive and Communications Officer for Regional Chairman Tom Davies until Keir’s retirement in 1995.
After retiring, Keir continued to publicly voice his concerns over local issues. As one of seven members of the Greater Sudbury Municipal Watch since discussion of Sudbury’s amalgamation began in the late 1990’s, Keir monitors key issues at City Hall. Other local initiatives Keir has been involved in include the Sudbury Community Foundation (as a founding director) and the Sudbury Regional Restructuring Association (as a founder and secretary). In 1992, Keir was awarded the Canada 125 Commemorative Medal for his volunteer efforts and the Ontario 15 Years Voluntarism Award. Additionally, Keir provides regular published insights in letters to the editor for The Sudbury Star.
Charles Bibby was born in Manchester, England on September 15, 1880. The son of a Confectioner, Bibby was the oldest male of four children. After studying accounting and becoming a public accountant, Bibby immigrated to Canada with his wife Mary Swain (1881-1967) in March 1903. The couple settled in North Bay where Bibby worked as a clerk, and later as an accountant for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).
The Bibby family suffered several tragedies while in North Bay with the deaths of three daughters (Isabella Bibby June 1902 [Lancashire, England] - January 10, 1904 [North Bay, cause: bronchitis for 2 weeks], Georgina May Bibby September 14, 1904 - August 28, 1905, [cause: diarrhea for 3 weeks], and Beatrice Bibby October 1, 1905 - September 3, 1906 [cause: diarrhea for 5 weeks]). On October 19, 1910, the couple had their last and only surviving child Charles Fredrick Bibby (who later became Warden Bibby with the Ministry of Natural Resources). Shortly afterwards (before June 1911), the Bibby family moved to Sudbury due to a transfer with the CPR.
While in Sudbury, Charles Bibby continued to work for the CPR and later gained employment as an accountant for the Sudbury-Copper Cliff Street Railway until his retirement in 1945. He also belonged to the Nickel Lodge 427 of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (he was initiated in Sudbury in 1918, became a Worshipful Master in 1924 and a Grand Steward in 1959) as well as the Tuscan Chapter 95 Royal Arch Masons, Mavar Preceptory 65, the Sudbury Shrine Club, and Rameses Shriners Temple in Toronto.
In 1928, Charles Bibby was elected mayor of the Town of Sudbury and was re-elected in 1929, the year before the town became a city.
Charles Bibby passed away on August 7, 1970 at the age of 89.
Florence Vale, Canadian artist, was born on April 18, 1909 in llford, Essex, England and died on July 23, 2003 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her family immigrated to Toronto two years after her birth, where she grew up with an interest in music. She married artist Albert Franck on June 8, 1929, and together they bought a house on Hazelton Avenue in Toronto which became a centre for artists, writers, musicians, and critics. Florence Vale was the mother of two children, Trudy (who died as an infant) and Anneke.
Florence Vale began to paint with her husband’s paints and brushes in the late 1940’s with no previous artistic training – only what she had learned under the influence of her husband and the artists who visited her home. Her art was influenced by Surrealism, Cubism, Expressionism, and the works of Paul Klee. After her husband’s death in 1973, Florence Vale continued to express her artistic ability with oil paints, collages, and ink, also including her own poetry in some of her works. Many of her works, most prominently after the death of her husband, were erotic, while still viewed by critics as keeping a whimsical, innocent tone. Her art appeared in exhibitions throughout Ontario, with exhibitions also in Quebec and New York, U.S.A. She was associated with the Gadatsy Gallery, Toronto.
Dr. Yehoshua (Shieky) Brownstone is a photographer in London, Ontario. He was formerly a Professor in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Western Ontario.
David Brown Milne (Burgoyne, Ontario 1882 – Bancroft, Ontario 1953) was a painter and etcher; he is widely considered to be among the most outstanding Canadian artists. He worked as a schoolteacher before deciding to study painting in New York where, in 1903, he enrolled in the Art Students’ League. Milne supported himself through commercial artwork but actively and successfully developed his own painting, exhibiting five canvases in the famous Armory Show of 1913. His friends during this period included James (“René”) Clarke, with whom he maintained a correspondence for many years. In 1916, Milne and his wife Patsy (née May Frances Hagerty), whom he had married in 1912, left the city and settled in Boston Corners, New York. In late 1917 Milne joined the Canadian army as a private, and in 1918 was appointed as a war artist to record the locations of battles that had involved Canadian troops. Milne returned to Boston Corners in 1919, where he spent most of his winters until 1928, summering in the Adirondacks. He moved to Ottawa for one year in 1923, when the National Gallery of Canada bought six of his watercolours. In 1928, Milne moved permanently back to Ontario (he separated from his wife in 1933), spending extended periods of time alone in the wilderness regions north of Toronto. Palgrave, a short drive from Toronto, became Milne’s home from 1930 to 1933, and from 1933 to 1939 he lived in a cabin on Six Mile Lake near Georgian Bay. He maintained an interest in the Toronto art scene and developed a small group of patrons including Alice and Vincent Massey, and Douglas Duncan of the Picture Loan Society, who acted as Milne’s agent and dealer for many years. He met his second wife Kathleen Pavey in 1938 and lived with her from 1939; their only child David Jr. was born in 1941. The Milnes lived in Uxbridge from 1940 to 1946. From 1947 Milne lived and worked at Baptiste Lake, with Kathleen and David Jr. joining him periodically. As Milne’s health deteriorated, the family moved to Bancroft to be closer to Baptiste Lake. Milne died at Bancroft in December 1953. His work is represented in numerous public collections, notably the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Elaine Briere is a Vancouver documentary-maker, photographer, journalist and social justice activist. Her documentary, Bitter Paradise: The Sell-Out of East Timor, won the best political documentary award at the Hot Docs Festival, North America’s preeminent documentary film showcase, in 1997. In addition to her work on East Timor, which includes a published collection of photographs (Testimony: Photographs of East Timor, Between the Lines, 2004), Briere has directed a documentary on Canadian merchant seamen, Betrayed: The Story of Canadian Merchant Seamen (1997), and has produced photo-journalism and print articles for "The Tyee", "Briarpatch", "Our Times", and other publications dedicated to labour and social justice issues. Briere’s photographs have appeared in many publications including, Carte Blanche Photography 1 (2004); The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed (1996), South East Asia Tribal Groups and Ethnic Minorities (1987) and The Family of Women (1979). Her photographs have been featured in exhibits in Canada, Japan, Sweden and the United States.
The Heit family first moved to the Garson, Ontario area shortly after Jacob "Jack" Heit (1914-1999) married Katherine "Kay" Kraft (1918-2009) on February 5, 1940 at Christ the King Church in Sudbury, Ontario. Prior to this time, both Jacob Heit and Katherine Kraft lived in Saskatchewan. The Heit's raised their family of five daughters, Diana, Janet, Marilyn, Kathy, and Susan in Garson, Ontario.