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Lorena Smalley

Golden Voices of our Seba Seniors – Stories from our members

As we celebrate 50 golden years at Seba Seniors, Trish and Tracey sat down with some of our longest-standing members to hear their stories, friendships, and memories that have shaped our community on the shores of Seba Beach. In our newsletters, we’ll be sharing the stories from these conversations — a little window into the heart of Seba Seniors. We think you’ll love getting to know these incredible members as much as Trish & Tracey did.

Tell us what you think of when you hear the words “Seba Seniors”

  • Seba Seniors is special because it gives people a chance to give back to the community and feel good about what they’re doing. Seba Beach doesn’t really have anything else like this. It has become the heart of the community.”
  • “I’m proud of the work we did with establishing a relationship with the Paul Band.

Seba Seniors Involvement

  • In his last few years at Imperial, Gene was in a Safety Management position. He always challenged himself and loves being involved so he decided to join the board. Gene has been on the board now for 8 years but has been involved in Seba Seniors since 2004. He became much more involved around 2010
  • He loves the Seba Seniors because he truly believes we’re great people and committed! This organization gives people a purpose. 

Early Life & Connection to Seba Beach

  • Gene’s been coming to Seba Beach since 1949!! His parents were Archie and Ressa McMullen (Scottish). There were a lot of bush pilots in Seba; because they were better off than a lot of ppl and could afford a recreation property. 
  • His wedding in 1987 was one of the biggest parties at the May Hall with 120 ppl. It went past  1am in the morning! Can you imagine?!  It was a casual wedding: Gene wore blue jeans and cowboy boots and a western sports jacket. Had his son as best man and Sharon had her good friend. Dot and Bob were in the Melmoth Lounge to keep an eye on things.
  • Event that stands out: In 2018, he quite enjoyed working on the building renovations with Dennis, the contractor. He had so much fun with Dennis; you couldn’t frustrate him, he was so patient. A lot of volunteers were involved in this renovation. All the paneling was removed and the kitchen was closed off. 
  • Back in the day, we had to get special permits for liquor to be served at our Socials. Now it’s much easier as we have a club license.
  • Sharon & Gene try to come to all the events; he even has his Proserve so he can volunteer as the bartender!

  • When asked why does he keep coming back his answer was simple and to the point: “I’m a stubborn SOB and I enjoy the challenge LOL”

Philosophy & Perspective

  • Why Seba Seniors is special…Gives people a chance to give back to the community and feel good about what they’re doing. Look at the thrift shop!! It gives purpose. Seba doesn’t really have anything else like this. Seba Seniors is now the heart of the Seba Beach community. 

Leadership & Impact

  • Gene is proud of the work we did with establishing a relationship with the Paul Band. Cathie and I were quite involved; started with Carolyne Wagner. It’s important to maintain this relationship! Do educational series because the native people are a misunderstood race.

    A round dance ends the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event held at the Seba Seniors on Sept 30, 2023.

  • Gene’s hope for the Seba Seniors is that it continues to maintain the buildings/space, honour the legacy, and offer a place people can come and be a part of something. 
  • For example, he still participates in the Walking Group and tries to walk 10,000 steps a day, plus he still skis!! Seba Seniors also allows him to keep learning new things!

Renovations

  • In the early 2000’s, the south side of the Melmoth Lounge, where the pool table was, was a dumping ground. Around 2012, it started to change; the firehall was cleaned out, and then we did the landscaping. A couple years later, the landscaping was redone, and the bench was set out as part of the 40th anniversary. In 2018, the lounge was redone with new windows. In 2021, the thrift shop was refreshed with new carpets and new curtains. Dennis was involved of course. Where the sorting room is, it was a 2 car garage so in 2022 it was renovated to what we see today. 

Supporting our Community

  • Proud of our Thrift shop as it helps out the community. Dot’s black purse which we called Grandma’s Purse was basically the cash register when our Thrift Shop first opened. It was decided that the Thrift Shop would donate money to school lunch programs and on certain days kids from the Paul Band school would come and pick out things at the Thrift Shop.

Communications

  • In 2022, we joined WSAC (Westend Seniors Activity Centre) to try and support seniors to age in place because they had a lot of programs we could leverage and organize for our members. WSAC also wanted to be more involved in rural senior communities. Around that time, Seba Seniors also moved to Google Drive.

  • Before WSAC, word of mouth, fb unofficial, and Diane Coulhard created a newsletter and sent it out via email. Plus we moved to google drive.
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