Louis (L’udovit L’udo), Ján and Mary Doranský’s son, was born in Bratislava in April 1943. After the family moved to Montréal, Québec in 1950, he attended St. Roch school. Louis Doranský earned his high school diploma at the Cardinal Newman High School and, in his second year, enrolled in the Army Cadets.In his spare time, Louis and friend Peter Sidor founded a rock band where Louis played the drums. His high school completed, he enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts program at the Sir William College in downtown Montréal.
In February 1963, Louis Doranský met his future wife, Sonia Canella. He also began working at the firm P.S. Ross and Partners, and afterwards, accepted a position at St. Vincent and Grenadine’s Aquatic Club. In 1966, he returned to Montréal (Canada) and married Sonia Canella. They have two daughters“ Stephanie and Christine. Following the birth of their children, Louis, Sonia, Stephanie and Christine Doranský moved to Toronto, Ontario (Canada). In 1978, Louis Doranský became a senior consultant with the firm Touche Ross (later renamed Deloitte and Touche) and was given numerous international assignments. In 1990, he left Deloitte and Touche and founded his own firm Doransky and Association Inc. In his spare time, Louis Doranský collected objects from various countries he visited. Louis Doranský has inherited his father’s and mother’s artistic talents. In addition to his love of music, he began painting in his early twenties. In 2013, his art works were part of an exhibition held at Toronto’s Gerrard Art Space.
Joseph Schreiner was born in Montréal (Québec) on August 23rd, 1929. He is the son of Joseph and Anna, immigrants from Brezno in the Banská Bystrica (Slovakia). He also has a brother, Steven and a sister, Mary Zibrin (née Schreiner). As a child, Joseph Schreiner was taught Slovak at home by his parents and attended an English school. Following his 18th birthday, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces and served for 25 years, including several tours of duty abroad in Congo, Korea and Germany. After his military career, he worked at Weights and Measures. When he retired, he spent most of his time in Florida. He was married to Rita Schreiner (née Boyer) and has two children Susan Murray (née Schreiner) and Joseph Schreiner. He was also a father to Rita’s children Gerard, Alain and Donald Boucher.
Joseph Schreiner was quite involved in the Slovak Canadian community. He supported various fellow Slovaks and was a member of many Slovak organizations including the Canadian Slovak League and the First Slovak Catholic Union in Montréal. Most notably, he was a proud fan of the Slovak hockey team and cheered them during the 2014 World Junior Championships a few weeks prior to his death on January 9th, 2015 at the age of 85
Mary Mihalovic (née Basanda) was the mother of Lynn, Glenn and Allan. She died on May 16th, 2009. She had two brother John Baseda and Michael Mihalovic and was the longtime companion of Maurice « Moe » McLean. She died on May 16th, 2009.
Peter Molčan, the seventh child of Julius Molčan and Helena Molčan-Jvanova, was born on August 18, 1949 in Sabinov, Prešov (Slovakia). He graduated from high school with a forest ranger diploma. At eighteen, he served in the regular army where he obtained the rank of corporal and chief mechanic. His military service completed, he returned to Sabinov, met and married his future wife Stefania Merčarikova, who is from Lipany, Prešov (Slovakia). Their two daughters Sylvia and Adelka were both born in Slovakia.
In 1979, the Molčan family obtained a visa to travel to Yugoslovakia. Their stay in Yugoslavia lasted three weeks. Afterwards, they went to Vienna (Austria) where they applied for asylum. Nine months later, they arrived in Montréal, Québec (Canada). The very next day, the family flew to Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and eventually settled in Sarnia, Ontario (Canada). In Sarnia, Peter Molčan held two employments. He first was a mechanics and satety check at the Park Lane Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC Car Dealership. Then, he worked as a cabinetmaker.
Peter Molčan was and is active in the Sarnia Slovak community. He was the secretary of the Slovak Society of Canada and the second term president of the Canadian Slovak League 17 Branch Sarnia. He was also the secretary of the Slovak Society of Canada, a position which he still holds today.
Juraj Megles was born on March 29th, 1922 in Bažovce, th son of Juraj and María Megles. He completed his grade and commercial school in Slovakia. In 1938, the village of Bažovce was annexed by Hungary. Juraj Megles was drafted in the Hungarian army in 1943 and served as a sapper on the Russian front. His unit was captured during its retreat through Romania resulting in Juraj Megle’s imprisonment until his repatriation in 1945. Between 1947 and 1948, he was drafted in the Czechoslovak army.
