MURAnews Summer 2024

It is an honour to have been elected President of MURA, and I am looking forward to working with my colleagues on Council. It’s been my experience that our Council members bring diverse skills, a helpful attitude and a sense of fun to MURA. I would also like to thank our Past President, Susan Birnie, for her sage advice and to welcome our newest council members, Elaine Riehm and Judith Shedden.

I’d like to talk for a few minutes about my observations of the world at present … and what I think we, as McMaster retirees, might be able to do about it. The world is run by big business rather than elected governments. Well-meaning, or not, no individual person, or group of people, should be deciding the policies of a country (e.g. Bill Gates in Africa). Autocracy is on the rise as a wave of right-wing extremism sweeps across the globe. Greed, corruption and abuse of power have gone a long way to destroying people’s faith in their politicians, businesses and institutions.

I believe it will take a massive, organized, grassroots movement using the collective power of voter coalitions to balance that power. Updating laws, re-establishing checks & balances, placing limits on greed, rebalancing taxation, strengthening education, insisting on meaningful representation and much more will be required to protect our rights and freedoms and secure our country for future generations.

Most people are aware of the need for action, but have no idea where to start or how one individual could make a difference. We, being seniors, are at a time in our lives when we may be reviewing our lifetime contribution and legacy. While one person may not be able to make much difference, there is power in numbers. Projects, large and small, would cumulatively have a significant impact. Seniors can do this if
we organize and work together. Young people are the most directly affected as the future is theirs. Their involvement will be a critical component of any change.

Vision
That seniors coalesce, and, using their time, experience and collective weight work, with young people and other interested parties to leave a safer, cleaner, kinder, more ethical and just world for future generations.

I believe that MURA is well positioned to, at a minimum, start something. And if our efforts are successful, the model would be relatively easy to replicate at other universities across the country.  There are tons of potential synergies to be investigated; for instance, the possibility of students working with retirees on projects approved by their professors, support for specific departmental projects or collaboration on special projects with community associations, to name a few.

The goal this year is to find out … if there is enough interest within the retiree community to tackle this … if there is enough support, financial and otherwise … and if so, where would we start?

We intend to develop and distribute a survey in the fall and would very much appreciate your responses. We will be extremely interested in any and all feedback and in gathering ideas retirees would like to pursue. MURA committee chairs need not be elected councillors, so we could have many more committees, where members work on projects that match their experience and interests, and the Chair reports to Council.

Perhaps together we can leave our grandchildren a world that looks more like the life our parents left us.

Have a wonderful summer everyone!

Contacting MURA Mail:  Gilmour Hall B108, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8 Phone:  905-525-9140, ext. 23171 (voicemail is checked once a week) Email:  mura@mcmaster.ca

News and Events

   2024 MURA Annual General Meeting

By Nora Gaskin

The 39th MURA annual general meeting on June 13 was the fifth to take place via Zoom. Participants enjoyed 15 minutes of social time before the meeting got underway. Peak attendance at the meeting reached 38.
In the President’s Report, MURA President Susan Birnie began by thanking everyone for attending.

Susan said it had been a pleasure to serve as President for the last two years, during “recovery from COVID” time. She outlined some of the highlights of the past two years:

A successful return to in-person events:

• our traditional holiday lunch last December
• a new tradition, the Spring Fling barbeque, on the patio (weather permitting) of the Phoenix on campus
• two sold-out planetarium shows
• the MURA walking group, which anyone can join to enjoy walks in the Hamilton and Niagara regions on easy-to-navigate routes
• tours of the McMaster Museum of Art

Representing MURA on and off campus

• MURA worked closely with Human Resources (HR) to put a process in place to identify and include in MURA’s membership those who retire with an RRSP plan rather than a defined benefit plan, a process that turned out to be more difficult to set up than it at first seemed.
• Each fall for the past two years, Susan has lit a candle in memory of retirees at an annual memorial event held for people associated with the University who have passed away.
• Susan has also represented MURA at a semi-annual convocation dinner to celebrate those faculty and students who have won awards.
• Richard Stubbs has been our representative and an official observer on the Board of Governors, and Brian Beckberger and Cliff Andrews have represented MURA on pension committees.
• Four Council members attended the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC) conference at the University of Waterloo this spring, where representatives of retiree associations from across Canada gather to learn and exchange ideas.  More information on the CURAC Conference can be found further down in this newsletter.

Council
MURA council meetings are hybrid, so Council members have the option of joining in person or virtually. Since distance is no longer a barrier to joining Council, Susan encouraged everyone to consider taking up a position when we canvass for new Council members next year. We are an easy-going supportive group, as evidenced by outgoing Councillors renewing their terms or carrying on with current duties after their terms are completed.

