LLCS promotes active living and healthy aging for older adults and others by providing opportunities to continue their intellectual pursuits through community and general interest adult education and wellness programs.  These programs enhance quality of life, improve general knowledge and provide opportunities for the citizens of Mission to remain mentally and physically active.  

The Vision for the Centre:  Active and healthy aging for the whole of our society, intergenerational cooperation, productive partnerships and elder friendly community, providing programs to enrich our lives. 

Programs consist of: 

• Community forums
• Educational lectures
• Field Trips and Outings
• Arts, Cultural, Heritage and Humanities programs
• Fitness, Health & Wellness programs and activities tailored to senior specific needs
• Preservation of our community’s history through Oral History collection and transcription of oral stories
• LLCS promotes partnerships and intergenerational cooperation to achieve these goals

 A short history of Lifetime Learning Centre, Mission, BC

Excerpts from a speech given by Catherine Marcellus at
the 15^th Anniversary Event on March 28, 2001

The first 15 years of Lifetime Learning Centre March 28, 2001

                We are celebrating the 15^th anniversary of Lifetime Learning, and I have taken on the task of telling you something about its history. In the early ‘80’s we were going through problems in Mission that are somehow reminiscent of problems that we are going through today, but today they are in medicine and then they were in education. Many of you will recall the Solidarity battles of 1983, when the province was reeling from massive cutbacks particularly in education. In Mission, where we had no college campus, but only rented a building on Fletcher Avenue, we heard the news that educationally we were superfluous and our building was to be closed.

                Fortunately, if you have lived in Mission long enough, you will know that this sort of thing has happened before, and now you know that it was going to happen again, and over the years people have developed techniques of coping. Luckily, at that time the chairman of the College Board was Bill Harris, a former mayor of Mission, and he was able to exert enough pressure in certain circles to keep the facility open. However, through the extended period of uncertainty that preceded the final decision, Ron Coreau, the manager of the facility, and some of the other staff members, called a meeting to discuss ways in which some form of community educations might be retained in Mission, even if it had to be outside the college mandate. The result of that meeting, at which I was present, was the formation of an organization called S.A.G.E. which had good intentions but didn’t last more than a year after things got back on track at the college. At the same time, I recall, we didn’t think too much of S.A.G.E., but Mission’s refusal to be left out of the educational mainstream. This process is still going on.

                Once the college presence, even if it was minimal, was assured for the time being, it was Ron’s job to see that the building was used, and I think that this was in his mind when he decided to try to start a “Seniors’ College”. There had been an earlier attempt in Abbotsford with which Ron had been involved, and he understood some of the pitfalls of this kind of non-profit organization. Accordingly, he began to arrange meetings with various members of the community who fell into the “senior” category and represented different organizations. Some of the meetings worked and some of them didn’t, but over a period of a year an organization was formed, a name was chosen, officers were pressed into service, and a source of modest funding was located.

                We were not deterred by a lack of sensible planning. In Ellen Pearce’s famous phrase, if our pioneers had to wait for a needs’ assessment, the country would never have been settled. They simply got busy and did what had to be done. We brashly offered two courses: Ellen Pearce’s “Dirty Thirties”, (in six sessions), and Mildred Vollick’s “Cooking for Seniors” (in three sessions). We bought two paid ads in The Fraser Valley Record, and talked about sing the Legion bus. Don Crosby offered to investigate the cost of a filing cabinet ($148.00) and purchased it, and by October 1986 we were under way. We also discovered that because Ellen was going to teach, her name had to be removed from the Board of Directors, and Charlie McPherson was added in her place.

                Gradually things improved. In November, 1986, Marion Sharpe came aboard and acted as secretary the first meeting that she attended. Julie Fawcett, a former hospital matron, also joined us, and Don Crosby agreed to be president. By the meeting of December 8 the filing cabinet was in place in a small corner of a small office which we were allowed to share in the College building, and we had planned to hold an Open House.

                By the first semester, we had decided to offer individual events and not to charge more than $2 per lecture. Our first single event was a travel film on China and 40 people showed up. “70 or 80” had some to our Open House in January, and this was when we knew we were on the right track.

                All of these events were held at the Mission College. We shared a small office, a desk, and a telephone, and we owned the filing cabinet. We had received a $5000.00 grant from New Horizons, a department of the federal Ministry of Health. Their field workers gave us invaluable advice, and one of them later taught a course for us.

