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Recent Stories
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  • [ December 1, 2025 ] Giving thanks this holiday season Editor's Welcome
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HomeAuthorsTed DeWelles

Articles by Ted DeWelles

About Ted DeWelles
Ted DeWelles is a retired public relations professional and community college professor. A Leaside resident for more than 25 years, Ted currently serves on the board of the Leaside Heritage Preservation Society. He loves reading, cycling and researching and writing about Leaside’s history.
Lenore Sibbald.
History

Leaside’s first Councilwoman did it her way

December 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

Beth Nealson is rightfully celebrated as Leaside’s first female mayor. But she wasn’t the first woman elected to local office in Leaside. That achievement belonged to an independent and unconventional woman named Lenore Sibbald. Here’s …more

History

Leaside’s World War I overseas fatality

November 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

Remembering Ernest A. Wilson: Leaside’s World War I overseas fatality When World War I began in 1914, Leaside was sparsely populated and almost totally rural, so the number of young men who enlisted from the …more

ane Pitfield in front of the original William Lea painting, which currently hangs in her office in Quebec. Photo courtesty Jane Toller Pitfield.
History

Portrait of the artist – Leaside’s David Peacock

October 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

Many readers of Leaside Life know Jane Pitfield’s excellent history, Leaside (1999). The book’s cover shows a painting of William Lea’s iconic and historic octagon house, after which Leaside is named, and which burned down …more

Johnston at the groundbreaking for Leaside High School. Photo: LEASIDE HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK, 1949-50, PAGE 55.
History

A forgotten Leaside tragedy— the bright, brief life of Don Johnston

September 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

This photo at right shows the groundbreaking ceremony for Leaside High School. The much-anticipated event took place on May 30, 1946. Leasiders had long desired their own high school. For years, local teenagers had been …more

A picture of the the Trace Manes wading pool which has been operating since at least 1946.
History

Worth “wading” for – a brief history of the Trace Manes Park wading pool

August 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

I loved the 1966 photo in last month’s Leaside Life showing three-year-old Mitch Bubulj at the old Trace Manes wading pool. It triggered fond memories of when I would take my daughter, Maddy, there 20 …more

Young Frank Pounsett at home with his ham radio set, c. 1920s. Courtesy Al Pounsett.
History

Remembering Canada’s Mr. Radar, Frank Pounsett of Leaside

July 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

Three years ago, I wrote how Leaside’s Research Enterprises Ltd. (REL) helped defeat Hitler and fascism by becoming one of the largest producers of radar equipment for the Allied war effort [“How Leaside helped win …more

Dushanka and Alexander Green after their arrival in Canada, late 1940s.
History

From the Balkans to Bayview – Leasiders and the Holocaust

June 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

“You couldn’t live and work in Leaside in Toronto in the 1950s and ’60s and not know [Holocaust] survivors.” —Former Employment Minister Jason Kenney, on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s boyhood in Leaside and his hatred …more

Architect’s drawing of the proposed Leaside Municipal Centennial Project at Trace Manes Park. LEASIDE ADVERTISER, SEPT. 22, 1965.
History

Leasiders unleashed their patriotism during Canada’s Centennial

May 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

Recent tariff actions by the U.S. government have triggered a wave of national pride among Canadians. Similar outpourings of patriotism occurred during World War II and following Canada’s victory in the Canada-Russia hockey series of …more

A car from the Rowland crime scene. Photo Ontario Provincial police.
History

Century-old murder case remains unsolved

April 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

On the night of Nov. 3, 1919, a taxi driver named John Rowland (a.k.a. Rolland) was parked at Union Station when a man entered his cab and asked to be driven to Leaside. Within hours, …more

Leaside's winning dog, Irish Battler.
History

Is this the most famous dog in Leaside?

March 1, 2025 Ted DeWelles

Many successful people have lived in Leaside over the years. I’ve written about some of them in Leaside Life. But this is the first time I’ve written about a successful Leasider who also happened to …more

Posts pagination

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Digital Edition

Julia Hanigsberg, president and CEO of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Photo Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
In the Spotlight

Holland Bloorview President and CEO Julia Hanigsberg leaves on a high note

by Suzanne Park in Stories

As the festive season approaches, thoughts of a new year and new you might be on your mind. That’s especially true for Julia Hanigsberg, president and CEO of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, as she ...more
Recent Posts
  • Leaside’s 2026 Resident Survey
  • Leaside’s first Councilwoman did it her way
  • The Idler December 2025
  • Giving thanks this holiday season
  • Nurturing Leaside one seed at a time
  • Winnie Turner’s shortbread – long on tradition and taste
  • Tom Scanlan channels his inner child with I Wear Pajamas All Day Long
  • Congratulations to Leaside’s talented athletes
  • Get into the racket
  • Lord…the flies! 
  • Looking for holiday cheer
  • Spreading comfort one blanket at a time
  • Giving Tuesday in Leaside
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