By Wendy Dyke

On Thursday November 10, 2016 Community Living Toronto staff and participants gathered for a pot-luck celebration dinner to say farewell to Marianne Gallagher and wish her well as she retired from the Association after 37 years of service. They were joined by a few of Marianne’s family members too.

Marianne worked in a number of different positions throughout her years with the CL Toronto, including North York Employment Training Services on Steeprock as an instructor and finishing her career in the Supported Independent Living (SIL) program: first as a ‘Community Living Worker’ and later her position was known as a ‘Support Worker III’.  A few years ago Marianne went to part-time employment in the SIL program and as we were celebrating she let everyone know that she was staying on as a relief staff. The running joke on that evening was that nobody was surprised that Marianne was still not ready to leave Community Living Toronto completely!

The North York Seniors group surprised Marianne with a tribute using the letters of her name to describe how they valued the role Marianne played in their lives. Marianne has been supporting this seniors group since it started 6 years ago. Many times she expressed how much she enjoyed being with this talented and spirited group. She enthusiastically applauded their performance showing how touched she was by their kind words. There were a lot of speeches from staff and participants that included special remembrances. To the delight of everyone in attendance, one participant told Marianne that they’d never forget the ‘bed bugs’! Many staff spoke of how well Marianne mentored them when they joined the SIL team and what a gift she has for remembering and sharing the history of Community Living Toronto.  Staff remarked that her willingness to support them as they joined the SIL department enabled them to quickly adapt to their new role.

Marianne had her time on stage too, expressing her gratitude to her co-workers, supervisors, manager, individuals she supported over the years, and her family. She was truly touched by the number of people in attendance – over 40 people who have known and worked with Marianne over her 37 years of service.  Marianne said she never expected such a heartwarming send off and looked forward to meeting up with many of us as a relief staff member.