Let me tell you a bit about myself. I am one of nine children, born and raised in Manila and studied at St. Scholastica’s College and St. Paul’s University. I have an Associate in Arts Degree and when the children were teenagers, I went back to school to study Occupational Therapy at SUNY. I did not get my degree because we were unexpectedly sent on a 3-year posting to Hong Kong where the same course was taught in Cantonese, a language I do not speak.

My husband Murray, the children and I went on postings overseas and were uprooted every 2 or 3 years. That was not easy, but it was an opportunity to study people, their languages, cultures and traditions.  I learned more from living in different countries than I would have in classrooms or from books.  I was fortunate to meet Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata, to experience working with the disadvantaged through volunteer work and to experience the kindness of people who made us feel welcome.

We’ve been blessed with 6 children and 8 grandchildren and my life often revolves around them.  Murray retired in 2001 and we made Kelowna our home and St. Pius X our parish church.  I was Lector, RCIC Teacher, and as Parish Council President, organized a Nelson Diocesan Convention at our church. Currently a Eucharistic Minister, Social Outreach Coordinator and Social Convenor for Parish Council. Murray is a Eucharistic Minister, an active member of the Knights of Columbus and has held the positions of Grand Knight and District Deputy Grand Knight.

I joined the League in 2005 and became chairperson for Community Life, then Organization and lastly President. At the Diocesan level, I took the same path and now I am deeply honored to be serving as President.   The diocesan theme we chose for 2021-2023 is Connecting with Love, a theme I hope will inspire all of us to achieve what we can because we care about others.

Being born in South America gave me the gift to travel north to study and learn many other cultures, languages, and religions, and being a Medical Scientist also allowed me to have the opportunity to care for people and service the ones in pain of the body and mind. My catholic family has always been in my soul. I have had many challenges to resolve through the 63 years of my life. Living God’s lessons and knowing that Christ is in me has taught me that suffering is a necessary path for clarity of body and mind through our human legacy on earth.

I have studied in several countries; Colombia, USA, England, Denmark, Germany, and Ecuador, and visited others such as Japan, China, Ireland, Scotland, Finland, and Russia. My husband and very special friend for the past 14 years has taught me about the public life of Canada and how we relate to the lakes, mountains, fish, and the long summer days in BC. Somehow this is so different from the 33 years I did live and work in Alberta. Being a Canadian has been a gift to me, and carrying Christ through my years continues to be the most amazing experience I have ever had so far. I do give thanks to the Catholic Women’s League for its legacy and for the desire to continue progressing with God’s blessings today. I am also a Secular Franciscan and try to serve the elderly people who are so much in need of joy and hope.

Wilma Lucia Suarez-PinzonChair of Faith

I am writing this to introduce myself: My Name is Michelle Eveson.  I was born in Cochrane, Ontario on April 7 19?? lol.  I was the 5^th child of 6 so our family was very busy with lots of love and laughter. I completed my schooling in Cochrane and then moved to Golden, B.C. to help my sister with their first born son.  It was there that I met and married my husband Warren.  We moved to Kimberley because Warren was working for Cominco and his family also lived there. We welcomed our son, Penn in 1991.  Our life became very busy, as little boys are always on the go. In 1994 we were blessed with a daughter, Amanda.  She was born with disabilities that challenged us all in many ways.  With the love of family and friends she flourished. Once Amanda started school I found myself with nothing to do so chose to start volunteering in the community.  I did meals on wheels, spend many hours helping seniors with their daily activities.  It gave me a very fine feeling to realize how much our elder community friends enjoyed my company and assistance with any and all chores. I joined the CWL in 2008 and have enjoyed my time with the sisters in Kimberley and others in and about the province. I have been on the Organization chair, and President of our CWL.  I serve the church with alter service coordinator, Eucharist minister, and the building and grounds chair.  I served on our parish counsel for many years.

I have really enjoyed the happiness that the above activities awarded me. It’s my hope that I can do my best as Health & Education chair, I look forward to read all of Fran’s Communique to guide me,

Thanks for allowing me to share my life with you.

With love and blessings,

Michelle Eveson

Rosa was born in Italy arriving to Canada with her parents as a toddler. She was raised in Cranbrook and after high school graduation attended Lethbridge Henderson Business College. She quickly became employed by the Columbia Natural Gas company and there met Santo, her future husband who was also an employee of the company working as a gas serviceperson. The couple has two daughters Annette and Sandra and four grandchildren.

Rosa’s work with St Michael’s parish CWL began when she moved to Sparwood as a new bride. She began by assisting with funerals, teas, lunches, fundraisers, and church cleaning. As her daughters grew, they began catechism and that became the motivation for her to teach First Communion classes. Adding to that, overseeing the altar servers, as her girls were among the first female altar servers. She also took on the washing and pressing of altar linens and some of these things she continues to do today.

Active in CWL since 1987 she has served as president of her parish’s CWL group and was part of the Nelson Diocesan team for several years. She also worked with a team called CWL Field Workers that visited the different parishes providing education by giving programs and workshops about what CWL is all about.

Rosa’s faith life has been most important to her, and she has eagerly served as eucharistic minister, as Community Life Convener, as a member of the parish council, and worked with the youth group at times even providing spaghetti dinners for them.Rosa and Santo share a strong interest in politics, and they are both well known to the MLA and MP representing this area as being very supportive constituents.Nominated for the Social Justice Committee Rosa has elected to focus on her long held high interest in senior issues. She has been a long-time member and vice chair of the Rocky Mountain Village Care Home auxiliary, active on the board of directors of Lilac Terrace for seniors and co- chair of the BC Senior Community Response Network.Rosa is not afraid to speak up about injustices in respect to any age group however seniors grab her attention more as she is known to have deep feelings regarding caring for that demographic and so she looks forward to assisting in this concern. Rosa’s favorite pastime is spending time with her grandchildren, travelling and spending time with friends and family. Her Catholic faith has been a solid part of her life and she is happy to be with like minded women who share her Catholic values and accept giving voice to her interests.

Caroline has served on the Diocesan council for ten years, BC & Yukon Provincial Council for two terms and then back to diocesan, as treasurer, followed by spiritual development and now this present position as chairperson of resolutions and Legislation. In recognition of her service to the League, she was awarded Life Member status and was presented with the Life Member Pin at the Convention in May 2015. Caroline has been a CWL member for more than fifty years. She has 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. She loves going to conventions and strives to attend the diocesan, provincial and national conventions each year. She says “I feel strongly that conventions are the best learning tool for all members to help keep our councils alive, active and informed. There is so much that can be learned at conventions and brought back to our members”.