The Provincial Government recognizes today as National Seniors Day and International Day of Older Persons. To help celebrate the many contributions of seniors in communities throughout the province, the Honourable Dr. Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Honourable Paul Pike, Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development, presented the 2024 Seniors of Distinction Awards at a ceremony held in St. John’s.

The Seniors of Distinction Awards recognize the contributions, achievements and diversity of seniors and older persons throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

This initiative also aligns with the Provincial Government’s ongoing focus to improve senior’s well-being and support healthy aging.

The Seniors of Distinction Awards are presented annually to current or past residents of the province, 50 years of age or older, who have made significant personal, professional or volunteer contributions to their communities.

This year there was a total of 28 nominations. The successful recipients are as follows:

• Leo Churchill Bonnell
• Sharon Brown
• Alvin Cluett
• Harold Druken
• Carl Parsons
• Robert Charles Parsons
• Joyce Leah Rogers
• Linda Ryan
• Kaberi Sarma-Debnath

For more information on each of this year’s Seniors of Distinction, please see the backgrounder below.

Quotes
“This year we celebrate nine remarkable recipients. These individuals possess a passion and dedication to help improve the well-being of individuals and their communities. Congratulations and thank you for making Newfoundland and Labrador a more inclusive province for all generations.”
Honourable Dr. Andrew Furey
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

“Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Seniors of Distinction Award. Your contributions to our province and your communities set a positive example not only for seniors, but for our future generations.”
Honourable Paul Pike
Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development

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Learn more
Seniors of Distinction Awards

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BACKGROUNDER

Recipient Biographies for the 2024 Seniors of Distinction Award

Leo Churchill Bonnell – Clarenville
Leo Churchill Bonnell was born in Lamaline in 1944. Mr. Bonnell is a retired bank manager and community leader who resides in Clarenville. He has long been active in local community affairs throughout the province during his banking career and beyond. Mr. Bonnell has held leadership positions with church boards, chambers of commerce, bankers’ associations, Lions Clubs International, Rotary International, Victorian Order of Nurses, Provincial Council of the Rural Secretariat, and the Provincial Advisory Council on Aging and Seniors. Since retiring in 2004, Mr. Bonnell has taken on an informal role advocating for Newfoundland and Labrador seniors. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Random Age-Friendly Communities Board in Clarenville, Area 3 Director with the NL 50-plus Federation, an advisory member for the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Pan-Canadian Age-Friendly Communities Reference Group as well as a peer advocate volunteer with SeniorsNL. It was during Mr. Bonnell’s first term as Chair of the Provincial Advisory Council on Aging and Seniors that the Seniors of Distinction Awards were created with the council developing the framework and criteria for the awards. His work in advancing age-friendly principles, businesses, transportation, and communities; working to end the scourge of elder abuse; and promoting financial literacy at all ages has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally.

Sharon Brown – Labrador City
Sharon Brown was born in 1957. Ms. Brown’s 32-year teaching career was punctuated by countless hours of volunteering and dedication to the betterment of her school and community, including leading the establishment of after school programs for students. After retirement, Ms. Brown became a certified fitness instructor and began teaching group fitness in the community. She soon realized that many women aged 55-plus were too intimidated to attend classes and started the Silver Sneakers fitness program focused on the physical and social well-being of seniors. Two years ago, she added kickboxing to their routine. Always one to encourage seniors to step out of their comfort zone and try something new, Ms. Brown has grown the group from an initial 10 members to a current membership of more than 50 seniors, ranging in age from 55 to 79, who meet twice each week. Silver Sneakers has become just as much a social group as an exercise group and has expanded its activities to include snowshoeing in the winter and hiking in the spring and summer. When not leading fitness activities, Ms. Brown is busy adding motivational posts on social media to inspire people in the community or writing personalized birthday messages for each member of the Silver Sneakers on their birthdays. Ms. Brown has also served on the executives of Work out Word and the Tamarack Golf Club since 2014. During the holidays, she finds ways for the group to give back to the community such as collecting items for the local women’s shelter or food bank and over the summer months she organizes golf events for women in Labrador West, and she continues to volunteer at the local curling, Nordic ski, and golf clubs.

Alvin Cluett – Garnish
Alvin Cluett was born in 1957 and lived in Frenchman’s Cove until he moved to Labrador West to train as a millwright. After a 38-year career that spanned Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario, Mr. Cluett returned home 10 years ago and now resides in Garnish where he has become a major contributor with the Garnish Lions Club. He has held and continues to hold leadership positions with the Lions at the club and zone levels. He is the recipient of numerous local, national, and international Lions awards and was bestowed life membership in the Lions Foundation of Canada. Mr. Cluett was instrumental in raising more than $210,000 to upgrade the Garnish Lions Club building and to make it a warming center for community members in the event of power failure. He is currently the coordinator of a knitting project that sees participants donate knitted products to people in need in partnership with the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing and Homelessness Network, Grace Sparkes House, Salvation Army, The Gathering Place, displaced refugees of Ukraine, the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation, and the Housing Hub of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. This knitting project has earned two Lions Outstanding District Project Awards, and a Lions International Kindness Matters Award only awarded to 30 participants in the world each year.