Susan recognized those Council members who have completed their terms: Hank Jacek, whose wealth of experience in working with the university administration has been invaluable; Barry Diacon, who has liaised very effectively with Unifor 5555; Dina LoPresti, who is in charge of sending out condolence cards and chaired the Volunteering Committee; Cliff Andrews, hourly staff liaison and Hourly Retirement Pension Plan Committee Observer since 2006, whose quiet confidence and sense of humour we will miss; and Kathy Overholt also a Council member on and off since 2006, who has served as the Benefits and Pension Chair and Membership Chair at various times and has a remarkable record of contribution. We owe all of these individuals a huge thank you for their contributions to MURA.  

Jan Nicholson presented the Treasurer’s and Reviewer’s reports on behalf of Treasurer Diana Parker and Financial Reviewer Nancy Gray, and Past President Hank Jacek presented the 2024 Nominating Committee report. The following slate of Executive and Councillors were elected.

Executive		Councillors, serving until
Past President	Susan Birnie	2025:	Mary Gauld, Jan Nicholson, Richard Stubbs
President	Jan Nicholson	2026:	Vitginia Aksam, Jane Mah
Vice President	Diana Parker	2027:	Barry Diacon, Hank Jacek, Elaine Riehm, Judith Shedden
Treasurer	TBA
Secretary	Nora Gaskin

Dr. Elli Papangelakis, Assistant Professor and the Fairley Gadsby Research Chair in Fluvial Geomorphology in the School of Earth, Environment and Society at McMaster University, gave a fascinating presentation entitled GeoHikes: Making Geoscience Fun!. The aim of the GeoHikes project is to make geoscience education fun not only for students, but for the general public as well. They are one of a number of online educational tools hosted on the GeoscienceINFO website, an initiative of Professional Geoscientists Ontario (PGO) Educational Foundation. Some of the other initiatives you’ll find there include: GeoRoutes (virtual field trips featuring a collection of stops accessible by car, that tell the geological story of an area); GeoPark (offering greater detail about the geological story of the Niagara Peninsula) and Urban GeoWalks. McMaster students have contributed a number of local GeoHikes and Urban GeoWalks to the collection, as have Queen’s and UofT students for their areas. Since a lot of the hikes are along the Bruce Trail, the Bruce Trail Conservancy has also begun to support the project.

The goal when creating a GeoHike is to identify a 1-to-3-hour hiking route that includes interesting geomorphological features, and then curate a guided hike that allows participants to hike the route with a mobile device in real time, or to experience the hike virtually from home or classroom, and learn about the relevant geology along the way.

Each GeoHike includes interactive teaching tools, for example, sliding bars that reveal different rock layers, 3D models that let you move rocks around and take a look at them, 360-degree photos, citizen science quizzes and surveys, drone footage, etc. Every hike, and every stop on the hike, has an accessibility rating and description.

To build a GeoHike, students first go on an exploratory hike with faculty members to identify a hiking route, collect all the materials (research on the area and each stop along the way, photos, 3D images, drone footage, etc.), write the text, and then send it to the web team at PGO to put it all together. Not only is a GeoHike project a good outreach tool, but a great teaching tool as well. Students appreciate the opportunity to be creative and are eager to participate, returning year after year.

Local GeoHikes McMaster students have worked on include the Chedoke Radial Trail, Cootes Paradise, Sulphur Springs and Tiffany Falls. GeoHikes that are in development include Beamer Memorial and Morgan's Point, both in the Niagara UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

McMaster students have also contributed two Urban GeoWalks to date: McMaster Building Stones (stories of the origin of McMaster buildings and their building materials) and the McMaster Rock Garden (gardens and rocks on campus).

At the conclusion of the presentation, Susan thanked Elli and presented her with a gift certificate. There was a draw for two gift certificate door prizes, which were won by Hank Jacek and Karen McGlynn.

Brian Beckberger, MURA’s delegate to the Salaried Pension Trust Committee, reviewed the year’s activity in the salaried pension plan and noted that it’s not clear what will happen in the investment markets this year due to the current geopolitical situation. His written report is available on the MURA website.

Incoming President Jan Nicholson thanked Susan Birnie for her leadership of MURA over the past two years, welcomed new Council members Elaine Riehm and Judith Shedden, and talked about her view of the world and her vision and goals for MURA. Jan summarizes her remarks in President’s Corner.

Welcome New Council Members

Elaine McKinnon Riehm - My association with McMaster began in 1972 when my husband, Carl Riehm, joined the Mathematics Department. It continued in a more personal way when David Blewett, founding editor of the quarterly journal Eighteenth-Century Fiction (ECF), hired me as an editorial assistant. He was soon joined at ECF by associate editors Richard Morton, Aubrey Rosenberg from the University of Toronto, and Peter Walmsley. They were all skilled editors, and I enjoyed watching them shift text around, remove extraneous bits, delete paragraphs. Often, they seemed to know what some authors intended to write who were themselves unsure.

My job was to receive and keep track of submissions. In those days before the internet was invented, essays on early fiction arrived in brown envelopes in French or English from authors around the world. I saved the interesting stamps for a friend’s collection.  