                At the Board meeting of March 2, 1987, Ellen Pearce reported that her “Dirty Thirties” lectures were a success, but that it really was difficult for one person to collect all the money and look after incidentals as well as teach the course. This was when we realized that we needed a support staff of volunteers to take registration and make the coffee. The refreshment break started with this class, and I believe that this was the beginning of the insight that sociability was an important part of this group’s needs. By the way, the first to volunteer to take registration were Julie Fawcett and Charlie McPherson.

                Before she retired for the second time, Ellen Pearce taught more than fifty courses in Mission, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack. Her effort had much to do with the success of the venture for it set a pattern for a group coming together around one particular theme, In this case, Canadian history. Now we have many similar groups such as music appreciation, book discussion, and genealogy.

                By May 1987, it was clear that we needed some kind of help, but it was not at all clear where we were going to get it. It was obvious that we could not pay for it. As I did so often, I went to Ron Coreau for advice – he was over at the Abbotsford campus by then and I drove over there. After he heard my story he said “Wait here”, and dashed off down the hall. When he came back he said, “What you need is a practicum student, and I think we have the right one. Her name is Gerri Harris.” As a result, Gerri came to us in the fall of “87, working one day a week.

                This marked the great leap forward, for Gerri assumed a leadership role (a whole year before she was paid for it!) and she started our organization on its way to an orderly existence. By the end of 1987 she had prepared a second New Horizons grant proposal which include hiring a full-time coordinator and promoting our operation in Chilliwack and Abbotsford. The total of this proposal was $14,300. Another landmark decision of 1987 was the suggestion made by Harvey Inskip that a phoning committee be formed, and Ellen and Phyllis Canning volunteered to set one up. This sounds like a small thing, but even in the days of the information highway it is very difficult for non-profit societies to get their word out at a low cost, and the telephone has been our best survival technique. For many years Betty Robertson has chaired her corps of phoners, who cheerfully alert our members to upcoming events and ensure a good attendance.

                1988 was a huge year. The second New Horizons grant came through, hand delivered by MP Gerry St. Germaine the day before the election was called. As a result, Gerri Harris was hired as our coordinator. Since her term as practicum we have had other practicum students almost every year. They have been an enormous help to us as we expanded, and we are grateful to the College for its cooperation in this respect.

                We have had many pieces of good fortune. In the early years, Bill Hunter of the Captain’s Cabin Pub had an old school bus which he donated to community groups and drove himself. It was bumpy and noisy, and the usual complainers complained, but our tours were guided by such people as Doug Nicol and Dave Gibson of the Geographic Dept. of Fraser Valley College were on a par with the best commercial tours I have ever taken. When the old bus was no longer available, we used commercial transportation, and had many grand outings to museums and art galleries, but the cost of vehicles paid for by the hour and then stuck in traffic had been a deterrent. This I regret.

                Back to 1988. Ellen continued her Canadian Studies, and Betty Dandy taught “Writing Family History”. This course had repercussions that lasted right through to the present, for when I made up my mind to write the history of the old hospital, I asked Betty to help me and also to try to find a third person. She thought of Betty Robertson who had been a Nursing Supervisor and had taken the writing course. This suggestion altered all of our lives. We formed the “Mission Studies Group”, applied for it and received a small New Horizons grant, and aided by a dozen or so retired medical personnel, we finally published a book. A second book was later published that has its beginnings in that course; Frank Proctor’s memoirs were published by the family last year.

                Over the years we produced five major events on hospital history for Lifetime Learning as well as events in other communities.

                In 1988 we had the first of our local history programs, and celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the Flood of ’48. This was a landmark event held in the old college building and it was so successful we repeated it the following year. The two sessions attracted 160 people and all shared memories of a remarkable community experience. Betty McMahon videotaped the proceedings and become a major contributor to community history. Ten years later, in 1998, we produced a 50^th anniversary event in the Clarke Theatre with 700 people in the audience and wonderful displays of photographs and sharing of memories. This was our largest and most exciting program. The highlight was a video documentary produced by the Knowledge Network which later on won a prize at a film festival in Columbus, Ohio.

