Osler remembered as a builder

[attach]7077[/attach]When Joan Osler turned 16 in 1949, she asked her parents for permission to drive. They said she could earn the privilege, through volunteering.

Joan, who grew up in Forest Hill, became a driver for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, helping members complete everyday errands, her friend Jane Bunting recalls.

It was the beginning of a life dedicated to community service.

“The North Toronto community has lost one of its most important leaders,” Bunting said in early October.

“For all of the years Joan lived among us, she was always making significant changes to our area’s social network.

“She spent her life giving back, and we are the richer for this.”Joan Osler died on Sept. 16 in Toronto, following complications from surgery. She was 80.

She leaves behind daughter Jane Osler, a Vancouver-based business consultant; son Graeme, his wife Dawn and their children Darragh and Cameron; and son Brit, his wife Araini and their children Jaitham and Cyra.

She was predeceased by longtime partner Bill Barrett.She was best known for her 26 years of service as the executive director of People and Organizations In North Toronto, a community service organization popularly known as POINT.

Joan told the Town Crier once in an interview that when she arrived at POINT there were no seniors’ services in North Toronto — “yet we had the highest percentage of seniors in the city.”

“It was assumed people in North Toronto didn’t need help,” she said.She helped create several community resources, including the North Toronto Memorial Community Centre, the Anne Johnston Health Station and groups such as Seniors Peoples Resources in North Toronto (now SPRINT Senior Care) and Housing in North Toronto for Seniors.

“Joan was truly one of a kind,” remarked Diane Werner, POINT’s current executive director.

“I think she showed us how community development work can be effectively done — by always cooperating with volunteers and local residents.”

“I think Mum felt that if she could make a difference somewhere she would get involved,” Jane Osler said, noting that her mother had “a strong social-justice streak.”

She said her mother’s proudest achievement might have been co-founding Prologue to the Performing Arts, an organization that brings professional dancers, musicians and other performers into Ontario schools to share their craft with students.

After retiring some 15 years ago, Joan remained active in her community and church, while also spending time with family, travelling and gardening at her cottage near Pointe au Baril, on Georgian Bay.

Her gardens, filled with peach-and-purple irises and day lillies, were a highlight for visitors, Jane says.

“If you had guests up to the area and gave them a tour, chances are you would go by our place and see the gardens.”

Joan’s passing was sudden. She had undergone successful surgery for a treatable condition “none of us were worried about,” Jane said, adding that a bacterial infection set in afterward.Jane said memorable traits her mother exhibited were a tendency to listen, to keep confidence and to be non-judgmental.

“I think it was that ability that allowed her a special place in so many people’s hearts,” she said.Friend Fran Brown remembers “a leader who worked tirelessly.”

“Without her POINT would not have blossomed into the successful community organization that serves seniors in so many essential capacities,” Brown said, adding that Joan Osler was “a friend and mentor to me and all who worked with her.”