1 week Ago By Doug Schmidt
How should you die? The answer to that and other provocative questions surrounding the inevitability of death will be explored in at least two of the courses offered during this year’s ElderCollege spring session. One of those classes even serves up cake. Canterbury College principal Jennifer Boyes-Garbin hosts a ‘Death Cafe’ on April 22, where the theme is: ‘Everything You Wanted to Know About Death But Were Afraid to Ask.
’ So much planning and preparation goes into the creation of life, says Boyes-Garbin, but comparatively little energy and effort is put into something that we all eventually face — the end of our lives. “We don’t talk about death enough — and we all die. It’s part of being human .
.. we need to talk about it so it’s not a taboo subject.
” Her May 6 follow-up class — ‘Designing an End-of-Life Plan’ — is aimed at helping prepare “a good death.” Boyes-Garbin, who is also an ordained minister, said her classes are not about religion, finances and final wills, medical assistance in dying (MAID), or even medical intervention, but rather something much more fundamental: “How do I want to be remembered? What did my life mean? “It’s the spirit of being human.” Boyes-Garbin, who is also an end-of-life doula — someone who supports individuals facing terminal illness or death by focusing on emotional, physical and spiritual comfort — said a big part of her duties during 20 years as a church reverend was being with people coming to the end of their lives but not being prepared.
Some, for example, don’t want to die in a hospital, while others don’t want to die at home; or alone, or with other people. “It can be so scary because we just don’t know. We can face things with confidence and peace when we know what will happen.
” Dealing with the subject of death, she told the Star: “It’s not morbid at all.” Canterbury ElderCollege registrations opened Monday, with the first of over 60 courses — the highest number this side of the pandemic — starting Wednesday (April 9), and classes continuing until June 11. Subject to space availability, registrations remain open all semester long, right up until the day before the class starts.
Anyone 55 or over can attend the volunteer-led ElderCollege courses. Membership (covering two consecutive semesters) is $15 per year, and course fees range from $25 to $55 (this year includes six free courses). A ‘Buffet-Course Fee’ offers up to 10 courses for $155.
New this year are ‘remote hybrid classes’ with instructors from across Canada. Among them: Montreal nuclear physicist John Felvinci dives into ‘Camp X: Training Spies on Canadian Soil’ on Canada’s history of developing spies to secretly fight Nazi Germany (April 14); and historian and former United Nations peacekeeper Barry Lane with a present-day ‘Witness to Resistance: Ukraine’s Existential Battle Against Russian Exceptionalism’ (April 28). The in-person sessions take place across Windsor and Essex County and cover a vast array of subjects, from history, travel, global cultures and literature, to farming, architecture, the rebuilding of a Windsor Lancaster bomber and ‘It’s a Wonderful World: The Story of Windsor’s International Film Festival’ conducted by WIFF executive director and chief programmer Vincent Georgie.
Impress your friends with nerdy insider knowledge at this year’s Ford Fireworks at the Detroit River by attending ‘Kaboom!’ — pyrotechnician Kevin Cosgrove’s May 20 deep-dive into the awesome mysteries of fireworks. Like Boyes-Garbin, Ward 1 city councillor Fred Francis pulls double-duty this ElderCollege season, starting with an April 11 look at how the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County supports and fosters this region’s rich tapestry of ethnic, religious and cultural communities. On April 25, the MCC’s executive director then dons politician attire for an insider’s look at just what it is all those municipal mandarins and politicians, such as himself, actually do at city hall.
Lawn bowling for beginners, pipe organs, canoes, feminism, photography, cooking, gardening, meditation, artificial intelligence, and — inevitably perhaps — Donald Trump are all grist for this spring’s ElderCollege mill. As to the latter, CBC alumnus Herb Colling hosts an April 15 presentation on Ontario’s first grist mill — established in LaSalle in the late 1700s. For something different, retired teacher Anne Gooch lectures May 26 on the ‘Fascinating Women Pirates’ who once roamed the Seven Seas and beyond.
RelatedElderCollege: murder, mosquitoes and learning 'for the joy of learning'Obit: Windsor Star columnist Lloyd Brown-John was 'connoisseur of life'ElderCollege features plane crash investigation among 52 courses ElderCollege this year is honouring the memory of founder and director Lloyd Brown-John , who recently died at the age of 84 and for whom learning was a lifelong joy and passion. In greetings attached to the spring 2025 course listing , Mayor Drew Dilkens pays tribute to a Brown-John legacy that “will live on for generations to comes,” and to ElderCollege’s “vital role in strengthening our community.” “May we all continue to make Lloyd proud,” said Dilkens.
For more on lifelong learning and ElderCollege’s newest offerings , visit the University of Windsor’s Canterbury College website online. [email protected] twitter.
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