THE STUDENT'S COLUMN - by Arnie Stewart

The highlight of my literacy adventures since the last issue of Literacy Connections was the Laubach Literacy of Canada 1999 Biennial Conference in Ottawa, "Share the Memories, Share the Dream". Here are some thoughts sent in by one of our fellow students, Ruth Loft.

"The conference goal was to get the students plus the tutors together to discuss strategies and solutions to any problems we were having. There were also tutors there who wanted to know how they could work with their students better. So they had certain training sessions for tutors and for students and they had a combination where we would all be together. I met many other students at the conference and we would be sharing our feelings, of what we are going through and the struggles we have to deal with everyday."

"I met Dr. Bob Laubach, the son of the man who started the organization, at the conference. The next day we went to the Parliament Building to receive our graduation certificates which were presented by the Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc. He autographed mine and some students' personally." The experience of attending a conference is wonderful. I hope to see you at the next one in Gander, Newfoundland in 2000!

Arnie Stewart
National Student Representative

Gladys E. Neale passed away on June 11th, 1999. She was the Chairperson of the Distributorship Committee from 1986 to 1999 and served on the LLC Board of Directors since 1981. Gladys indeed was part of the "grass roots" of Laubach Literacy of Canada.

We, at the Distributorship in Saint John, NB, worked closely with Gladys since 1985. Our working relationship was one of great respect and admiration for her dedication to the cause of literacy in Canada. It was an honour and a privilege for us to have her as part of our lives and to be known, as she affectionately called us, "her girls"!

We always looked forward to the Fall season of each year when she would make her annual visit to Saint John. These were not only times to deal with the business end of the Distributorship, but also a time to catch up on the happenings in each others lives. She had lots of "entertaining" stories to tell about her career in publishing and her travels around the world. These will be memories that we shall always treasure. We will always remember our times with her as a "learning experience" as her expertise in business and publishing helped us in the daily running of the Distributorship.

We miss her every day and cherish our wonderful memories of her. She was quite a LADY and no one could ever replace her in our hearts. Farewell to our dear friend!