Executive and Officers
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President
Jean Hollebone 1176 Castlehill Cres. Ottawa ON K2C 2A8 Phone: 613-226-2395 Email: |
Jean Hollebone is a 20 year member of the Ottawa Orchid Society, serving as secretary and show registrar. Currently she is COC rep and manages the monthly show table. She grows a number of orchids and likes Paphiopedilum species, Bulbophyllums and Jewel Orchids. Professionally, she worked for 29 years with Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in pesticide and biotechnology regulation, Plant health, and as Director of Research and Development for the animal and plant health and food safety programs. In retirement she continues work with the Science and Technology Secretariat which coordinates the work of 11 science-based government departments and agencies. In 2007-8 she returned to college, earning a florist certification, which she now plans to put into practical use. Jean and husband Bryan have three boys, two daughters-in-law, four grandchildren and a house full of old Canadian Clocks cared for by Bryan. As new COC President, Jean wants to expand communication between Societies and the COC and will work hard to improve/add programs which further the goals and objectives of the COC and relevancy to member societies. In doing so she asks for your support and involvement in on-going and new initiatives. |
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First Vice President
Elsie Gerdes 4131 Swanson Mtn Rd. Armstrong BC V0E 1B4 Phone: 250-546-1939 Email: |
Elsie was enticed into growing orchids by Eugene Banziger of Kelowna (Okanagan Orchid Society) after a presentation at a Vernon Garden club meet, having had limited experience beforehand. She has been a member of Okanagan Society since 1997 and member of the Executive for one year before initiating the North Okanagan Orchid Society in Dec/02 when she became the First President. NOOS has grown to about 35 members. Having her husband edit the 'Medium' in Kelowna and now the 'NOOS' in Vernon has helped both to learn much about the care of orchids and resources available to hobby growers |
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Second Vice President
Peter Poot PO Box 241 Goodwood ON L0C 1A0 Phone: 905-640-5643 Email: |
B.E., M. Sc. Peter retired from 30 years of community planning some 15 years ago. He has grown orchids for over 45 years and is a past president of SOOS, COC, the Mid American Orchid Congress, and the Eastern Orchid Congress. He is currently an accredited AOS judge, the editor of the SOOS Newsletter and the Chair of the Toronto Judging Centre of the AOS. Peter has been SOOS show chair for many years and has been involved in organising orchid congresses in Toronto that included the COC, AOS, MAOC and EOC. |
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Treasurer
Margaret Hewings 1455 Watts Road, R.R.# 1 Haliburton ON K0M 1S0 Phone: 705-754-3073 Fax: 905-634-4862 Cell: 905-520-2837 or 1-877-818-3303 Email: |
Margaret has worked in the travel industry since 1972,initially using her two years of living in Europe
as a basis for setting up and escorting educational groups, and eventually developing group travel for many
niche markets. In 1982 she bought her own full service travel agency, concentrating on group travel. It was in 1990 that she first visited an orchid nursery in Hawaii. She has since led many orchid tours to various parts of the world - in Canada to view wild orchids growing in BC, Manitoba, Ontario and Newfoundland; elsewhere to view wild orchids in Florida, Singapore, Malaysia, France, UK, Japan, and South America. In 2002 she took on the position of the Conservation Rep. for the OSRGB. Margaret now works from home and plans to continue to work with group travel, including showing how orchids grow in their native environment and why conservation is so important. |
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Secretary
Carole Gert 5 Sleigh Dr., Redwood Meadows, AB T3Z 1A1 Phone: 403-949-4025 Email: |
Carole joined the Foothills Orchid Society in Calgary ten years ago and has served as Secretary since 2002. She grows a variety of over 100 orchids in a sun room that her husband built. Her biggest challenge to date is growing Disas, acquiring her first flask of Disas from the 2005 WOC Dijon France. Carole is married with two daughters, one son and two grandchildren. Her son, daughter-in-law and three year old grandson live in Berlin. |
