If you’ve ever worked in one place for an extended period of time, you know how it works – the people who work alongside you, day in and day out, become your life’s companions in a way that no one else can.
That’s been true for a group of now-retired employees of Douglas College, who are now reaching out to find others who spent their working years at the institution - which now has campuses in New Westminster and Coquitlam. The recent retirees are hoping they can find more former college employees – staff, faculty and administration - for a social gathering on Jan. 13 and for future gatherings as the group grows.
Tom Whalley, who was an English as a second language instructor for most of his 34 years at the college, is helping to spearhead the effort to track down former college employees.
The idea of forming a retirees’ group grew out of a gathering organized by Whalley and two others from the faculty of language, literature and performing arts: Lorna McCallum and Diana Wegner. They enjoyed getting together with the people from their immediate circle at the college, and Whalley notes that other staff and faculty groups have been doing the same.
“There’s all these little, very rich, groups – book clubs, golf clubs, coffee klatches,” Whalley says.
What they saw the need for was another, larger association to complement the work of all those small groups – a place retirees of all kinds could gather a couple of times a year.
Whalley says a larger group is a good way to get out of the “silos” that employees inevitably spend their lives in and to make contact with those whose paths crossed yours in passing over the years – at the library, in the payroll office, at the gym.
One of those from the library is Helen Clarke, who retired in the summer of 2013 after a career that started in June of 1971 – back when Douglas College was a collection of portable buildings at Eighth Avenue and McBride Boulevard.
“You work at a place for a long period of time like that, you make some really good friends,” says Clarke.
Clarke was 19 when she started at Douglas, and she built a life with the people she worked with – she even met her now-husband, Bruce, right at the beginning of her working career.
“I grew up with these people,” she says of her former library workmates. “It’s hard to cut yourself off from them.”
Both Clarke and Whalley are hoping that the new Douglas College Retirees’ Association (which, as yet, has no official and formal affiliation to the college) will be able to bring old friends together – and, in the future, grow even beyond that mission.
Whalley points out that a group of retired college employees – a highly educated and skilled workforce - would have a wealth of resources to offer to the community. He’s hoping the group will evolve into an organization that can connect community groups in need of help to retired folks who can offer their expertise.
But, first and foremost, they’d just like to see other former Douglas College employees turn out for lunch in the new year. The Douglas College retirees’ group is meeting at Taverna Greka on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. for lunch. For information or to RSVP, or just to find out more about the retirees’ group, email Diana Wegner, [email protected].