Following the confiscation of the Megles' farm by the Communists in 1948, Juraj Megles decided to leave Czechosolovakia. With the help of friends some from Plzen, he first fled Czechoslovakia to the West through the Czech Lands. He then, crossed the border to West Germany prior to the Iron Curtain. Afterwards, he went to Oslo, Norway and finally settled in Toronto, Canada.
Upon his arrival in Toronto, Juraj Megles worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant, at a Polish bakery, an electrical/supply business and at a silver/gold plate store. He also chopped trees Northern Ontario. During the summer, he picked tobacco. In 1955, he worked as a roofer and finally, found work as a glazier in Scarborough for the next thirty years.
In 1975, Juraj Megles moved to Oshawa with his wife Anna Silvasa with her two daughters, Mária and Madgalena. Anna Silvasa passed away in 2013 followed by Juraj Megles in 2018.
Juraj Megles joined the Canadian Slovak League Branch 7 (Toronto) but transferred to the Branch 6 (Oshawa). He was president of the Branch 6 (Oshawa)’s president and contributed to the “Christmas tree” fund every year.
Agnes Belosic was born in 1947. She is Ján Homolá’s granddaughter. Ján Homolá was born in 1892 in Priechod (Slovakia). He left Slovakia in 1926 and moved to Canada, arriving in Halifax. Records indicate that he was a labourer and was sent on a CNR to Manitoba and worked in Kapuscasing in Northern Ontario where he died at 55 years (pneumonia).
Agnes Belosic was the past president of the Canadian Slovak League, Kitchener Branch. She is also a frequent contributor to Kanadsky Slovak newspaper.
Ján (John) Ridzon was born in the village of Polhronska Polhora, near Brezno, Slovakia. Having grown up in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he learned to speak fluent Hungarian as Slovak was not recognized in the school system. His parents however had been careful to pass on Slovakia's ancestral language and culture to their descendants. At the age of 17, John served briefly in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War. He was inspired to come to Canada by the stories of others, including his own father, who had come to America three times to work in the mines. In 1926, John applied to immigrate to Canada. Receiving no response, he decided to marry Adela at Polhora, on February 13, 1928. A few weeks after his marriage, John learned that his application to immigrate to Canada had been accepted. John left Slovakia on June 15, 1928 aboard the SS Arabic (Red Star Line) and arrived in Halifax on June 22, 1928. Adela joined him in Canada in 1932 and they settled in Delhi, Ontario. .
Both worked very hard before they were able to buy their first home in Delhi. John was a railroader with CN and also worked in a factory. He was dedicated to the independence of Slovakia and was a life member of the Slovak World Congress. Adela and John never ceased to promote the Slovak language and taught their four daughters to speak Slovakian. John returned to his homeland once, in 1979, with three of his daughters. Adela was unable to make the trip due to her health. There, he visited his three brothers and sister in Polhronska Polhora.
Adela Ridzon was born in the village of of Polhronska Polhora, near Brezno, Slovakia. Having grown up in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she learned to speak fluent Hungarian as Slovak was not recognized. Adela excelled at school and was chosen to continue her studies in Hungary. However, her parents did not support this plan and wanted her to continue studying in Slovakia. Her parents had been careful to pass on Slovakia's ancestral language and culture to their descendants. Adela married Ján Ridzon on February 13, 1928 and after learning of her husband's acceptance to immigrate to Canada, she encouraged him to answer the call as she was confident of soon joining him. He left on June 15, 1928 and Adela remained in Slovakia and worked as a housekeeper for the Lupac family for four years, at Rimanska Sobota. On December 14, 1932, she joined John in Canada. She travelled by ship on the TSS Veendam Holland-America Line to New York, then by train to Delhi, Ontario. Both worked very hard before they were able to buy their first home in Delhi with Adela working in a local tobacco factory. They had 4 daughters Irma Iglar, Emily Halyk, Margaret and Pauline. Adela and Ján supported organizations dedicated to the independence of Slovakia. Adela joined the Canadian Slovak League in 1950, and John was a life member of the Slovak World Congress. Both were avid readers of many Slovak magazines and newspapers. Adela and John never ceased to promote the Slovak language and culture to those around them, including their children. Adela encouraged her daughters to pursue their education. She died in 1987.