                1988 was also the year that sent our message out to the neighboring communities. At the request of some Chilliwack ladies who were interested in seniors’ events, we arranged a sample program in the old City Hall in Chilliwack. Ellen packed up some of her Canadian history films and gave a class. The group was sold and organized very quickly. It ran for number of years and then folded for a while, but recently the University College has started an Elder College which seems to be progressing quite well. The Abbotsford experiment was not quite as easy to launch at first. Ellen packed all her equipment and her films over to the old library to the corner of McCallum Road and succeeded in getting a parking ticket. The next time Mary Peters went along to help, and somehow they found an old buggy and pushed it all the way across the park and down the steps into the meeting room. It was a noble effort, but it was not for another two years that Marion Leaman and Bonnie Quam called us over to lunch and we helped to plan the effective organization that Learning Plus has become today.

                Another experiment that becomes a tradition was held in 1988. This we called “An Australian Extravaganza”; it was an all day event that included speakers, dancers, and slides that related to Australia. Over the years we have had wonderful “ethnic” events, as we now call them: A Japanese day (which even includes Japanese dogs), a Ukrainian day after Dania came to work for us, a Doukhabour day, and days celebrating the Swedes of Silver Hill and the Italians of Silverdale. We also had an 1892 day in honor of our pioneers and Mission’s Centennial. Last year we had a wonderful program celebrating Indo-Canadian women.

                By 1989 our success had put far too much strain on the college facility and staff, and we were forced to seek new quarters. Ken Crasweller, minister of St. Andrew’s United Church offered us a home, and we gratefully accepted. The move necessitated finding furniture, a public address system, cups and saucers, lamps, a telephone: in fact all the things that were needed at that date to run an educational operation. We did not as yet see computers as part of our needs! Of course we were dependent on donations, and sure enough, the Lord did provide: perhaps it would be more realistic to say that our members and some of their relatives provided. I know, for instance, that a truck went up to KC McPherson’s storage shed more than once. We also wrote a constitution and became a Registered Society.

                It is hard to believe, in reading the minutes, how hard everyone worked. On top of creating something out of nothing, which has so often been done in Mission, Gerri was also busy setting up a fall program and developing a whole new system of volunteers.

                That fall we partnered with the college twice – one event we held in the college theatre in Abbotsford because there was no suitable facility in Mission. It was a special display from the Geological Museum at U.B.C. Later on the college got a grant to produce four evenings on Drug and Alcohol Abuse in Seniors’ and they gave us the contract. I still see the name of some of our outstanding speakers mentioned in medical journals.

                George Harkies was President after 1987, and Harvey Inskip was Treasurer. We received incalculable benefit from these two men, both of whom were Legion members and spread the word of our activities through the publications. In 1989 George retired and Charlie McPherson took his place. Except for one year, 1996-97, when Charlie McPherson and John Johannessen traded places, Charlie as been President ever since.

                In 1988 we began an annual trip to the Shakespearean play in Chilliwack and sponsored an accompanying lecture. For many years Crispin Elsted entertained us memorably, and since his time Ian Fenwick, the head of the department has most often delivered the lecture. We always take at least 30 people to the play. In 1990 we held our first “mature woman” fashion show (which was resurrected in 1998, and since then these have become our most dependable fund-raisers). I got the idea when a clerk in a drugstore was noticeably bored when I asked for help in selecting a lipstick, and I determined to fight back – as we all know, ageism is alive and well in our society. We had a huge event with make-up demonstrations, hair stylists, and a whole line of clothing brought from Vancouver Island by Gerri’s sister-in-law Marlene. I remember Phyllis Canning modeling a stunning pair of shorts, and Mildred Vollick looking gorgeous in a purple dress. I grew my hair for an extra month to give Eleanor Taylor something to work on and discovered that beauty shops were one of the best places to distribute Lifetime Learning advertising. So much for stereotypes!

                Speaking of special occasions, it was after we moved into St. Andrew’s that we began to have the Christmas parties that have become an integral part of the season for our members. The first year Gerri and Julie Lloyd were Santa and one of the elves, and we have a treasured picture of Santa sitting on George Harkies’ knee. Harvey Inskip led the caroling in those days and Lavina Batryn made the hot punch as she still does. Te food, of course was membership donated and simply fabulous. After we lost Harvey, Gus Kristjanson took over as choir leader, and I am sure that none of us will forget his annual production of “Twelve Days of Christmas!” A big addition to the Christmas scene occurred in 1998 when Mart Kenney, Fenmo Boswyk, and Phil Aldridge added their wonderful music to our festivities, and just when we thought we had achieved perfection, our very own “Just For Fun” singers, whom you will hear later on today, were the crowning glory of an already wonderful day.

