JUDY BEAMISH

After Kelvin, I took a degree in English at Queenís , then moved to Toronto to go to med school and Iíve been here ever since. I specialized in Internal Medicine and Cardiology but practiced this only briefly before moving on to something called ìInsurance Medicine.î
In 1981 I went to a Canada Day brunch at a friendís and bumped into Chris McCulloch (aka Junior Barnes), whom most of you know as he played in bands with Pybus, Hillman and Bowles and also made a movie called ìThe night they killed Artî which a number of you are in. I used to think he was pretty cute when he played in ìthe Crittersî but I had scarcely seen him since. A year later we were married. Everyone who knew us both (thatís you guys) agreed it would never last, but we seem to have made it through the first 20+ years more or less unscathed.

We had some pretty hectic years: two hyperactive standard schnauzers, two babies; load them all on a plane to Winnipeg every Christmas along with all the presents, three saxophones and a couple of trunks full of Barnes costumes, flash powder units, sparklers and something unbelievably called ìFire from Allahî. Good thing there were no explosive detectors at Pearson in those days.

The last thing we ever expected was that we would become hockey parents but we were dragged into it by our kids and since we were in it decided we might as well contribute. For the last 6 or 7 years both Chris and I have devoted thousands of volunteer hours to running the Etobicoke Dolphins Girls Hockey League. This has led to considerable curtailment of Barnes gigs but we are hoping to phase ourselves out of this after next year once our daughter Denise leaves for university.

Our son Mike graduates this year from Trinity College School in Port Hope where he has been a boarder for the last 3 years. A gifted writer, Mike is also dyslexic and it has been a huge challenge for him to acquire the skills he needs to use his talents. Being Mikeís advocate has taken up a large part of my emotional energy over the last 15 years. Its also what Iím most proud of.

My job as a consultant in the Insurance industry was pretty ho-hum for a few years but has become much more interesting now thatís itís possible to access the world medical literature instantly on-line. I get asked interesting questions and I read about them and come up with answers, so basically I am getting paid to learn.

In 1969 Mike, Ian, Jack and I went to Newfoundland for ìReach for the Topî. They took us to a place called Carbonear where we visited a kennel where they raised Newfoundland dogs. I was enchanted by them and decided that some day I would have one. Thirty-two years later, ìWinstonî joined our family. Now at 2 and 1/2 he weighs 170 pounds and doesnít seem to have stopped growing.

I hope some of you will look me up if you are in Toronto or at least send me an e-mail at judybeamish@rogers.com and tell me about yourselves and about the reunion.