Welcome Geza, Our New Assistant Minister Geza Szemok

Geza (pronounced “Gai-sah”) joins our ministry leadership today for a one year term.

His personal “support team” includes his wife Alice, his daughter Dora (just graduated from Grade 12), and his sons Daniel(a 1st year U student) and Ben (heading for grade 6). Geza’s theology training was at Karoli Gaspar Reformed University, Faculty of Theology, Hungary where he earned a Master of Theology degree. He was ordained 17 years ago. Further courses taken in Canada have been directed toward his personal interests in counseling and communicating faith. His previous work in Winnipeg was at the Hungarian Church (Beverley and Ellis) and in rural Manitoba.

Alice, too, is a minister (she and Geza first met during their training in Hungary!) She is presently working part-time at the Hungarian Church and at the Oak Table Community Ministry (serving street people in the Osborne Village area) which is located at Augustine United.

What do they do for fun? Bicycling, swimming , exercising and skyping with family and friend in Hungary. And Geza is very computer literate (a GOOD thing!)
Welcome to Geza and his family. (Family picture is on our website.)

(caption for picture: Left to right Dora, Ben, Alice, Geza and Daniel)

Bob Burton is a man of many parts. Westminster knows him chiefly as a former minister, who served many rural Manitoba congregations, including Fisher River, and who has occasionally preached our Sunday sermon. But before he received the call to ministry in 1964 and studied Theology at United College, he was a graduate of Agriculture, University of Manitoba, and spent five years working for the Soils and Crops Branch, Manitoba Department of Agriculture. Now retired, Bob has time to be a serious painter, employing different mediums – sketches in conté and Indian ink, oils and water colours. Not surprisingly for a man who views the countryside with the trained eye of an agriculturist and the talent of an artist, he enjoys painting landscapes – and his birch bark collages are popular gifts. Bob’s art is eclectic: one of his banners hangs in the narthex, and he also experiments with the juxtaposition of various objects to produce ‘pop art’. Preaching or painting, golf in summer or curling in winter, Bob is never far from his Prairie roots. He is a family man, too. He and his wife Margaret have five children (two boys and three girls), and four grandchildren; one daughter and teenage grandson live with them though other family members are scattered in Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto. And as a golfer himself, he is proud of his daughter Cathy, recently inducted into the Manitoba Golfing Hall of Fame.

Saturday, November 28th is a big day for Pat Miles, as the Spirit’s Call Choir of which she is a member will be holding a benefit concert at Westminster to support the North-End Sponsorship Team (NEST), which works with refugees. The choir is made up of people who once upon a time were told to “mouth the words," because in someone’s opinion they couldn’t sing. Pat finds the experience lots of fun. “The best thing is the harmony, she says, my heart just sings”. It’s a big choir, with some 150 members, and the repertoire will include Joy to the World, Feeling Groovy, Sing, Sing, Sing and Prayer for the Children. Guest trio Monica Bailey and Alexandra Pustogorodsky on flute, and Arlene Baschak on piano, will also play. Helping the vulnerable is close to Pat’s heart, too. For the past four years she has chaired Westminster’s Outreach Committee, leading our initiatives to help such neighbourhood organizations as Art City and Agape Table, and participating in the Peru medical mission in summer 2008. So mark your calendars for next Saturday, November 28th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $16 for adults, youth ages 5-17 just $5.00. Annette Kletke and Gladys Comeault are also members of this choir.

For as long as she can remember, Nicki Kirton has always wanted to sing. It was a talent that her grandmother recognized and encouraged, asking that she sing “Amazing Grace at her great-grandmother’s funeral in 1999. Lessons in Junior High were followed by choral and jazz ensembles at River East Collegiate, where she was also the founding member of their chamber choir “Cantabile”. Now in her final year of the B.A. Music programme at the University of Manitoba, Nicki’s specialty is vocal performance, and her credits include musical theatre, opera workshop and Gilbert & Sullivan, -- in April she will be Lady Jane in G&S’s “Patience”. She’s not afraid of putting on a costume – in fact she spent three summers as a guide in period costume at Lower Fort Garry, an experience that bolstered her enthusiasm for Canadian history. She also celebrates her Métis roots and enjoys doing beadwork on moccasins and mitts, as well as making jewelry.