                In 1991 our programs reflected strongly the events of the outside word. The Persian Gulf War had been launched and we responded by bringing in two outstanding Arab speakers, Dr. Hanna Kassis and Dr. Adel Safty. These men were much in demand that year and it was real coup on Gerri’s part to convince them to come to Mission. We teased her a lot about her potential skills as a Middle East Peacemaker.

                June of 1991 we were given an award by Fraser Valley College for our outstanding contribution to the college community. This was one of our proudest moments.

                In 1992, I brought over the Great Books program from the Abbotsford campus of the College and amalgamated it with Lifetime Learning. It has remained one of our consistent money makers and sources of pleasure. In 1995 we attempted a second group in the evening, but although we had a wonderful time with South American novels and attracted people from as far away as Chilliwack, we did not bring out enough people to justify the effort and expense. Six years later, the group is once again in the process of reorganizing, and is going ahead with the Great Books model.

                In the summer of 1992 Gerri resigned. She had been with us for five years and had created an institution. I cannot say enough about the work that she did. Everything was an experiment, and it was all done the hard way and the cheap way, but at the end of her time we had a sense of direction and a feeling of permanence. Her last project had been the Wellness Board. She managed the grant applications, hired the instructor, and structured the program. The Wellness Board, under is first president, Harry Guest, was ready for participants when Dania took over in September 1992.

                Dania seemed to have been living a quiet life out on Keystone Road with her horses, her Boarder Collies, and her ducks, but she brought to us broad connections with theatrical and artistic communities, and she expanded our contacts to include membership in the Arts Council and partnership in the Music Society; she also involved herself with Healthy Communities and the Mission Folk Festival. She made us a more broadly-based organization and also did a fine job of developing a good newsletter. She also had a great connection with the Knowledge Network.

                Dania came on board just as we were getting the Wellness Program underway, and it very quickly became a success. We had good instructors, a truly useful lecture series, and a great volunteer group led by some of the “old nurses”. There was a sense in which the program of the time was experimental, for there was not as yet an organized Third Age Fitness Training Program, nor was the concept of taking charge of your own health care widely accepted.

                By the middle of the decade the Wellness program fell upon difficult times. Originally it had been a separate organization with its own board and its own funding, but with the ending of the New Horizons grants, it had to be taking under the umbrella of Lifetime Learning and participation rates raised. The original instructor retired and several interim leaders took over for a while. When Heritage Park Centre opened in 1996 the community gym became available at no cost, and it seemed like a good idea to move the exercise program over there. This was a popular move for a time, but in a year or so, the Recreation Department decided to charge a fee that we could not afford, and the group moved back home closer to the Lifetime Learning office and the other events.

                Fortunately UCFV Kinesiology Department became involved in 1996/97 with the idea of Third Age Fitness, and Pat Steele came to us as one of their trainees. From this point on the whole effort really took off; many new people came in and a true bonding began to take place. When the Osteofit program was inaugurated in 1999, it placed the whole program on another plane as a recognized therapeutic agency.

                Other events have followed – in particular Wendy Edelson and Sherrie Conroy’s hiking tours which have become real adventures in health and education, and we continued to present a variety of health related lectures and demonstrations.

                In looking back over the variety of programs that were mounted in ’93, ’94 and ’95, there were some that deserved special mention. One that I like to remember particularly was “The History of Broadcasting in the Fraser Valley.” It was special because of our very own Cyril Trott who had one of the earliest radio careers in the valley and sat on our board a number of years. He produced his own video on a fitness program following major surgery, and demonstrated all the exercises when he was well over eighty. One day when he was ninety, we went to UCFV to teach a wellness class, and at the intermission sat down to have a cup of tea and quietly died, doing what he most loved to do. He remains one of our ideals of Third Age Fitness. Another “History of Radio” program came from Gus Kristjanson who did so much for us before he moved to the depths of Surrey. Gus had worked on the “Stage” shows that were part of Canada’s radio history in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s, and later taught at the University of Manitoba. He wrote the original version of the skit we’ll see performed later this morning.