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Past President
Faithe Prodanuk 2007 Parkwood Drive Coldstream, BC V1B 3Y4 Phone: 250-542-0248 Email: |
I joined the Saskatchewan Orchid Society in Saskatoon over ten years ago and served as Vice President for four years, then President for three years. I was co-chair for the first Orchid Show held in Saskatoon. This was also the venue for COC2002. I grow a variety of orchids in a dedicated plant room in our new home. Professionally I was a Medical Laboratory Technologist/Educator/Clinical Coordinator/Quality Assurance Officer for a Pharmaceutical Research firm and have just retired and moved from Saskatoon, SK to Coldstream, BC. I am married and have one son. |
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COC Newsletter & Webmaster
Jerry Bolce 2001 - 6 Willow St. Waterloo, ON N2J 4S3 Phone: 519-885-1888 Email: |
BSc, MSc. Jerry is retired after working for 30 years in computer support at the University of Waterloo. He raised orchids from his first one in 1976 and currently has about 50 orchids in an apartment condo. As a founding member of the Central Ontario Orchid Society he was on the COOS Executive for five years and produced the COOS newsletter for the first 13 years. His early access to the Internet allowed him to establish one of the earliest websites - The Orchid House. He currently produces the COC newsletter, manages several websites and is on the board of the UW Retirees Association. |
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Education
Gail Schwarz 301 Kings Rd., Wellington, NS B2T1A2 Phone: 902-860-0115 Email: |
I've been growing orchids for about 15 years and I've been on the OSNS executive for about 13 years. I was treasurer for the first 2 or 3 years and the rest of the time I have been the show chair. I'm also the vice president now. We have a 16' x 20' greenhouse. We grow a real mixture of orchids, some successful, some not! We have Paphs, Phrags, Cattleyas, Oncidiums, Odontoglossums, Lycastes, Masdevallias, but my real love are Dendrobiums. I'm trying to collect as many Dendrobium species as I can. I am a probationary AOS judge in Toronto. It means I have to fly in from Halifax for judging and shows. |
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Show Awards
Janette Richardson 38 Straub Crescent Regina SK S4T 6S6 Phone: 306-543-0560 Email: |
person's Bio |
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Conservation
Marilyn Light 174 Jolicoeur Gatineau PQ J8Z 1C9 Phone: 819-776-2655 Fax: 819-776-3703 Email: |
Marilyn has 35 years experience growing and exhibiting tropical orchids and has registered 20 of her
own hybrids. Her hybridization objectives include compact growth habit, repeat or successive blooming and
fragrance. She wrote Growing Orchids in the Caribbean Macmillan. In 1993, she directed an educational video
for the Canadian Orchid Congress titled, For the Love of Orchids - In Living Memory, about the late
Joseph Purdon and his efforts in conserving the Showy Lady's-slippers on his property in Lanark County, Ontario.
Since 1996, she has moderated a monthly internet discussion group on orchid conservation topics at
http://www.orchidsafari.org/. She is a Past President of both the Ottawa Orchid Society and the COC,
now serving as Conservation Representative for both entities. She chairs the North American Region and
the Education Committees of the Orchid Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission. Marilyn recently retired from the University of Ottawa where she had worked with the Professional Training Service for some 20 years. Marilyn studies the long term behaviour of terrestrial orchid populations including Cypripedium and Epipactis. In 1995, she received the Anne Hanes Conservation Award from the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club for her orchid research in Gatineau Park, Québec. She has recently received the prestigious Edgar T. Wherry Award from the North American Rock Garden Society recognizing her outstanding contribution in the dissemination of botanical and horticultural information about native North American orchids. |
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COC Group Insurance Plan
Lynne Cassidy 16077 16th Avenue, Surrey, BC V4A 1S3 Phone: 604-536-8185 Email: |
person's Bio |
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Membership Liason
Valerie Tribes 6644 Jade Rd. Vernon BC V1H 1N8 Phone: 250-503-1179 Email: |
person's Bio |