Then there’s music at Westminster, where she shares the alto solo position with Mary Ann Taylor. Members of the congregation will recall her moving rendition of “Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord / Make me thy servant” a few weeks back. “I love Westminster”, Nicki says – and the congregation certainly appreciates her. Mark your calendar for Nicki’s graduation recital on April 16th, 2010 at 8:00pm. at the Faculty of Music.

Meet Valerie & Dudley Morrow

Westminster’s snowbirds will soon be heading for greener pastures as fall turns cooler and winter sets in. The Morrows will call Mesa, Arizona home from late November till April, and will be missed in the choir and congregation. They were married at Westminster in 1960, so next year marks both their fiftieth wedding anniversary and fifty years’ involvement in the life of our Church. Their enjoyment of the choir, friendly faces and comradeship has kept them coming back, and they also credit their long commitment to Murray Kerr’s fine stewardship.

Many in the congregation will remember that when Edie was ill, Valerie ran the office for several months, an experience she thoroughly enjoyed. She got to know so many of our members and enjoyed great support from the ministers (Robert and Joan), and from our caretaker, Dan – not to mention the Ladies’ Quilting group, which provided tea and cookies! Valerie and Dudley have both worked on the day of Garage Sales, and have played in Westminster Golf Tournaments – though their team didn’t win the tournament last year, they were awarded the prize for the most honest team!

Throughout the years, Valerie’s career has included a wide range of activities. She has worked for all three levels of government, owned her own businesses – Valerie’s Petite Fashions in St. Boniface and Tea Time Fashions & Accessories at Tuxedo Park Shopping Mall. With a degree from the University of Winnipeg and a diploma in English as a Second Language, she has also taught overseas students. Meanwhile, Dudley has worked for Mulder Construction for the past forty-eight years. And this winter, sitting at his notebook computer in sunny Mesa, be will be arranging for the Food Fare lot (and other places) to be ploughed so that we can all get to church in snowy Manitoba!

May I Introduce Nathan Poole…

Nathan, our Choir Director come September, is a young man with a wealth of conducting experience, both orchestral and choral. He sings (Baritone) and has sung under both Elroy Friesen and Henry Engbrecht, two of our leading Manitoba conductors. He also plays the violin and teaches it with a class of 30 students ranging from 3 years old to 80.

Nathan’s conducting experience started at age 14 when he asked his Episcopalian church’s choir leader to let him conduct the choir. He was given permission and started his career with Handel’s Halleluiah Chorus. A rousing beginning!

Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Nathan was well into music performance by Grade Twelve. He was part-time conductor of his high school’s orchestra and went on to form his own Gr. Twelve orchestra to give himself more experience. Following high school he studied conducting further under the conductor of the St. Paul Metropolitan Symphony.

He moved to Winnipeg to take his B Mus degree at University of Manitoba. While there he performed in the University Orchestra (he sat 2nd principal) and sang with the University Singers under both Friesen and Engbrecht. It was that experience under these two conductors which moved him to working in choral conducting. In 2005 he was hired by our neighboring church, First Presbyterian, as their choir director and has served there to the present.

L to R: Shawn, Sharon & Haley.

The Taevs family is at a very busy stage of their lives. Sharon (formerly our Sunday School superintendent) is committed to helping people to fully realize their potential through literacy and general education programs. She teaches full-time at Horizons, an Adult Learning Centre, and is also a member of Horizons’ Board, and the boards of Literacy Partners and the Adult Secondary Education Council (ASEC). Equally important is her commitment to helping her children, Shawn and Haley, in both their school and recreational activities. Shawn, a Grade 6 student at Laura Secord School, sings in the Winnipeg Boys’ Choir as well as the Westminster Kids’ Choir. Right now, his Eleven A3 hockey team is in the play-offs (guess who is team manager? It’s Sharon)! Haley is in the Aerospace Program at Tech Voc High School, a course that may well lead to work as an aircraft mechanic. She too loves to sing and is a member of two choirs at Tech Voc, the Senior Choir and the Tec Vox Jazz Choir. Like her Mom and her brother, Haley is involved in the Westminster community, for on Sundays you will find her downstairs in the nursery, helping to look after the little ones.