Born in Canada in 1945 to Jewish-Polish survivors of World War II, Judith Lermer Crawley grew up and went to school in Montreal, eventually obtaining an MA in English Literature. She bought a camera in the summer of 1968 and spent the better part of that summer in San Francisco in a publically funded city darkroom, where she experimented, practised, learned from others and taught herself photography. Upon her return to Montreal, she set up her own darkroom and continued to explore photography while teaching English Literature at Loyola College. With the opening of Vanier College (CEGEP) in Montreal in 1970, she joined its faculty as an English and photography teacher. Greta Nemiroff was instrumental in hiring Judith Lermer Crawley to teach at Vanier College because of shared attitudes to education. Judith taught the course “Images: photographic and Poetic” which became the basis of the photography component of the Creative Arts program at Vanier. Along with her colleague Alanna Stalker, they brought feminist ideas, skills and teaching philosophy to a new Women’s Studies Programme at Vanier College. Judith worked on the Executive of the Teachers’ Union. Her concern over the conservative direction the government was taking in education led her to participate in the 1983 strikes and to edit the newsletter of the union local. Judith Lermer Crawley was also part of the Montreal Health Press Collective/Les Presses de la Santé de Montréal, a collective that produced and distributed handbooks on issues of health and sexuality. She was the photography coordinator for the collective but also participated also in the entire process of revising, publishing and distributing the publications. As a photographer, most of Judith’s work was based in Montreal, where she lived, worked and raised her two children on her own. Her photographic work took the point of view of the women’s community. Her main subject was women’s “private” daily life, which often showed a network of relationships. She placed intimate images within a cultural, political context and used her photography as part of a process of reflecting on and understanding her life as a woman. For Judith Lermer Crawley, photography was also a collaborative process between artist and subject, artist and community, and involved place, culture and voice: “My camera shoots not up, not down, but around.” The starting point of her image-making was the social reality of women’s experience and the need to challenge predominant stereotypes of women as either passive/subordinate (and in middle years, also invisible) or active/sexually provocative. She wanted to reflect her feminism in her engagement with art. Judith Lermer Crawley exhibited and published her photographs widely in Canada and the United States. She created her own exhibitions and also participated in group shows, the first held in Little Shop Gallery in 1980. In March 1982, she mounted a photographic exhibit entitled “Relations” at Galerie Dazibao in Montreal. In 1985, she realized the project titled “Giving Birth is just the beginnings: Women speak about mothering”. In this project, Judith Crawley presented black and white photographs of women with their children, co-parents and friends. The photographs were integrated with text, in English and French, drawn from conversations about mothering with the women she has been photographing for years. A book version of the project was produced. In 1986, she exhibited “You can’t hug kids with nuclear arms”. The photographs and texts in this exhibition questioned “how children can be raised in the face of a possible nuclear holocaust. It ended with a list of the names and phone numbers of disarmament groups in Montreal. In 1988, she participated in “Mexico/Canada: A photographic Exchange” and in 1993, she exhibited the project “One in Five…” which combined photographs of her children taken after the death of their father with their comments and her memories as a single parent. In 1997, she worked on the exhibition “The 50s/La Cinquantaine”. The project focused on issues that the women of her community faced in their middle years - as individuals, with partners, friends, colleagues, family and adult children. In 2001, she participated in the group exhibition “Urbanité” shown at the Centre de Creativité du Gesu. In 2002, Judith Lermer Crawley travelled to Poland with one of her friends and her brother, and a project based on this trip resulted. The project was shown for the first time at Vanier College in Montreal in 2003. In 2006, another exhibition “Women’s Daybook Series" was also hosted at Vanier College. / Née au Canada en 1945, de parents juifs-polonais ayant survécu à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Judith Lemer Crawley a grandi et a été scolarisée à Montréal. Elle obtient une maîtrise en littérature anglaise et enseigne ensuite la littérature anglaise. Elle achète son premier appareil photo durant l'été 1968. Elle passe la plus grande partie de l'été à San Francisco utilisant une chambre noire mise à disposition du public et financée par l'État. Elle y fait ses premières expériences en matière de photographie. Son apprentissage de la photographie est autodidacte. À son retour à Montréal, elle