Along the way, I became interested in the life and work of Hamilton-born mathematician John Charles Fields (1863-1932), who is known around the mathematics world for the international gold medal he founded to honour outstanding research. Fields taught at the University of Toronto for thirty years until his death. Although his correspondence was known to be large, he left few records in the archives. To discover the events of his life, I had to research the archives of his mathematical contemporaries. The trail led to the United States, Sweden, France, Germany, England, Scotland, and Australia. To my good fortune, I met a genealogist named Frances Hoffman, who was also interested in Fields. Together, we wrote Turbulent Times in Mathematics: The Life of J.C. Fields and the History of the Fields Medal (2011).

When I look at the Fields biography, I recognize the debt I owe to the editors of Eighteenth-Century Fiction for their skill with written text. And I wish that they had edited it.

Judith Shedden - I still remember my first view of Hamilton, on a road trip from Pittsburgh to McMaster to give my job talk in 1994. Not the view from the QEW that reminded me of the album cover of Pink Floyd’s “Animals”, but the stretch into the city along York Boulevard, across the harbour, past the parks and cemeteries, to Dundurn Castle. I thought - how beautiful, is this my new home? I ended up living a block from Dundurn Castle for the next 9 years, before moving to Greensville.

I had a different career before academia. I trained at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) to be an architectural draftsman, which led to a few years working in various architect’s offices drawing building plans. I loved it! That world went digital in the 80’s and even though working with Computer Assisted Drafting was fun, I missed the hands-on pen and ink drafting. I went back to school to study cognition and neuroscience.

Over the last 30 years in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour (PNB) at McMaster, my research focused on attention, perception, and cognition by studying both behaviour and brain processes with electrophysiological methodology. The most enjoyable of those years has been a collaboration with my engineering colleague and friend, Martin von Mohrenschildt. We studied multisensory integration of visual, auditory, and vestibular signals while our participants wore electrodes and drove virtual cars or flew virtual airplanes.

I love working with students. I served as PNB associate chair for undergraduate studies and later as associate chair for graduate studies. In 2004, I started the Hamilton Brain Bee competition as a chapter of the International Brain Bee, a neuroscience outreach program for high school students. In 2008, I organized a second level of competition: the Canadian National Brain Bee. We now have 20 regional brain bees across Canada and we reach thousands of high school students. Over the years Canada has placed at the top in almost all the international competitions. In 2023, our Canadian champion took first place in the world championship (congratulations Helene Li!). After 20 years running Brain Bee competitions, I have handed over the reins to my wonderful colleague, Nikol Piskuric.

Retirement has been busy! I like to garden, hike, and play piano. I’m attempting to get better at the guitar, but my drum kit sits idle. I knit (a lot), I design lace and sell the patterns on Ravelry (if you are a knitter, you’ll know what I mean!). I set up and run an Etsy shop for my husband’s parents who are downsizing their impressive collections of antiques. I’m grateful to have more time to spend with my mom who turns 101 this summer.

Welcome New Retirees

Leah Allan, Environment & Occupational Health

Recent Passings

Compiled by Kathy Overholt

Stuart Connolly,* Medicine, June 2, 2024Jane Datta, Library Circulation, April 13, 2024

*See the tribute articles in the Hamilton Spectator: Cardiologist and researcher Dr. Stuart Connolly was ‘a generational thinker’, and on the Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of  Medicine webpage: In Memory of Stuart Connolly: A Pioneer in Cardiac Electrophysiology

**View the tribute articles in the Hamilton Spectator: ‘Extraordinary’ Mel Hawkrigg was ‘a giant in both business and community’, and in the Daily News: An inspiring legacy: In memory of Chancellor Emeritus Mel Hawkrigg

***See the Daily News article: Former McMaster president Geraldine Kenney-Wallace remembered as a trailblazing scientist

courtesy of Rose Anne Prevec
Instagram: @groundhog_hill

Retirees in the News

By Marcia MacAula

Order of Canada Appointment

A McMaster professor emerita was recognized by the Governor General of Canada as new recipient of the Order of Canada. One of our country’s highest civilian honours, the Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievements, dedication to the community and contributions to the nation.

Daphne Maurer, professor emerita of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour, was appointed to the Order as an officer. Daphne is an internationally renowned psychologist who “has reshaped our understanding of the sensory world of infants”.

See the Hamilton Spectator article Hamilton surgeon, Mac professor appointed to Order of Canada for more information. See also, McMaster faculty, alumni and community members named to Order of Canada (McMaster Daily News).
 

In Memory of Chancellor Emeritus Mel Hawkrigg

Melvin “Mel” Hawkrigg, McMaster alumnus, Chancellor emeritus, and honorary member of MURA, has died at the age of 93.

