Justin Fauteux
CORD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Lauris DaCosta may have come to Waterloo for her retirement, but that doesn’t mean she’s been taking it easy. Born in Jamaica, DaCosta immigrated to Canada in 1960. She lived in Montreal until 1981 when she moved to Newtonville, Ont. and became a public health nurse working in the Haliburton core.
DaCosta retired in 1997 and moved to her current home in Waterloo. Upon arriving in Waterloo, she became heavily involved with the Carribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region, and was eventually elected president of the board in 2001, a position she held for nearly 10 years.
DaCosta will be honoured along with Eunice Valenzuela, executive director of the Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support, at the Focus for Ethnic Women Waterloo Region’s Focus on Friends dinner on March 8.
My first impression…
“I knew Waterloo before, we had our house down here for a while and when we retired we decided we’d come to live here. But Waterloo is a big town and Newtonville is really a village.”
I got involved…
“When I came here, a friend took me to a meeting [with the Carribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region] and I became involved with the association… These kinds of associations have ebbs and flows of activity and I think I got here during a quieter period. So I got involved and we started injecting some more life into the organization and I just enjoy doing it.”
I ate…
“I don’t eat out a lot, but I do like to go to places like Red Lobster and going out for ribs and steaks.”
I spent my leisure time…
“I just like to be active. I’d go to the occasional show, in Stratford, I’d do the things that everybody does. I’d go to Centre in the Square when they’ve got something on that I like, I go to church at Emmanuel United, which is just a stone’s throw from where I live … but I’ve always been pretty actively involved with the Carribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region and that keeps me pretty busy.”
