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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, July 30, 2010 · 16 Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-337-5560 Fax: 905-337-5571 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com Jocelyn Gunn's vision changed many lives Community Living Oakville co-founder had profound impact on those with intellectual disabilities By Nathan Howes OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF J ocelyn Gunn, one of the founding members of Community Living Oakville (CLO), died at age 83 this week. Gunn died on July 22 after a battle with ALS, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, at Carpenter Hospice in Burlington. The funeral was held Tuesday at St. Jude's Anglican Church on 160 William St. in Oakville. Gunn played a large role in helping start one of the first organizations to assist intellectually challenged children in 1954 with the help of her husband, Geoffrey, and another couple, Roy and Margaret Kelley. At the time, both the Gunn and the Kelley family were looking for educational OAKVILLE BEAVER FILE PHOTO facilities for their children, four-year-old Pamela-Lyn Gunn and five-year-old, David INFLUENTIAL LIFE: Jocelyn Gunn died in Burlington at the age of 83 this week. After having a child with Down syndrome, Gunn, along with Bruce Kelley, both of them were born with her husband Geoffrey and Roy and Margaret Kelly, hired a teacher to educate their children in their home. In 1954, they formed what would become Down syndrome. Community Living Oakville and later opened the Bruce-Lyn School. The school and Community Living Oakville programs have had a major impact on The quest to find an educational facility the lives of those with intellectual disabilities. began with the two couples hiring a teacher, Amy James, to teach David and Pamela-Lyn 1980s, when intellectually challenged chil- are treated in the community, especially in cast aside. "My mom always was one who was never dren were integrated into mainstream the school system. from their homes. classrooms. Gunn's efforts helped to change the way a complainer, I never heard how tough it Their ambition to help school their chilAs of 2001, Halton Region took responsi- they are accepted into society, says Enid was (but) I've got to believe it was incredibly dren brought 22 people to an organizational difficult because back in the early '50s, what bility for preschoolers Mackle, Gunn's daughter. meeting at the Kelley and Community Living "Because these kids have received educa- you did was you put them in mental instituhome and Community "My mom always was one Oakville served only tion, whether it's academic, life skills or tions and locked them away," said Stuart Living Oakville (CLO) was who was never a complainer, adults. learning how to swim, they are able to use Gunn, Jocelyn's son. born. I never heard how tough it "Kids were taken away from their famiBoth Jocelyn and the those skills to live in the community," said t the time the was (but) I've got to believe Kelleys were honoured Mackle. "Whether it's working at Walmart or lies and would live their entire lives in instiorganization was at Community Living at any business that might take them on or tutions. known as the it was incredibly difficult." "That was just something that my parOakville's 50th anniver- give them a job. Oakville and District sary a few years ago with "They've got those skills to allow that to ents and the Kelleys just simply weren't preAssociation for the Stuart Gunn, on his mom, the establishment of the happen to be a functioning member of soci- pared to do with their children. They were Mentally Retarded. It was Jocelyn Gunn, raising a child probably quite ahead of the curve." Bruce-Lyn Award for ety." later changed because of with Down syndrome in the 1950s "My mom's always had sort of been a `you t wasn't an easy task back then to Excellence in the discomfort felt over start an organization to help the do what you have to do and put one foot in Volunteerism for their efforts in creating the name. In 1955, the association was intellectually challenged, but it was front of the other' kind of person," said incorporated with the school and it opened and supporting the Bruce-Lyn School and something Jocelyn believed in and wanted Stuart. "She just did what she felt was her Community Living Oakville. as the Bruce-Lyn School in September of Over the last 50 years, a lot has changed to see through to help not only her child, obligation to her daughter. We'll miss her that year. in the way intellectually challenged people but the many others who might have been terribly." The school operated until the mid- A I