met en place sa propre chambre noire et continue d'explorer la photographie tout en enseignant la littérature anglaise au Collège Loyola. Lors de l’ouverture du Collège Vanier (CEGEP) à Montréal en 1970, elle se joint à la faculté en tant que professeure d'anglais et de photographie. Greta Nemiroff a joué un rôle déterminant dans l'embauche de Judith Lemer Crawley en tant qu’enseignante au collège. Leurs conceptions de l’éducation se rejoignent. Judith Lemer Crawley enseigne le cours "Images : photographique et poétique" qui est devenu la base du volet « Photographie » du programme d’Arts créatifs. Elle travaille en collaboration avec Alanna Stalker dont elle partage la philosophie, et les visions féministes. Elles contribuent au développement du programme d'études sur les femmes du Collège Vanier. Judith Lemer Crawley fait partie de l'exécutif du Syndicat des enseignantes et des enseignants. Elle est également membre du département d'études des femmes à Vanier. Inquiète de l’orientation conservatrice prise par l'État en matière d'éducation, elle participe aux grèves de 1983. Elle rédige le bulletin de sa section locale et collabore avec Alanna Stalker sur divers projets pendant cette période de grèves. Judith Lemer Crawley a fait partie du collectif Les Presses de la Santé de Montréal / Montreal Health Press Collective, un collectif qui a produit et distribué des manuels traitant de questions de santé et de sexualité. Elle a été photographe-coordonnatrice du collectif, et a également participé à l'ensemble du processus de révision, de publication et de distribution. La plupart de ses travaux photographiques se déroulent à Montréal, où elle a vécu, travaillé et a élevé seule ses deux enfants. Elle a travaillé à partir du point de vue de la communauté des femmes. Son sujet principal est la vie quotidienne et ""privée"" des femmes, souvent présentée comme un réseau de relations. Elle place ces images intimes dans un contexte social et politique qu’elle question. Elle utilise la photographie dans le cadre de son processus de réflexion et de compréhension de sa vie de femme. Pour Judith Lemer Crawley, la photographie est aussi un processus de collaboration entre l'artiste et le sujet, l'artiste et la communauté, impliquant le lieu, la culture et la vision du photographe. "" My camera shoots not up, not down, but around. "Le point de départ de sa création d'image est la réalité sociale de l'expérience des femmes et la nécessité de remettre en question les stéréotypes prédominants selon lesquels les femmes sont soit passives/subordonnées (voir invisibles) ou actives/sexuellement provocatrices. Elle utilise le médium photographique pour refléter ses perceptions et préoccupations concernant la place des femmes dans la société. Elle a exposé et publié ses photographies au Canada et aux États-Unis. Elle développe ses propres expositions et a également participé à d'autres expositions de groupe. Sa première participation à une exposition de groupe a eu lieu à la Little Shop Gallery en 1980. En mars 1982, elle monte une exposition photographique intitulée ""Relations"" qui est exposée pour la première fois à la Galerie Dazibao à Montréal. En 1985, elle réalise le projet intitulé "Donner naissance n'est qu'un début : Les femmes parlent de maternité’’. Dans ce projet, Judith Crawley présente des photographies en noir et blanc de femmes avec leurs enfants, issues de sa parenté ou de son cercle d’amis. Les prises de vue sont accompagnées de textes, en anglais et en français, tirés d’entrevues menées avec ses sujets abordant des questions relatives à la vie des femmes en tant que mères. Ce projet donna naissance à un ouvrage, pour la publication duquel elle recueilli des fonds et travailla en collaboration avec son proche entourage. En 1986, elle expose "You can’t hug kids with nuclear arms". Les photographies et les textes de cette exposition soulèvent des questionnements sur l’éducation des enfants face "à un éventuel holocauste nucléaire". L’exposition se termine par une liste de noms et de numéros de téléphone de groupes de désarmement présents à Montréal. En 1988, elle participe à ""Mexico/Canada : Un échange photographique"". En 1993 a été exposé pour la première fois le projet "One on Five...". Dans ce projet, des photographies de ses enfants sont accompagnées de leurs commentaires. Certains commentaires sont personnels à l’artiste et reliés à ses souvenirs de mère célibataire. En 1997, elle travaille à l'exposition "The 50s / La Cinquantaine". Le projet met l'accent sur les problèmes auxquels les femmes de sa communauté font face au milieu de leur vie. Il éclaire leur parcours en tant qu’individu, conjointe, mère, amie, collègue, etc. En 2001, elle participe à l'exposition collective "Urbanité" exposée au Centre de Créativité du Gesu. En 2002, Judith Crawley s'est rendue en Pologne avec une de ses amis et son frère. Ce voyage a donné lieu à des prises de vue dont certaines ont été utilisée pour le projet d’exposition "About Auschwitz / A Propos d'Auschwitz", présenté pour la première fois au Collège Vanier en 2003. Judith Lemer Crawley a également réalisé plus récemment l'exposition "Women's Daybook Series" présentée au Collège Vanier à Montréal en 2006.