                A fascinating series of events involved Vic Hollister, who took one group around Cedar Valley and demonstrated the origin of water problems in the area. On another occasion he led 50 people up Sumas Mountain and showed us exposed faults in the region. Dania reported in her newsletter that he warmed up the crowd with a geology joke: “What did one earthquake say to another?” “It’s not my fault!”

                The same year (1993) Albert McMahon donated his talents for a real “40’s event – a Tea Dance and Strawberry Social. The event was made memorable by Albert’s music, the fancy dancing on the floor, and Rhona Jacobsen’s organizational skills in the kitchen. Rhona has, over the years, turned many of our events into elegant memories, and it has been a rare moment when she ever sat down. Last summer she retired on the occasion of her 80^th birthday, but, if you notice she is here today and working as hard as ever.

                It was in 1995 that we met Robert and Jean Pamplin who had moved to Mission from Maple Ridge. Robert offered himself as a Music Appreciation teacher, and he has now taught over 50 sessions for us. His group meets enthusiastically every semester, and, for many it is the highlight of their Lifetime Learning experience. Robert and Jean also devoted the better part of a year to organizing our auction in 1997 (planned for 1996 but postponed because of the inevitable Fraser Valley snowstorm). The auction was not only great fun, but also one of our best fundraisers ever. Later the energetic couple took over the Mission Concert Society when many things seemed to be disappearing Mission, and we owe to them a very bright spot in community cultural events.

                Dania left us at the end of 1995 as she was about to have Zak – which she did in January 1996. Our new coordinator was Diana Muntigl who had a wealth of experience in the world of art and community programming. She inherited an extraordinarily complicated year both in the community and in Lifetime Learning. For one brief time the whole community was united in its excitement over the coming opening of Heritage Park Centre and the Clarke Foundation Theatre, and volunteer activity and unusually large amounts of charitable donations flowed in that direction. Members of Lifetime Learning donated to the theatre instead of their won organization and activists felt that it would become the focus of arts and education.

                In the meantime, by the middle of the decade, the whole structure of financing had been changed. The era of federal New Horizons grants was at an end, and in addition, the University College had announced, in 1994, that it was no longer interested in providing so-called “leisure” programming through its Continuing Education Department. This left Lifetime Learning in the desirable position of being the major continuing education facility in the community but with no available source of funds to accept the challenge. Fortunately we were saved for the moment by a generous angel in the shape of Albert McMahon whose donations kept us alive for the next couple of years. Annual grants had been received from the District of Mission after 1995, and finally in 2000 we were placed on a Fee-for-Service basis which gave us a huge degree of security. All of these worries fell on the shoulders of our new coordinator, who plunged immediately into the headaches of grant applications as well as increased demands for programming and the need to restructure the Wellness Centre.

                Over the years a measure of consistent funding has been achieved by our participation in the Bingo nights at the Legion. For this we must give special thanks to the work of Charlie McPherson, John Johannessen, Diana Muntigl, and Doug McPherson, (along with occasional other volunteers) for whom the challenge of the smoke-filled hall has rendered it a service beyond the call of duty. Recently Rhonda and Heather Colwell and Elizabeth Pepper have taken turns at sharing the work load, and their contribution has been invaluable. In 1997 Albert McMahon died and his tremendous help came to an end. Our coordinator once again faced the problem of renewed funding.

                Details of funding history are tedious to say the least. I need only say that we have survived and with constant vigilance and cooperation have done a great deal. A big step came with the publication of the Community Arts, Education, and Recreation booklet which is now produced twice a year with the help of the Parks and Recreation Department of the District. This has helped to increase our registration significantly and has become our most effective means of advertising which of course increases in our income.

                As I have said, numbers are boring, but still they tell a story in their own particular way. In 1997 the number of student hours was 3,780 and last year it was 5,558. These numbers do not include Fitness Classes or Wellness Programs. Another way of looking at them is to realize that in the year 2000 we produced nearly 100 individual programs, quite a triumph for a one-person, volunteer assisted office. That same year the number of volunteer hours recorded was 3,007, and it is now evident that some way must be found of enlisting a volunteer coordinator.