Ethan Perhonen is one of the youngest members of Westminster congregation. A regular attender ever since his baptism on January 25th 2009, he is a model baby (though he does have a tendency to sleep through the sermon)! His parents Debra and Raimo, and grandmother Margaret Philbert, were introduced to Westminster by Yvonne Chase. What keeps them coming back Sunday after Sunday is the welcoming community; they enjoy the choir and soloists, too, and have high praise for Robert’s sermons. Raimo works for the City of Winnipeg Water Treatment Operations. Asked if he had any tips for consumers, he joked that we need to keep using the water and paying the bills so that the City can finance its new utility! Presently, Debra is on maternity leave from the Royal Bank Call Centre but baby Ethan will not be neglected when she goes back to work. Margaret, now retired from the Health Sciences Centre where she worked as a transport assistant, will eagerly take over his care. No wonder he is such a calm and contented baby in this happy family!

Marsden and Susan Fenwick are Winnipeggers born and bred – in fact Susan’s father and grandfather were both mayors of Winnipeg -- and between them they have well over a hundred years’ association with Westminster. Susan (nee Sharpe) was baptised here; she and Marsden were married by Reverend Nelson Mercer in 1961, shortly after Marsden became a member of the church. Their three children, David, Nancy and Jane, were also baptised here and attended Sunday School. The Fenwicks enjoy their participation in church activities, greeting people at the door, helping at the garage sale in spring and the Children’s Sale at Christmas. Marsden’s special skills as a chartered accountant were invaluable as Chairman of the Finance Committee and for four years now he has served on the Stewardship Committee. He continues to work in the financial industry –as he says, it’s lots of fun these days with the stock market meltdown! Their lives are still centred in Winnipeg but they enjoy visiting their children and ten grandchildren in Toronto, Calgary and Richmond, B.C. And nothing gives them greater pleasure than their annual vacation in Maui, when they welcome the whole family for some fun in the sun, renew the strong family bonds – and golf to their hearts’ content.

Would you believe that Bob and Linda Gold still have the Volkswagon Beetle they bought in Germany in 1969 when they set off on a three-month odyssey South through the Alps, to Italy and Greece? And this was the first time that Bob had ever driven! Many memorable trips have nurtured Bob’s love for the Classical era through the years, enabling him to see first-hand significant sites such as the Bay of Naples (made famous in Virgil’s poetry), Pompeii, Venice, Rome...

Bob is a retired Professor of Classics at the University of Winnipeg, educated at McGill and the University of Wisconsin, and still much in demand as a speaker. His knowledge and passion make his lectures come alive. He illustrates them with slides he has taken himself at the sites, and regales his audiences (including Westminster’s congregation) with fascinating glimpses of life more than two thousand years ago.

Rivalling his love for Classical civilization is his love for music. Bob started singing as a boy soprano at Wesley United Church in Montreal; he joined Westminster in the sixties, and except for two years at Bethesda, sang here ever since until recently. He also started piano as a boy, studying for twenty years. As a teenager, he even played the tuba in the Regimental Band of the Canadian Grenadier Guards, a reserve regiment that was called upon on ceremonial occasions – including when Queen Elizabeth opened the St. Laurence Seaway. Truly, profession and pastime alike have given Bob great joy in life.

Like her father before her, Ann Peeler is a member of Westminster’s choir -- in fact, she has been singing here since the early sixties. She was baptized here as a baby, attended Sunday School, and is a founding member of Unit 10. She says that she has been around Westminster “for ever” -- whereas Bob, who joined in 1964, is a relative newcomer. They were married here in 1965 by Reid Vipond. Westminster’s Profiles Despite their busy lives working and raising three children, both have given unstintingly of their time and talents. Ann was a member of Christian Education and its representative on the Board; she has chaired the Fellowship and Worship committees; and currently is on the funeral luncheon committee. Bob an educator who initially taught in the public school system, served on Budget & Management. In 1989 he computerized Westminster’s envelope system and has been our Envelope Secretary ever since. He was also Chair of Westminster’s Daycare for many years. Now that Bob has retired from his position with the RRC/UM Integrated Bachelor of Education Degree Program at Red River College, he and Ann enjoy spending time together. That’s why you’ll find them in the bat cave together every Tuesday, cleaning and fixing the goods for the Garage Sale! Bob also fixes wheelchairs and walkers for International Hope. Best of all, there are the special times they spend with their two granddaughters (Megan and Erin).