Mel served a remarkable three terms as McMaster’s chancellor. From 1998 to 2007, he presided over nearly 100 convocation ceremonies and conferred more than 37,000 degrees. He and his wife Marilyn, affectionately known to the McMaster community as the “co-chancellor”, attended McMaster events and meetings almost daily throughout his tenure.

Mel was a dedicated volunteer throughout his life, with many of his highest-profile volunteer roles with McMaster. Among other activities, he served on the Board of Governors in the 1980s and was a founding member of the President’s Club Executive.

See the tribute articles in the Hamilton Spectator: ‘Extraordinary’ Mel Hawkrigg was ‘a giant in both business and community’, and in the Daily News: An inspiring legacy: In memory of Chancellor Emeritus Mel Hawkrigg.

Remembering Former McMaster President Geraldine Kenney-Wallace

Geraldine Kenney-Wallace, who served as McMaster’s president and vice-chancellor from 1990 to 1995, has died at the age of 80.

She was the university’s first, and still only, female chief executive, as well as the first external presidential appointment since McMaster’s move to Hamilton in 1930. She worked as a champion for McMaster’s research strengths, both nationally and internationally. On campus, Kenney-Wallace spearheaded the development of an ambitious university-wide strategic plan and was instrumental in the introduction of multidisciplinary theme schools.

Kenney-Wallace, an authority on lasers and optoelectronics, authored more than 100 research publications during her career and achieved significant advances in the field of molecular motion.

See McMaster Daily News Former McMaster president Geraldine Kenney-Wallace remembered as a trailblazing scientist for more information.

 

MURA Spring Fling 2024

The 2nd annual MURA Spring Fling was held on Thursday June 6 - a BBQ at the Phoenix. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit changeable so we chose to eat inside, but many stayed to enjoy a drink on the patio of the Refectory Building at the end of the meal. There were 35 people in attendance, and plenty of mingling and conversation.

MURA Walks 2024

Here’s what we have done so far this year!

January 18 - Thirteen of us walked the Chedoke Radial Trail near the Chedoke golf course. It was cold, but it was a lovely, sunny day.

February 20 - McMaster Museum of Art OUTDOOR art exhibits, followed by lunch at the Phoenix. Approximately 25 people took part. Again, a beautiful day to be outdoors. It was reading week, so the campus was quiet.

March 19 - Spencer Smith Park in Burlington. There were 12 walkers, and it was a beautiful day to walk alongside the Bay. We did not partake of refreshments today. We were all about the walk!

April 18 - We met in the Dundas Driving Park and then did a little scavenger hunt around the park. Walkers met up with a gardener who took the time to discuss her plantings with them. There were 21 of us on this glorious spring day.

May 22 - We met and visited the Painted Ladies in Grimsby. A charming little community just off of Bartlett Street. Twenty of us strolled through the neighbourhood and then had cookies and drinks in the park afterwards.

There was no walk in June due to the extreme heat.

July 31 - Port Robinson, Welland Canal. This is the walk that was cancelled in June due to the heat. Eight determined walkers braved this hot day and rode the Port Robinson ferry. Feeling very thirsty at the end of our trek along the canal, we were dismayed to find the local watering hole not available. However, we persevered and found a lovely place in Fonthill called Kame & Kettle Beer Works where we all enjoyed a lovely meal and a cold beverage. Highly recommend this restaurant!

Upcoming walks:
Tuesday, August 27 - Hutch’s on the Beach – go for a walk along the boardwalk of the beach and maybe get some ice cream at Hutch’s. 1:00 p.m. start.

Thursday, September 19 - Still working out the details of this one. We’re going to partner up with fellow MURA member Tim Nolan of the Accessibility Hamilton Alliance. MURA walkers would be paired with someone from the Canadian Council of the Blind. We  a short training session and then go for a walk around the Discovery Centre at Pier 8. I need to ask for an indication of interest for people to participate so we can match numbers with the CCB. If you are interested in more information, please contact me at 905-906-5604 or gauld@mcmaster.ca.

Come join us!

Tour of McMaster Museum of Art

On June 18th, 33 MURA members were treated to a tour of the McMaster Museum of Art (M(M)A). The Museum offers a rotating series of exhibitions. During this visit, we saw three exhibits. The first was a significant departure from the Museum’s usual offerings. It was a showcase of the Clichettes, a Canadian artist trio who offered international audiences performance art and feminist satire between 1978 and 1993. They utilized lip sync, drag, costumes, and comedy. This, the group’s first retrospective, included costumes, props, videos, photographs, and other archival material. The exhibit made us very aware that this museum of art is not just a collection of paintings. The second collection we viewed, titled Crossing Borders, looks at coins from around the world throughout history, making numismatic connections across time and place. Lastly, we enjoyed the first Hamilton exhibit by Saskatchewan multidisciplinary artist Lori Blondeau titled I’m Not Your Kinda Princess. Ms. Blondeau draws on her Cree/Saulteaux/Metis heritage to engage the viewer through photography, installations, and performance.