                A major focus of our study groups during the last five years has been local history. We have maintained an on-going relationship with Mission Community Archives and have worked together on several projects. Lifetime Learning has presented programs regularly on Remembrance Day and collected wartime memories from around the world. One such program, in 1996, focused on War Brides, and a couple of years later another panel was convened on War Wives who presented a fascinating session for the Women’s History Network Conference. Starting in 1995, Ellen Pearce initiated a series of discussion groups involving women who had lived through the Depression, and recently Suzanne Mathieson has been transcribing the tapes. The content is interesting to say the least. We have also held one forum on the early educators of Mission and another on immigrant women. A large project studied the Music Festivals of the 1940’s and ‘50’s, and yet another made a substantial beginning to the horticultural history of the community. This project is continuing this year. Our oral history, called Millennium Project, is now being supported by the District of Mission, and is an important addition to the cultural development which we so strongly support.

                It is interesting to note the ways in which program demands are changing. Our computer courses, for instance, which were not thought of in 1986, are now offered on an ongoing basis in cooperation with Community Skills Centre, and are very popular. Genealogy courses are increasingly in demand, probably as a result of newer technologies. We have also great support for community forums because they give people an opportunity to speak upon issues that concern them in an age where democracy seems to be failing us; we have had events on medical ethics, the future of downtown Mission, political issues, and environmental concerns (I first heard of SE2 at a Lifetime Learning Event).

                As always, the best king of programming is the most creative mixture. We have members of widely diversified backgrounds; we have people whose interests are artistic, we have those who enjoy science; we have members who are deeply interested in the church, and others who need to know about finances and the law. We have a lot of people who are interested in many things and welcome the ideas that are generated when the intellectually curious meet in a friendly atmosphere. We think we can appeal to many kinds and many ages of creative learners, and we think we help to make their lifestyle a little richer and happier. When I look over a happy crowd at a Christmas part listening to Mart Kenney and sharing good food with friendly neighbors, I feel so proud of what we have achieved. Some days it seems like hard work but it always feels as though it is worthwhile, and life in our community has been made quite a bit better for a lot of people through Lifetime Learning.

-Catherine Marcellus

…MORE HISTORY OF LIFETIME LEARNING CENTRE SOCIETY

            In the course of Lifetime Learning Centre’s 21 year history, the centre has provided, and continues to promote, active living, healthy aging opportunities by providing community and general interest adult education programming for not only Mission’s seniors but other ages as well.  LLCS provides over 9500 program hours a year and has a membership of upwards of 200 people biannually.  Annually fundraisers such as the Fashion Show attracts in the vicinity of 125 participants, a host of volunteers, and much community support.  Lifetime Learning Centre is a non-profit organization, monetary donations are tax deductible.  

            Fund raising events are essential and are of considerable help to the Centre in maintaining its activities in the field of educational programming for adult and senior learners in the Mission area.  They also help to keep costs of programs reasonable and affordable.  Please visit our website at:  www.lifetimelearningcentre.org for program listings.

As we reflect on our accomplishments over the past 21 years, the special recognition given by the District of Mission in 2006 holds a high place of honour. The Community Service Award was presented by the District of Mission’s Mayor James Atebe and Council  on May 11, 2006 at the Clarke Foundation Theatre “in recognition of the extraordinary contributions…..made [by Lifetime Learning Centre] towards enriching the lives of Mission residents through educational, wellness, and intellectual pursuits” over the past 20 years. This award recognizes the growth of the organization from a seniors’ college model to a learning and wellness centre offering participatory, intergenerational programs in arts, culture, the humanities, as well as events, forums and lectures.

Lifetime Learning Centre Society was founded in 1986 by a group of Mission seniors in partnership with Fraser Valley College, now the University College of the Fraser Valley.  Due to the rapid growth and popularity of the new organization, coupled with space limitations at the UCFV Mission campus, Lifetime Learning moved to new quarters in 1989.  Space rented from St. Andrew’s United Church on Grand Street has provided a comfortable, transit and wheelchair accessible and affordable office, lecture, fitness and event space.  Over the years the organization has grown, increasing its membership, its programs and participation.  Lifetime Learning Centre Society is a fully independent organization with its own board of directors and staff, who work closely together to carry out a shared vision. 