As Professor of Geography at the University of Winnipeg, Jim Richtik was an expert in Prairie Settlement and authored papers and conference presentations on the subject. Since his retirement eleven years ago, however, he has given free rein to his creative talents. From former Westminster member Anthony Steffes Jim learnt the art of flower arranging, and the wreaths and flower arrangements he has since made for special occasions at the church are much admired by the congregation. Jim has also explored various other forms of artistic expression, such as raku and clay sculptures. Most recently, urged on by his wife Pat, Jim has travelled on two occasions to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to take courses in water colours ... while Pat walks the dog, chats to local residents and enjoys the scenery and the shopping. Now Jim is the featured artist in a show at the Keepsake Gallery, 264 McDermott Street (near Arthur Street), January 10 – February 10, 2009. The show is open Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. Drop in if you can(Pat is anxious to see Jim sell lots of pieces to clear some space in their basement)!

I’ll be home for Christmas has a whole new meaning for the Cuddys. When their condo took three years to build, they had to spend last winter at the lake -- fortunately not in some isolated backwoods but near the town of Gimli, with its many amenities. Still, attending all their activities in

Winnipeg was not easy in the depths of a Manitoba winter. Both are involved in Westminster committees, and both are members of the Board. Currently, Margaret is chair of Membership & Pastoral Care, and Ted treasurer of the Outreach Committee, with a strong commitment to International Hope (he picks up surplus medical supplies from four local hospitals to be shipped to countries in need). Margaret is also an active member of the University Women’s Club, as convener of their Contemporary

Literature Book Club, secretary of the Scholarship Trust Fund and a member of the Hiking Club in the spring and summer months. Ted retired from the Cardiology Department some time ago but is still involved in research and will present a paper at a Manitoba-Cuba conference in Cuba in January (while Margaret enjoys those beautiful beaches). So after celebrating their first Christmas in their new home, they head for the sunshine!

Patrick Chicoine, the guy who sits about eight pews down in the center section, is a hard person to get to know. For one thing, he usually has a book, often the Bible, in his hands. Frequently, he is busy helping somebody move tables or chairs. Once, when I thought I had nailed him down for an interview, in the middle of our after-church conversation he suddenly bolted for the side door to assist someone in a wheelchair. After that he disappeared, probably to help someone else.

That’s the way it is with Patrick. People who know him say he’s a quiet person who is ever on the alert for ways to help out.

Patrick, who was born and raised in Winnipeg and who has attended Westminster for about 14 years, finds peace in the quiet times he spends reading the Bible or listening to Christian music. He regularly attends Sunday morning services, often helping as a greeter or taking collection if asked to do so. He also works “behind the scenes,” setting up chairs for various events such as bridge tournaments and makes himself available to help the daytime caretaker when extra hands are needed. He volunteers with the annual garage sale’s silent auction and he attends fundraising events like IMAX or the fall suppers.

For six years, Patrick was part of the Friday night Disciple Bible Study group, rarely missing a session. He says he loves Bible study and looks forward to the group’s annual get-togethers. When Patrick is not involved in Christian study or in helping in some capacity at the church, he is caught up in sports. A huge Bomber, Moose and Goldeyes fan, when he is not cheering his teams on from the stands, he is following the games on TV or radio. He is also an active member of the Downtown Y. In his spare time, Patrick also enjoys helping his mother with gardening or dog-sitting for her when she is away.

Patrick says that what he enjoys about Westminster Church apart from the “message,” is the sense of community.

Seems to me any church would be happy to have as part of its congregation a few more people like Patrick Chicoine.

(Thanks to Loretta Basiuk for this profile.)

Tom Brown is arguably the fittest person over 21 in Westminster’s congregation!

Last May he won the Over-45 National Squash Championship, a triumph that also earned him the Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. It’s no surprise, then, that Tom identifies ready access to the squash courts at the Duckworth Centre as one of the best things about his job as Business Manager for the University of Winnipeg Student Union. Not that the books, financial statements and payroll are boring for a guy who likes math, especially when working with students. “You never know what’s coming next,” he says, “it’s never dull – and the students keep you young.” Tom attends church with his mother, Jo, and brings his special talent for math to our congregation by helping to count the collection after the weekly service and working as a cashier at the annual garage sale. “I’m a member of Westminster for life,” Tom says, noting that he was baptized at Westminster and that his late father, Jack, was also a member.