About 30 percent of Pelham’s population is comprised of seniors aged 65 and older. Sharon Cook is part of that demographic, and has been an advocate for services and opportunities for local retirees for decades.
Cook worked for 25 years with seniors in both long-term care and the retirement home industry, and also consulted in the development of seniors communities.
She also served as national president of Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association (CWSA) and was a Canadian representative to international governing bodies related to paralympic athletics.
Raised in Vineland, Cook attended Beamsville DSS, where she competed in track and field, and set a provincial record in the discus.
“I had to do a track event as well as field events, and ended up running against some fast girls like Abbie Hoffman [who competed for Canada in the 800 metres event in four Olympic Games]. I could never get off the line fast enough to be a sprinter, but give me 200 metres to catch up, and I could do okay,” she said with a laugh.
After high school, Cook headed west to study recreational administration and psychology at Mount Royal College in Calgary. Along her career path she also earned a certificate in labour management relations and human resources.
“I came back to Niagara from Calgary in 1968 to say hello to my parents and family,” said Cook. “I had found work out west, but my mom urged me to check out local job opportunities. I told her, ‘Okay, here's the deal: if I can find a good job in two weeks, I'll stay.’ I ended up finding a job in long-term care, and never left Niagara. I think at the time I was the only therapeutic-trained recreationist working in long-term care in the province of Ontario.”
Cook said that she advanced to the role of regional director for long-term care facilities, and met a man with cerebral palsy whose comment took her career in a new direction.
“He told me he heard a rumor that there were sports for disabled people,” said Cook, “and urged me to investigate. I ended up attending a meeting in Hamilton on the subject. That got the ball rolling, and from there, the provincial government gave me a grant to set up a wheelchair sport and recreation association. Over time we established various regional games for those with disabilities, which included wheelchair basketball, but focused mostly on [track and field events].”
Ontario created programs for disabled athletes which other provinces emulated, said Cook, who served in a leadership role for 18 years, including national president of the Canadian Wheelchair Sport Association.
The international growth of the Paralympic movement has been swift. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Toronto, over 1,500 athletes from 40 countries participated in 13 different sports. That year also saw the first Winter Paralympic games, which were held in Sweden. By the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul, the Paralympics were using the same facilities as the Olympics.
In 1980, Cook made the decision to transition back into the field of geriatrics.
“I guess I just missed my old folks, and returned to the retirement home industry,” she said. “I opened St. Charles Village in Welland and was there for about 15 years. I also did some consulting work.”
Cook raised three sons with her husband, Don (a retired engineer). She was also active in local politics.
As a Pelham Town Councillor, she was Pelham’s representative on the Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee (JAAC), charged with ensuring that the municipality promotes and facilitates a barrier-free and universally accessible environment for citizens of all abilities.
“I remember when I was deputy mayor to Ron Leavens, two council members were assigned to each of the department committees,” said Cook. “It was a good system. We got things done, moved things forward. I did two terms, and finished in 2010.”
She served for 15 years with Victims Services Niagara, and has volunteered at Winterfest and Summerfest celebrations, and the International Silver Stick Hockey Tournament.
“I also did some coaching in minor basketball and soccer,” said Cook. “It comes with being a parent of sons.”
Vickie van Ravenswaay, Pelham’s Director of Culture, Recreation, and Wellness, said that, “I’ve been in Pelham for 30 years, and it seems that Sharon has always been involved in community activities and social causes. She’s a long-time volunteer who worked for years to get the MCC built.”
Cook was chair of Pelham Seniors Advisory Committee for the past four years, and a committee member since its inception.
Despite the trend to online news, Cook still subscribes to a print copy of the St. Catharines Standard.
“I miss part of our Tuesday morning ritual, a walk into town to pick up a copy of the Voice,” she said.
And she still holds strong views about current goings-on in Pelham.
“I still have issues with the parking at the MCC,” she said. “It’s ridiculous that the MCC is a designated seniors activity centre, but there are only a few handicapped parking stalls. They really missed the mark in trying to anticipate the parking needs of that building. They should have done a lot more paving when they had all the heavy machinery on site.”
Cook said that she spent a lot of time with the MCC architects in an effort to ensure that the building would be accessible to all, but not “institutional-looking.”
She has pushed hard for educational seminars which benefit the aged.
“Some seniors are very active, and want pickleball games and spin classes and those sorts of activities,” said Cook. “But the vast majority of seniors simply want the social interaction, a chance to sit down and talk to people face-to-face. Ladies have their teas, and the men have their group breakfasts. Topics they need information on include caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's, dealing with dementia, and elder abuse.”
If you think that Cook, like many seniors, escapes the Niagara winter to soak up the sun in Mexico or Florida, you’d be wrong.
“I'm not interested in going to a beach somewhere. We get calls from friends down south, asking when we are coming down. ‘It's beautiful weather, we could play golf,’ they say. I tell them I'll wait until they come home in the spring, and then we'll play golf.”
Despite having travelled extensively in her younger days, Cook no longer feels the allure of exotic destinations.
“I could fill a recycling container with my old airline tickets,” she said. “I spent a heck of a lot of time in a plane, back and forth across Canada for wheelchair and paralympic sports, plus meetings internationally. I've been to London more than a dozen times, South America and Japan, too. My family and I traveled all over Europe and the British Isles, Russia, Scandinavia. These days, I prefer the comfort of home.”