            LLCS responds to community needs by innovative program development.   The highlights of major program developments from past years include:

Community Adult Education Programs:

• 1991:  Fraser Valley College Community Service Award for “extraordinary contribution to Adult Education and Community Development.”
• 1998:  brought new directions to programming, the highlight being the 50^th Anniversary event commemorating the Fraser Valley Flood of 1948 on May 27^th.  A LLCS partnership with the Knowledge Network & Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks that produced the documentary film “A Flood of Memories”. 
• This paved the way for our oral history programs which developed into a special Millennium Project for 1999 to 2002.  The video documentary received “Honourable Mention” at the International Columbus Film and Video Awards in the autumn of 1999. 
• A partnership with Mission Community Services started with the development of an intergenerational School outreach project based on the Flood history.  Its role: The importance of remembering our community history and keeping it alive with interaction between the generations.   
• This led to 2000/2001 Millennium Project consisting of special events, focusing on history of the area, and the importance of preserving our community stories.  Following a presentation to Council by a Lifetime Learning delegation in November 99, the District of Mission recognized the Centre’s contribution to adult education in Mission, with the approval of an annual fee for services grant (first received in 2000). 
• In 2005 the District further recognized the role played by Lifetime Learning in providing programs for the area by granting a three year renewable fee for services contract “for providing adult education and community programs” for Mission.
• 2006:  District of Mission Community Service Award in “recognition of the extraordinary contributions …towards enriching the lives of Mission residents through educational, wellness and intellectual pursuits” over the past 20 years.

Lifetime Learning Wellness Programs:  

• 1993:  the Lifetime Learning Wellness Program was born in response to a need for improved health awareness among seniors.  Three year funding was provided by a New Horizons Canada grant.  At the completion of the grant in May 1996, the wellness program was reabsorbed by Lifetime Learning Centre and became part of the centre’s on-going funding requirement. 
• 1998:   Pat Steele, trained through UCFV Kinesiology, became our inspirational Wellness instructor;   the LLCS Wellness Fitness program is known for its third age specialty programs. 
• 1999 negotiations with BC Women’s Health brought the first Osteo-fitness program to the Fraser Valley at Lifetime Learning Centre.  Another innovative program organized in partnership with health professionals and overseen by BC Women’s Health, it is specifically designed for those with Osteoporosis.  
• 2000 brought increased numbers into the Wellness program, and continuing demand for advanced levels of osteoporosis programs. 
• In 2006 Nordic Pole Walking was started for its advanced cardio vascular and overall conditioning.

            Lifetime Learning Centre is a centre of adult learning.  Its programs are varied, from academic to general interest, cultural, health and wellness oriented, are geared to older adults but encourage intergenerational participation.  It has branched out into programs as diverse as singing groups such as the “Just for Fun Singers” (in 2000/2001) and thespians, historical fashion shows, oral history research projects and our “Fit and Feisty Fitness group” to name a few.  All generate mental and physical fitness, social and cultural interconnectedness, community activism & heightened awareness of community history.  Our members are increasingly involved in all aspects of Mission life and we are recognized as the adult education provider of Mission.  Directors and Staff work closely together in carrying out a shared vision.

            Additional highlights in recent years are marked by SFU’s Centre for Dialogue’s recognition of LLC as a Philosophers’ Café centre, participation in the International Adult Learner’s Week in September 2002, and signing the Declaration in Favour of Adult Learning throughout Life (appended hereto).  Lifetime Learning also received a special grant from the District of Mission to produce an information video/DVD/power point presentation on the history of Mission which was premiered at the Mission Volunteer Awards Night in 2003.  In October 2004 President Elizabeth Pepper and Executive Director Diana Muntigl attended the Health Canada Visioning forum with Catalist in Vancouver. In 2006 we completed our website, are connected on the world wide web and invite you to visit us at .

            Lifetime Learning helped establish sister organizations in the neighbouring communities of Abbotsford (Abbotsford Learning Plus) and Chilliwack (Chilliwack Lifetime Learning) in the 1990’s.  This year  UCFV invited LLCS to participate in the new Centre for Education and Research on Aging, and established a valuable link with its Director Dr. Pieter Steyn. In 2005 we partnered with the Canadian Diabetes Association and now partner in providing “Cooking for your life” programs.

Marcellus Rhododendron Garden

Fraser River Heritage Park Mary St, Mission, BC

May 5, 2008

These rhododendrons are examples of many journeys which have begun in different parts of the world and have come together in Mission.