Visit the M(M)A for the upcoming exhibition Sameer Farooq: The Fairest Order in the World (October 1 – December 20, 2024).

Oskee Wee Wee!

 
MURA has “scored” a great block of tickets for a Hamilton Tiger-Cats football game! Join us at Tim Hortons Field on Saturday, September 14th at 3:00 pm in gray section 214 to watch the Ticats take on the Ottawa Redblacks.

Scan the QR code below, or visit https://fevo.me/mura0914 to purchase your tickets. $6.09 taxes and administrative fees will be added to the purchase price at the time of checkout.

Thanks to Council member Jane Mah (jane@mcmaster.ca) for arranging this special event for MURA. Please contact Matt Finn in the Ticats sales office at mfinn@ticats.ca if you need ticket information or assistance.

Family and friends are welcome. See you there!

MURA Holiday Lunch Mark Wednesday, December 11, 2024, on your calendar for MURA’s annual Holiday Lunch. The lunch will be held in the CIBC Banquet Hall on the 3rd floor of the Student Centre on McMaster campus. Look for more details and a reservation form in the Fall issue of MURAnews.

MURA Scholarship News

The McMaster University Retirees Association Graduate Scholarship, valued at $1,000, is awarded annually to a graduate student researching technological advances related to seniors, and who demonstrates academic excellence. Gurpreet Randhawa won the MURA Graduate Scholarship for 2024, and has asked that we pass along her thanks to members. Her message appears below.

Dear donors of the MURA Graduate Scholarship,
I would love to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude for the incredible honor of being selected as a recipient of the MURA Academic Scholarship. It is with immense appreciation that I acknowledge the generosity and support you have extended to me through this scholarship.

Who am I?…

I am a first year PhD student in Chemical Engineering, working on developing therapeutics to prevent the progression of age-related macular degeneration. Throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies, I actively volunteered in my community in a hospital, a police station, as a STEM mentor, helping on a global scale at a medical clinic in Peru and donations and supplies for the Farmer’s protest in India. Beyond research, I contributed to my McMaster as Vice President External for the engineering graduate community, organized research competitions and conferences, and took on more initiatives in my research group to promote peer camaraderie.

My accomplishments…

My academic merit extends beyond my performance in coursework and research contributions, encompassing leadership and participation in extracurricular activities. I recently graduated with my Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering, presenting my research on injectable mussel-inspired hydrogels for wound healing. My love for academia is demonstrated by my research involvement which resulted in published articles and presentations at local and national/international conferences. My dedication to academic improvement is exemplified by participating in research competitions and achieving 2nd place at MUCEC¹, 3rd place at a 3MT² competition, and 1st place in an industry competition held by CelluForce for sustainable nanomaterials.

My aspirations…

My goals for the next few years are to learn as much as possible, become a better researcher, and think about how my work can impact others beyond the lab. Further, I would love to find more ways in which I can support my local and global community. I have a strong commitment to addressing both local and global social justice concerns, actively promoting fairness and equity, with a thorough belief that small efforts have the potential to make a significant difference in the future.

Kind Regards,

Gurpreet Randhawa

___________________________________________________________________

Editor’s Note:
¹McMaster University Chemical Engineering Conference (MUCEC)
²Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT).

Unifor Local 5555 Retired Workers Chapter

 
If you retired from McMaster as a member of MUSSA, MUSA, CLC Local 2003-1, CAW Local 555 or Unifor Local 5555, or from a staff position prior to the formation of these associations, you may be eligible to be a member of Unifor Local 5555’s Retired Workers Chapter (RWC).

While MURA’s membership includes all retirees of the University, Local 5555’s Retired Workers Chapter is neither part of nor in competition with MURA. A retiree from one of the designated groups listed above can be a member of both MURA and Local 5555’s RWC. Local 5555 contributes to MURA financially and collaborates with MURA on issues of common concern to retirees.

The RWC has monthly meetings with a diverse number of activities which have included: flower arranging, taxation information for seniors, estate planning, a tour and lunch at the RBG, and most recently a Grand River dinner tour. Weekly exercise programs (cardio, Tai Chi, Yoga and walking groups) are also available via Zoom or in person. The RWC has voice and vote on the Local’s Executive Board and participates in a number of organizations that advocate for retirees both within Unifor and in the community.

Please send an email to retirees@unifor5555.ca, if you would like to be added to the email distribution list.

Unifor Local 5555 Retired Workers Chapter 2024 – 2025 Executive Board

Chairperson: Nancy Clark
Vice-Chairperson: Patricia Vinton
Recording Secretary: Rosemary Viola
Financial Officer: Jeanne Norris
Sergeant-at-Arms: Barry Diacon

Members-at-Large:

          Denise Anderson,

          Kathleen Ouellette,

          Krysia Steinberg

BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) Member-at-Large: Vacant

LGBTQ2SI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirit, Intersex)
          Member-at-Large: Jennifer Petteplace

Your Money/Your Health

Retiree Benefits Reminders

Claim Submissions

The benefit year runs from July 1st to June 30th. For your claims to be processed, Sun Life must receive them prior to the September 30th following the end of the benefit year in which the expenses were incurred.

