Speaker: The speaker today was
Mr. Jud Pearson. He is the current president of the
Probus Club of Colchester.
Born and raised in Truro, Jud attended the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, then went to Teachers College where he received his teaching licence. From there he went directly to Acadia University for his BA.
He returned to Truro to start his teaching and administrative career at North River, Central Colchester Junior High, Douglas Street and finally finishing at North River. He completed a Masters of Education at St Mary's during this time.
Jud was involved in many volunteer roles: minor football, minor hockey, United Way, his church, Truro Golf Club to name a few. He was one of the founding members of the Colchester Community Workshops Foundation that built Rotary House.
Jud was the returning officer for the Town of Truro for the 2008 and 2012 municipal elections where he introduced electronic voting. He spoke to this club in 2012 about the election process and he still has the mug we gave him!
Jud is married to Gay and has one daughter.
PROBUS is a local, national, and international association of retired people who come together in non-political, non-sectarian, non-profit, autonomous clubs which provide regular opportunities for members to meet others in similar circumstances, with similar levels of interest, make new friends, and maintain and expand their interests. Probus Clubs can be made up of men, women or be mixed (men and women) clubs. It is normal for the spouses of club members and widows of former members to be encouraged to participate in the social activities.
Jud gave an interesting history of Probus as background. Started in England in 1966 by a group of retired Rotarians, Probus has grown to have clubs all over the world. There are 249 clubs across Canada currently with 37,000 members. There are over 400,000 members world wide in 4,000 Clubs.
Probus Clubs can be sponsored by Rotary Clubs or by other Probus Clubs. The Probus Club of Colchester was started in 2014 by the Probus Club of Halifax. It currently has 64 members and is looking to grow.
The Club meets the third Thursday of the month at the Truro Fire Hall. Meetings start at 9:30 with a social time followed by a short business meeting and then a speaker starting at 10:30 for about an hour.
The speakers are the highlight of the meeting for many. He gave some examples of the types of really interesting speakers they have had. The club has also met in other venues. Recently, they toured the NSCC Campus to see what changes have happened on the campus.
There are also special interest groups within the local Probus Club. They have a Diners' Club, a Book Club and a hiking Group.
Probus is about fun and meeting people in our community to expand our social networks. Jud encouraged members to check out Probus, come to a meeting and perhaps join the club.
Rotarian Barbara Goit thanked Jud on behalf of the Rotary club.