Bill and Barb Boagey
A few weeks ago as we launched ourselves into 2007, I asked you readers to tell me about your Hidden Heroes, people you know that have made a positive difference either in your own lives or the lives of people around you...

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Sharon and Bill Dunnigan
Alzheimer’s disease, when it strikes family, tends to uncover Hidden Heroes. In Sharon and Bill Dunnigan’s case, the entire family qualified as they pulled together to keep Sharon at home as long as possible after she was diagnosed,at a surprisingly young age. The surprise was even greater because there was absolutely no history of the disease in her family...

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Lorna Prentz, Bill and Pam Pineo, Ruth Kossman
I had lunch last week with my own personal brain trust; four friends who between them have 355 years of life experience on this planet...

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Pru Cunningham
When she was 72, Pru Cunningham, a former Nanaimo resident, was working as a volunteer Senior Citizen Councillor in Victoria helping seniors live independently in their own homes but over and over again, she would look in the fridges of her older and more disabled clients and find little or nothing inside...

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Longwood Knitters
A week or so ago, I had an opportunity to hang out with the Longwood Knitters, a group of fifteen or so retired women who meet every Tuesday afternoon and donate their finished products to the women and children of Haven House...

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Pat and Gwen Patterson
After three false starts at different gyms, I've finally found a facility that works for me, and this time I believe I can honestly say that I have made fitness a habit...

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Rose McCulley
There's no doubt that the people who are happiest in retirement are those who are able to focus on doing something they have always loved to do, especially if they can use the product of their efforts to make a difference for others...

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Bill Cornellsen
After his wife died, Bill Cornelssen lost his reason for living. With no remaining family, he was left with little that really mattered to him, nothing to which he could make a commitment, the kind of commitment that gives us a reason to get up in the morning and puts a spring in our step...

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Louise Rabu
I am pleased to be able to call Joelle Rabu, the daughter of today's Neighbourhood Heroes, a friend. So last Thursday I read with great joy that she was soon to receive the city's Excellence in the Arts Cultural Award. Then, the very next day, I read that her father had recently passed away and that her mother is battling stomach cancer...

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Jerry Craigie
Last Saturday a Celebration of Life ceremony was held for Jerry Craigie, a definite Neighbourhood Hero...

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Joyce Randle
When I first started writing this column (four years ago next week) I thought I would have to spend a lot of time networking across the city to find people to write about, but that's not what has happened.

Time after time during the first six months, I would meet people or hear stories and find myself thinking, wow, isn't that a nice story and then forget all about it until a few days later when I would suddenly realize that I had overlooked yet another Neighbourhood Hero...

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John Bell
"Have you ever come across someone in your life that made you stop dead in your tracks and say, 'Wow, what an amazing person!'"

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George and Ruth Cook
Last week people at Tillicum Haus Native Friendship Centre invited me to attend a personal empowerment workshop called THUYALSHUNUM, Preparing For Your Life...

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Laura Johnstone
I had a great time last Sunday afternoon.

I dropped into Laura Johnstone's home to take her picture and wish her happy birthday -- She will turn ninety on November 18. That plan to drop by for a quick photo turned into two and a half hours of wonderful, laughter-filled conversation...

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Traveler's Lodge
When I attended Grace Turley's funeral recently I had the opportunity to spend some time with Marianne Turley, Grace's daughter-in-law. ..

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Les Annesley
We've set a new Neighbourhood Heroes record.

Recently Gary Ford nominated Les Annesley as today's Neighbourhood Hero and eleven other people added their name to that nomination. They include: Ray Kulai, Tom Krall, Neil Dillabaugh, Stella Robinson, Jan Bracewell, Pat Ford, Lenore Socal, Les Dickinson, Heather Chase, Ann Marie Hewer, Sue Gueulette...

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Lieutenant G. B. Meynell
Today's column will acknowledge over 100 heroes, heroes as defined in the dictionary -- People distinguished for exceptional courage, fortitude or bold enterprise, especially in times of war or danger...

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150 Ways to Show Kids You Care
Paul Grey's Grade 5 class at Coal Tyee and Noreen Keen's Grade 6 class at Uplands Park are the first School District #68 classes to begin piloting our new Hidden Heroes WebQuest (www.nhero.org) and, from the early results, I think you'll be hearing a lot about them in this column over the next few weeks...

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Tom and Joyce Huck
Imagine yourself flipping through the newspaper and suddenly ... surprise! ... you see your photograph and a column describing you as a Neighbourhood Hero, an exemplary friend, workmate, neighbour, child, parent, or grandparent. It would probably take you a few minutes to recover from the shock.

Well, Tom and Joyce Huck are just now starting that recovery process...

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Parnell Walsh
Parnell Walsh and his wife, Lindy, visited Nanaimo several times over the past 5 or 6 years before they finally decided to take early retirement and settle among us...

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Lorna Prentz
She glowed like a teenager in love every time she spoke about him. But Lorna Prentz isn't a teenager. She's is a 93 year-old woman who she was talking about, Peter, her husband of 64 years, the husband she lost just over a year ago...

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Anonymous Asset Builder
I was going through my old files recently and came across a story that Carolyn Iles had submitted to a province-wide, Asset Building For Youth newsletter. It's well worth retelling...

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Paul and Jo
British Columbia is a hikers paradise and the Mid-Island region is among the best of the best. Unfortunately, many of us don't take advantage of the fabulous opportunities we have because we've told ourselves we're too old … or we're just too far out of shape … or we have too many health problems … or ….

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Heart And Stroke Foundation
Just One Place These Two Have Fun
Neighbourhood Heroes aren't "heroes" as defined in the dictionary; they are role models, people who are doing something in their lives from which you and I can learn.

In their retirement ... and throughout their lives ... today's Neighbourhood Heroes, Dale Huck and Bill Horman have committed themselves to making a difference in their community but they've always insisted on two things: they must work in teams of two or more and everyone must have fun...

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Mary Huntley
Most every person I have written about in this column has resisted being called a Neighbourhood Hero but they frequently know people who are "much more qualified," and suggest I write about them. Today's Neighbourhood Hero, Mary Huntley, is the queen of all resistors...

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Chas Clayton
We have all been surrounded by Neighbourhood Heroes throughout our lives. Think of your parents, grandparents, other relatives and their friends, many of whom have long since passed away...

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Dwayne Schulz
I learned a lot this week from today's Neighbourhood Hero, Dwayne Schulz. How much? Let me count the ways...

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Bill Pineo
At the age of 81, Bill Pineo is doing everything he can to help students get the kind of education he was unable to get. Chances are he would have got a great education had penicillin been discovered in 1926, the year his father, a Port Alberni druggist, caught pneumonia...

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Aggie Frenchy
When I first walked into Aggie Frenchy's home, she hugged me from across the room with her gentle smile, her sparkling eyes and her generous spirit...

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Local Seniors Named Neighbourhood Heroes
Neighbourhood Heroes are people whose lives lived are a lesson for us all. Today's column will focus on four seniors. First, Vicki Evers nominated her father, Wally Griffths, because of the active lifestyle he lived well into his seventies...

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Bruce Coleman
The first time Bruce Coleman shook my hand; I thought a WWF wrestler had been morphed into his 84 year-old body...

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