Hummingbird-Fortune Cross Rhododendron             

This plant started its journey in Chenkiang in eastern China, at an elevation of 3000 feet. In 1843 a botanist named Robert Fortune came to China looking for new plants and took these large, pink, hardy shrubs back to the royal Botanical gardens in Edinburgh.  Seventy-five years later, in the 1930’s, a retired doctor who lived on Sumas Mountain, just across the river from Mission, traded his collection of British Columbia alpines for cuttings from the Fortune Rhododendrons in Edinburg.  Dr. McKee lived near the present location of the Ledgeview Golf Course, and some of these plants can be seen in that area today; others are in a Test Garden at UBC.  Incidentally, Dr. McKee was distinguished for having been the first doctor to have introduced diphtheria immunization into British Columbia.

In 1953, Dr. Marcellus met Dr. McKee and bought many of his plants for his garden in Mission.  Dr. Marcellus began to experiment with hybridization, and crossed the Fortune with a hybrid named Hummingbird (williamsianum x haematodes).  The result was an exceptionally fine early large pink, often scented, with copper-coloured new growth and dense, attractive foliage.  The plant blooms in April, at the same time as the stunning blue Augustini.                               

Williamsianum x  haematodes 

Blue Augustini Rhododendron:                                   

This plant has small leaves and is sometimes confused with an azalea.  It is a cross between Augustini which also came from eastern china and a brilliant blue hybrid named Blue Diamond.  This cross won the prize for the best new hybrid in the Vancouver Rhododendron show of 1973. 

                        Blue Diamond Rhododendron  

Caitlin Rhododendron:                                        

In 1998, one of the Hummingbird-Fortune crosses was registered with the Royal Horticultural society and given the name “Caitlin”.  This plant was given to Dr. Trembath of Langley and is in her garden.

These crosses are seen in gardens all over Mission, particularly in the area surrounding Fraser River Heritage Park.  They are also in the Medical Group garden adjacent to Mission Memorial Hospital and near the Anglican Church and can be spotted in many private gardens in the community.  Sixty plants from this garden were donated to Fraser River Heritage Park in 1986.  Some additional ones are located up at Westminster Abbey.  Dr. Marcellus shared a horticultural interest  with the gardeners at the Abbey.

The Story of the Azaleas                                     

A fascinating illustration of the theme of the journeys of plants, their story began in 1690 when a sweet smelling species was imported into England from the American colonies.  By the early nineteenth century England, Holland and Belgium had become the great gardening centres of Europe, and other azaleas were imported into northern Europe from China, Japan, Indonesia and the western USA.  There were hundreds of important crosses developed from these exotic strains.

The most successful of all the crosses are these that come out of the Exbury Gardens in England.  The gardens were developed in the 1930’s by Lionel de Rothschild and many of the crosses were made under his direction.  Rothschild was the English member of the wealthy Jewish banking family whose passionate interest in gardens has been said to be a result of the Jews having been forbidden entrance to public parks in eighteenth century Europe.  These plants were nearly lost during the war when Exbury was taken over by the British Navy, but enough survived that during the fifties British nurseries were able to export them to the United States.  These plants were brought into Mission in 1955 by Dr. Marcellus.

The Exbury crosses combine all the best features of their ancestors; they have large flowers, brilliant colours, hardiness, and, quite often, beautiful scent.

Fraser River Heritage Park Rhododendrons – a gift from Dr. & Mrs. Marcellus

The story of preparing the garden:

 volunteers from FRHP and MIssion Heritage Association under Norma Kenney worked to clear the land and prepare the bed for the Rhododendrons.  Cranes and flat bed trucks were required to move the 60 large , mature plants and we can now see them nestled in three distinct beds , south of the Historical cemetery and overlooking the Fraser River.

 Written and compiled by Cathie Marcellus and Diana Muntigl for Mission’s Celebration of BC’s150^th Anniversary.

TOUR:

BACKGROUND

HYBRIDIZATION

RHODODENDRON SOCIETY:

Royal Horticultural Society

Hummingbird-Fortune Cross Rhododendron 

Williamsianum x  haematodes 

Blue Augustini Rhododendron:                                   

Blue Diamond Rhododendron  

Caitlin Rhododendron:                                        

In 1998, one of the Hummingbird-Fortune crosses was registered with the Royal Horticultural society and given the name “Caitlin”.

Sixty plants from this garden were donated to Fraser River Heritage Park in 1986.  Some additional ones are located up at Westminster Abbey.  Dr. Marcellus shared a horticultural interest  with the gardeners at the Abbey.

The Exbury crosses combine all the best features of their ancestors; they have large flowers, brilliant colours, hardiness, and, quite often, beautiful scent.