Claims for expenses incurred between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, must be submitted to Sun Life no later than September 30, 2024. Late claim submissions will not be reimbursed.

You are encouraged to review all claim statements from Sun Life. If there are any questions, please contact Sun Life’s Customer Care Centre at 1-800-361-6212. If questions remain, please contact McMaster Human Resources for assistance at 905-525-9140, ext. 22247 or hr.mcmaster@mcmaster.ca.

For more information about your retiree benefits and how to submit claims electronically, please visit the McMaster Human Resources webpage: Sun Life Benefit Information For Retirees.

Parking on Campus

Permit Expiry Renewal Reminder
Retiree parking permits are issued on a 12-month basis and must be renewed annually. Renew prior to your expiry date by email, phone or by postal mail. Your transponder number is on the front of your transponder. If you have questions or have not made a note of your expiry date, please contact McMaster Parking Services by email at parking@mcmaster.ca or at 905-525-9140, x24232.

Note that central-campus parking (with a transponder) is available to McMaster retirees as follows:

• May to August each year:
• • Access to lots B, D, E, H, I, K, N, P and Underground Stadium at all times.
• September to April each year:
• • Access to Lots B, D, E, and I after 12:30 pm on weekdays, and at all times on weekends and holidays,
  • Access to Lots H, K, N, P and Underground Stadium at all times on weekdays, weekends and holidays.

A note to retirees without parking transponders
Free on campus parking is available to all retirees. To take advantage of this perk, and to view retiree parking access, go to the McMaster Parking Services web page. The Parking Office is accepting permit applications by email only. For further information, please contact Parking Services.

Volunteer Opportunities

Flamborough Volunteering Opportunities

Flamborough Connects is a registered charity providing free and low-cost programs and services to residents of Flamborough, Ontario, especially seniors, and those who are geographically and socially isolated, vulnerable, disabled, and financially disadvantaged, encouraging them to remain engaged, active and empowered.
 
There are opportunities to volunteer at Flamborough Connects such as:

• A driver for seniors or the local food bank
• A fitness leader for older adults
• An income tax preparer for low-income residents
• A fundraising event helper
• A Holiday gift donor or gift wrapper

And more!

Flamborough Connects also promotes volunteering with other Flamborough charities and community organizations. Potential volunteers are invited to review current opportunities and find an organization that is a good fit for them. Or contact Flamborough Connects if your organization has a volunteer opportunity to post.

Flamborough Connects:
email: admin@flamboroughconnects.ca
phone: 905-689-7880
website: https://flamboroughconnects.ca/

courtesy of Humour is Contagious

courtesy of Meanwhile in Canada

News from the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC)

CURAC 2024 National Conference

by Susan Birnie and Nora Gaskin

MURA is a member of the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada / Associations de retraités des universités et collèges du Canada (CURAC/ARUCC). CURAC is a not-for-profit federation of retiree organizations at colleges and universities across Canada. CURAC holds an annual conference, hosted by a different member organization each year, that any retiree member can attend. The conference this year was held May 22-24, hosted by the University of Waterloo. Because of its closeness to McMaster, four MURA council members attended.

On the first day, the CURAC Annual General Meeting was held. Each member organization has one vote at the AGM. The AGM is an opportunity for all attendees to review the financial position of CURAC, and to hear about activities and committees. The CURAC Board of Directors reported that the Association has recovered from COVID, both financially and in membership numbers. There are 40 member associations with a total of over 22,000 retiree members. As with most volunteer organizations, CURAC has difficulty recruiting members to serve on committees. This year the Board put forward three changes to the bylaws. The first was to allow online voting, which was necessary to catch up to current practice. The second was to change the way member contact information is updated. Both of those passed without much discussion. The third proposal was to change the way the Board is elected. Currently Board members are voted on by position. The proposal was to elect members to the Board without reference to position, and then the Board of Directors would appoint officers to positions and define their roles. After much discussion, largely around language and how that related to other parts of the constitution, the motion was tabled. The welcome reception that followed was an opportunity to make new acquaintances from other universities, as well as to renew friendships made at previous conferences.

The theme of the conference was Thriving in Retirement. The organizing committee had engaged a number of speakers who are experts in aging, with plenary sessions on Thriving in Retirement, The Science of Laughter, and Resilience in Retirement. Attendees could choose from a number of breakout sessions, focussing on various aspects of thriving through retirement. We also enjoyed lightning tables, where participants joined a table of interest for a 10-minute quick discussion. Susan heard about Health Enabling through Walking and Neighbouring, which was a presentation on how just walking through your neighbourhood leads to conversation with others. You reap the benefits not only in terms of your physical well-being, but also your interpersonal well-being, especially if you live alone and are at risk of social isolation. Nora participated in an interesting question and answer session with three physiotherapists.

