We are so excited to welcome Kathleen Gardiner to our club. She brings a wealth of talent and knowledge to our membership.

Kathleen has always had a passion for May Court. She has shopped at the store for 30 years, finding the quality great and the volunteers wonderful. So when she retired it just made sense for her to volunteer with May Court.

And since Kathleen was a Region of Waterloo Home-Childcare Consultant, she was very happy to learn much of May Court’s support is for women and children in the community.

Kathleen is really enjoying working in the May Court Belmont Avenue store – she is a real people person so retail suits her. She has also dabbled with decorating the shop window, a skill she didnt know she had! And she loves to encourage friends and family to shop here.

The May Court Club has benefited from Kathleen’s work with the Heart and Stroke Foundation as a public speaker. At the spring general meeting her engaging and informative presentation was very well received.

As you can see, Kathleen’s many skills make her a real asset to our club. We are so glad this busy grandma of 4 grandchildren (most recently twins) has joined May Court!

Wilma joined the Club in January of this year and we are glad she did. She immediately proved that she cares about others in need with her enthusiasm and willingness to help wherever needed.

 

Wilma has had fascinating life experiences. She came to Canada from the Netherlands in 1954 with her parents. While travelling here, a profound memory of hers was seeing huge icebergs before entering the St. Lawrence River. And another fond memory of the move was having so much freedom. Where she was born, children were only permitted to play at a local children’s park.

She married John, her husband, in Guelph and together they have a daughter and a son. They are blessed with 5 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. Their life together has been adventurous and varied. After being in the retail business for 30 years, they bought and operated a Bed and Breakfast in Port Elgin for 12 years.

Then they travelled across Canada and almost every state in the U.S. in an RV during an 8 year span. A highlight for Wilma was in Arizona, where she helped sew quilts for an organization called Blankets for Kids

After that, they settled in Kitchener-Waterloo and we are lucky they did. She loves to read and cook. She strongly believes in reaching out to others less fortunate than ourselves. She has been active with her church’s outreach programs, especially supporting refugees.

She acquired a need to help more within the community. After talking to one of our Club’s founders at church, she learned all about the ‘good we do’ in KW and decided to join. Her retail experience has been an asset while volunteering in the May Court Shop; her organizational skills were so appreciated in planning a recent silent auction.

Wilma’s warm and caring personality plus sense of humour adds so much to the atmosphere in The Club. We are thrilled to have her as a valued member.

We are so excited to welcome Lynda Smith as a new member to The May Court Club. Her dedication and talents were evident the moment she joined us and we are so lucky to call her part of the May Court Team.

Lynda Smith joined us in the fall of 2022. She has proven herself to be a most willing and valuable Club member for the past 9 months, working in the shop, modelling clothes for Instagram, and helping with the hospitality suite at “The Association of May Court Clubs of Canada” annual gathering.

Lynda is a mother of two children, Sarah and Brian, and the devoted grandmother of five grandchildren. Her beloved husband Paul passed away in 2014.

Lynda grew up in Toronto, graduated from McMaster University and began her teaching career at Centennial School in Waterloo. She then moved on to Eastwood Collegiate where she eventually became the head of the ESL program. Lynda retired from the WRDSB in 2009, only to take a teaching position with Ray of Hope, where she taught boys in the Youth Addiction Services program for the next nine years.

Music has played a large part in Lynda’s life. The KW Philharmonic choir, KW Musical Theatre, Eastwood Musical Theatre productions and her church choir have benefited from Lynda’s dedication and talent.

The May Court Club is very happy and lucky to have Lynda join us in all our endeavours.