Jean Nelson long time volunteer and dedicated member of the Brunswick Street senior centre was born on May 3rd, 1930. Jean and Al Nelson were married a short 25 years when at age 48 he died of a heart attack in 1973. Jean, the stay at home mom now had to support three children.
Jean applied for a chauffeur's license, wrote the test and passed. She remembers friend Alf Nelson objecting to women drivers because he felt that they could not chain up.
Jean drove the school bus for 11 years and then decided that she wanted to be a city bus driver. Jean recalls, "When I applied for the job I was told that there was no such thing as a female city bus driver. I took my application to union representative John Page and shortly after that Ron Black from the City phoned me up and offered me the job. I asked if there was training too learn the routes and I was told 'no, just follow the bus stops'. Well, that is exactly what I did for 16 years until I retired at the age of 65."
The City bus drivers were always welcomed at the Brunswick Street senior center for coffee and meals so at the age of 60 I joined the centre.
My friend Ruth Oldroyd convinced me to help out with Bingo. After awhile she said, 'you do it while I play bingo'. It was busy that day and when I asked her what to do she told me to figure it out, I thought you old bag! I have been managing the bingo fundraiser for the past 19 years and I love it."
Jean manages the monthly fundraising dinners and was the bartender for the monthly dances. One day the dance convener got sick and Jean took over on a temporary basis; 15 years later she is still managing those dances.
Jean also manages the monthly birthday tea and says, "The birthday tea is one of my favorites. We have anywhere from 80 to 100 people that attend. Many people come from the Jubilee Lodge. We have great entertainment, we sing, we dance and everyone has a wonderful time!"
Jean has been treasurer at the centre for the past 14 years. She does the shopping for the kitchen and says it also serves as her weight lifting exercise program and it keeps her in shape. She shops at 4 different stores for the best deals, fills up her car and takes it all back to the center. She pulls into the parking lot and honks the horn and the gentlemen from the center come out to unload it.
Jean is now 83 years old and says, "I don't do anything that I don't want to do. I feel good when I can do something for other people. I want to make it clear that I am nothing without all my dedicated volunteers that help me with everything that I do. My volunteers make me look good and I just can not thank them all enough. There are just too many to mention them all. Everyone does what they are good at and the jig-saw puzzle just comes together! Seniors are great and if I ever win the lottery I would have lots of fun helping seniors and all the senior centres".
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