One session asked participants a series of questions regarding the future direction of CURAC. The resulting data is intended to provide CURAC with some direction on how best to assist member retiree associations, communicate with members, and engage in advocacy (or not), and if so, what the focus of that advocacy should be. Naturally, health care for seniors was a big topic of discussion.

As is standard at CURAC conferences, an awards banquet is held one evening. The awards recognize individuals who have made a difference to their retiree associations, or to CURAC, as well as member retiree associations that have made a significant contribution.

The conference in 2025 will be held in Montreal, hosted by the McGill University Retirees Association.

What follows are highlights of a few of the conference sessions

Designing Your Retirement: Thriving in Life's Next Chapter, Howard M. Armitage PhD, FCPA, FCMA

If you’ve made it to age 65, you’re likely to live a good deal longer (19 years for males and 22 years for females on average) but why live longer if we’re not going to age well? If we pursue physical health, social connection, and personal growth in retirement, we increase our chances of thriving in our “bonus” decades. Recommended reading:

• good solid research-based information on aging well: Blue Zones
• Peter Attia, MD: Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity,
• Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines

Enjoying Retirement with Minimal Back Pain, Stuart McGill, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Kinesiology and Health Sciences, University of Waterloo

All systems require stress for resilience, and that includes the body. Taking care of our bodies as we age involves management of that stress, and paying attention to our tipping point. A stress or load below the tipping point generally leads to regeneration, but stress or load above the tipping point can lead to degeneration, so listen to your body and rest at least one day a week. One of the chief strategies McGill teaches clients is how to use movement tools or hacks to find a way to do a task that would normally cause pain, but without triggering the pain, e.g., use a hip hinge instead of a spine hinge to bend forward. Recommended reading:

• Backfitpro: back pain rehab, injury prevention and exercise
• Dr. Stu McGill's 10 Best Habits For a Healthy Back

Resilience in Retirement, Donald Meichenbaum, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Psychology, University of Waterloo

Resilience is the ability to bounce back following trauma and loss, and to deal with ongoing adversities. Following trauma, 25% of people develop adjustment disorders and psychopathology, while 75% of individuals evidence resilience. Dr. Meichenbaum has identified six building blocks for resilience: physical fitness (regular exercise); interpersonal fitness (social engagement with others outside of family members), emotional fitness (learning to bolster emotional regulation and distress-tolerance skills, nurturing positive emotions); cognitive fitness (hold the belief that you can learn and grow no matter what your age, since attitude towards aging is an important predictor for lifespan); behavioural fitness and spiritual fitness. Recommended reading:

CURAC Later Life Learning (LLL) Events

A variety of opportunities offered by affiliated Retiree Associations are available to MURA members through the Later Life Learning Committee’s Event Calendar. Click on the activity to learn more about the topic and how to register. The Calendar can also be accessed from the CURAC homepage by scrolling down to the bottom.

Contacting Human Resources

Members' Corner

The views and opinions expressed in Members’ Corner are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of MURA Council.

On a recent cruise that offered passengers the opportunity to “travel the world in comfort,” every care had been taken with the details of travel: at night, our pillows were fluffed, our beds turned down; in the afternoon, there were interesting lectures on such topics as Caribbean piracy, the Mediterranean in history, and the eclipse; delightful violin and piano duets accompanied drinks preceding dinners. Apparently, Neptune had also been soothed because both the southern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea were calm.

But even the most careful planning can hit unforeseen snags.

One night at dinner, my travelling companion, Paula McNutt, ordered Oysters Rockefeller. Soon, there appeared on a platter four large oyster shells heaped with the prescribed spinach filling. Perfection. She bit into them only to discover that three of the four were blanks, that is, there was only one lone oyster among the four shells of spinach purée. After a brief consultation, we called over the waiter and asked him to please let the chef know of the missing oysters.

Now, there is a long vertical drop between a chef and a table waiter, and our waiter was not inclined to bother the chef. However, he mentioned the absent oysters to the maître d’, a charming woman, who apologized to us on behalf of the dining room. We thanked her and pointed out that the problem was not in the dining room but in the kitchen. Shortly later, a round chef wearing a tall white chef’s hat arrived at our table. As he bent over to apologize, I feared that his hat would fall into our soup, but it did not.

He explained that the kitchen had been short of oysters; to be sure, there were more oysters aboard, he said, but they were in “cold storage.” Presumably, a sous-chef in his kitchen had assumed that two old, white-haired ladies might not notice the absence of oysters and therefore he could safely serve the blanks.

The following afternoon, there arrived in our stateroom a tray with two champagne glasses, a bottle of champagne, a plate of chocolate-dipped strawberries, and a note of apology from the ship’s captain or his surrogate.

