Marie-P. Charette-Poulin
Today (Dec. 2, 2016), Janna Ramsay Best celebrates her 80th birthday. My husband, Bernard, and I want to join the Greater Sudbury community in not only wishing her a very happy birthday, but in acknowledging, with gratitude, her many contributions.
Janna arrived in Sudbury in 1977 with her husband, Dr. Henry B.M. Best, the then new president of Laurentian University. They moved into the president's official residence at 179 John St. with their young family, daughter Mairi and son Bruce.
Always up for a challenge, Janna enthusiastically fulfilled her demanding role as the president's spouse: She hosted 8,000 people over their seven years in the president's house, taking on the bulk of the planning and cooking herself.
What was striking was her ability to find Northern Ontario specialties and recipes, preparing them with pride and offering appropriate explanations when they were served (by Laurentian students, of course).
In addition, as an ardent supporter of the arts, she reached out to artists passing through Sudbury and welcomed them into her home after an evening's performance or exhibition for a meal.
But her contributions to the community extended well beyond the university campus and included such success stories as organizing Sudbury's 100th birthday party. Held at the Sudbury Arena on New Year's Day in 1983, 5,000 Sudburians turned out to cheer.
She was also involved in the innovative Sudbury 2001 think tank, provided valuable input into the Falconbridge Lecture Series and sat as a member of the Task Force on Home Care Ontario.
I met Janna at her "Salon de la francophonie," an event that saw Janna invite Francophones and Anglophones from all walks of life to discuss specific topics, in French, over "tea and biscuits."
Janna felt she had a mission to bring the "two solitudes" closer together, and she did it while remaining faithful to her Scottish roots.
I have always admired Janna's involvement with the Francophone community.
I asked her daughter Mairi how her mother came to be a Francophile. She told me that Janna, already fluent in French due to her Scottish education, fell in love with the language and the culture when she emigrated to Montreal as a young woman.
They spoke to her lifelong love of the spoken word, which is reflected in her continuing fluency in at least five languages. She also holds a Masters in Modern Languages from St. Andrews, which incidentally, led her to work in code-breaking when she served as a member of the Women's Royal Naval Reserve (WRNS).
After Henry's passing in 2006, Janna could have moved anywhere in the world. She chose to remain with the Greater Sudbury community, reminding us that loyalty is a precious gift to others, that the more we get involved, the more we appreciate the "best kept secret" of Canada: Northern Ontario.
Marie-P. Charette-Poulin was a Canadian senator from Sudbury until April 2015 when she stepped down.