A fellow passenger from Texas described the cruise as “adult daycare.” This is an apt description in so far as pre-schoolers are unlikely to probe their spinach in search of oysters.

Suggestions for Summer Reading

We polled our MURAnews team and the MURA Executive to come up with ideas for easy summer reading. Below are some suggestions for you to consider.

Regina Bendig, MURAnews team
Some short-story titles or a non-fiction essay are great for summer reading at your cottage or elsewhere. The articles below can all be found on the internet and have been published in the New Yorker magazine. Non-subscribers can read one New Yorker story for free. For those with access to the McMaster libraries’ catalogue, the stories can be accessed there as well and perhaps at a public library.

Shirley Jackson: The Lottery. New Yorker, June 18, 1948. – Not for the light-hearted: you may want to read about it but would certainly not want to play it.  

Alice Munro: Free Radicals. New Yorker, February 4, 2008. – Also published in the collection Too Much Happiness. 2009. A story about how to trick a potential killer.

John McPhee: Litwill & Final Exam in Tabula Rasa. New Yorker, January 6, 2020. – Why McPhee decided to write a literary will and how well students could spell, among other topics he writes about in Tabula Rasa (no Latin required) in a most captivating way.

Another good source for free books and other media is Internet Archive. I usually do a general internet search by the title of the book or film together with the words “internet archive” to see if it is available. But you can, of course, search the site directly.

Susan Birnie, MURA Past-President
For enjoyable summer reading, Canadian author Linwood Barclay writes mystery fiction. If you are
nostalgic about summers in Ontario cottage country, Last Resort is his memoir of his family operating a trailer park in the Kawartha Lakes.

Dawn Elston, MURAnews team
I can recommend a series by Richard Osman, a presenter of TV and game shows in the UK. During the pandemic, and after visiting a retirement community in a small English village, he wrote a four-book series that centres on a group of pensioners living in the luxurious fictional retirement village of Cooper's Chase in the UK. To combat the routine and boredom of retirement living, they form the Thursday Murder Club, keeping the local constabulary on their toes while solving murders. Each novel is its own murder plot, but I recommend reading them in order to get the most out of the characters, who are often as interesting as the murders they solve.

1. The Thursday Murder Club
2. The Man Who Died Twice
3. The Bullet That Missed
4. The Last Devil to Die

Marcia MacAulay, MURAnews team
My favourite book sources are Libby and Kindle. I also use Audible for long drives. I am currently hooked on the author Lisa Jewel.

Jan Nicholson, MURA President
My granddaughter and I have formed a book club of two. I turned her on to my favourite author, Agatha Christie, so I will buy her an Agatha that she can read (and I can re-read). We then watch the corresponding movie (or movies) together and discuss how well (or not) the book translated and what we thought of the interpretation. So far, we have had a great time with:

Death on the Nile
Murder on the Orient Express
Crooked House
Ordeal by Innocence
Witness for the Prosecution
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

I use most of the usual outlets: Libby, Indigo, etc. All of the books I mentioned are available from the Burlington Public Library, except Ordeal by Innocence, which is available from Indigo. There is one place online I use to buy audio books which hasn’t been mentioned. It is called chirp and there are great sales from time to time. As an example, Agatha Christie’s The Murder on the Links is on sale there now for $1.99 USD.

We also wait with bated breath for every new instalment of the Strike detective story by Robert Galbraith (pseudonym for J.K. Rowling). It is to be a series of ten and we are awaiting the eighth book, titled The Hallmarked Man, to be released in 2024 with any luck. The books have been made into a wonderful TV series called Strike on BBC One.

The Cuckoo's Calling (2013)
The Silkworm (2014)
Career of Evil (2015)
Lethal White (2018)
Troubled Blood (2020)
The Ink Black Heart (2022)
The Running Grave (2023)

Diana Parker, MURA Vice-President
My contribution is recommending Project Gutenberg. This site collects electronic versions of out of copyright books, with thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles to choose from. Once you've chosen a book, you can choose to read it online, or download it to Kindle, PDF, HTML or even text to read offline. Some titles are even available as audiobooks.

In addition to my Gutenberg obsession, I have a physical “to-be-read” pile waiting for me that will keep me busy for a couple of years. In the meantime, I add to it regularly with visits to the Hamilton Public Library, browsing Audible, and occasional forays to Westside Stories (the used bookstore near Longwood that used to be the Westdale Bookworm)

My latest download is Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. This summer I'll be re-enjoying this book that I last read in high school.

I found this in an Instagram post from The Language Nerds (@the.language.nerds).

Do you agree, or can you disprove with an example, that English speakers follow this unofficial grammar rule?

“ ..  [a]djectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun.”  **

Examples:

• “great green dragon”, not “green great dragon”
• “the ugly little old rectangular brown Italian leather daily notebook”, not “the daily Italian old brown little rectangular leather ugly notebook”

Try it!

** The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase. Mark Forsyth. 2013. Berkley Books. [available at Internet Archive].