Harold Druken – St. John’s (Posthumous)
Harold Druken, born in 1952, was affectionately known as the unofficial mayor of his Shea Heights neighbourhood of St. John’s. Well-respected as a community leader who always recognized a need and took action, he was the driving force behind numerous initiatives great and small. Mr. Druken led fundraising efforts for anything from sending an athlete to an out-of-province event to building a home for a family in need. In fact, he often assumed personal financial risk to help people in need build or renovate properties and ensure community members had equal opportunities to succeed regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances. He organized Christmas parades, helped found and organize the Shea Heights Folk Festival and volunteered at the community centre. Mr. Druken also led the charge to construct the Shea Heights War Memorial to commemorate the contributions and sacrifice of community residents. The community board he founded continues to flourish and support the community he so dearly loved.

Carl Parsons – Dover
Carl Parsons of Dover was born in 1947 and was an educator throughout his working career. He has spent more than 55 years working with community organizations locally, provincially, and nationally to better the lives of others and served two terms as Mayor of Dover. In 2002 Mr. Parsons was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, which is awarded to individuals who have made outstanding and exemplary contributions to their communities. He is the longest serving member of the local recreation committee and has served as president and a board member of the Alzheimer Societies of Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada. As a board member of the provincial Alzheimer Society, Mr. Parsons helped to develop regional representation on the board of directors and ensure the society’s programs and services were available province wide. During his time as president, he was involved in the development of a Provincial Strategy for Alzheimer Disease and Other Dementias. His time and commitment to the society’s cause has been described as outstanding. His work as President of the Alzheimer Society of Canada helped to shape the organization at the national level and helped to change people’s perceptions of dementia in Canada.

Robert Charles Parsons – Grand Bank
Robert Charles Parsons of Grand Bank, was born in 1944 and has spent decades researching, writing, and publishing the marine history and heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly the rise and fall of the wooden schooner era. His extensive research has included interviews with hundreds of people connected to the schooner era and has resulted in an impressive collection of tales of the sea from all over the province. Beginning with his first published book in 1991, Mr. Parsons went on to publish 34 books covering stories from Newfoundland and Labrador, Atlantic Canada, and the Atlantic Ocean more generally. Mr. Parson’s remarkable body of research including ship files, crew lists and interview documentation have been donated to Memorial University’s library and marine history archives where they live on as a valuable resource to other researchers and marine historians. In addition to research and writing, Mr. Parsons has volunteered countless hours to municipal and provincial historical societies and boards and has held leadership positions with the Fidelity Masonic Lodge, Royal Canadian Legion, Grand Bank Development Corporation and Burin Peninsula Community Business Development Corporation. In 2009, he was presented with the Polaris Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the preservation and public awareness of the marine heritage and history in the province. In 2016, he received the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association Special Recognition Award “for outstanding personal contribution and achievement in community service and social and cultural endeavours.”

Joyce Leah Rogers – Grand Bank
Joyce Leah Rogers was born in Lamaline in 1930. After losing her mother at age 12, Joyce helped her father take care of her siblings. During her teenage years, she worked as a nurses’ aid at the Grand Bank Hospital. She married Graham Rogers at the age of 18 and together they raised five children until Graham became one of 13 men lost at sea when the Blue Mist II sank off the shores of Grand Bank in a winter storm in 1966. Following this tragic event, Ms. Rogers took it upon herself to ensure that those lost at sea would be forever remembered and was the driving force behind the establishment of a permanent Mariners’ Memorial in Grand Bank. The memorial, which features a life-size bronze statue of a woman overlooking a pool in which the names of hundreds of people lost at sea are displayed underwater, symbolizes and commemorates loved ones lost. In addition to this tremendous contribution, she was also instrumental, in her role as an executive member of the local historical society, in the restoration and preservation of the George C. Harris House historic site in Grand Bank. Built in 1908, this house was occupied by the Harris family who were prominent fish merchants in the community for many years. Today, George C. Harris House and the Mariners’ Memorial are two of the most visited tourism sites by Grand Bank locals and visitors alike and, at the age of 94, Ms. Rogers is still active in the operation and maintenance of both sites.

Linda Ryan – Mount Pearl
Linda Ryan was born in 1959. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, Ms. Ryan steeled her resolve to fight back and has dedicated her time and energy to helping others facing various types of cancer. She has undertaken many initiatives to raise cancer awareness and has helped to raise more than a quarter of a million dollars for Daffodil Place and other cancer-related organizations. While recovering from treatments, Ms. Ryan established Pink Days in Bloom which is described as a high-spirited awareness and fundraising initiative. It brings together breast cancer survivors, newly diagnosed individuals and supports to celebrate resilience and raise money for cancer-fighting causes through the healing power of gardening and connections to nature and others. She has also spearheaded other fundraising and awareness activities such as Socks in the City etc., Teacups for Hope and the Comfort and Joy Auction all in support of Daffodil Place. Ms. Ryan has also had great success at recruiting and motivating others to join in fundraising and awareness initiatives. Her contributions have been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally, with accolades including Canada’s Volunteer Award for Community Leaders (Atlantic Region), the Sovereign Medal for Volunteers, the YWCA Women of Distinction Award, the Outstanding Fundraising Volunteer Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Paul Harris Fellowship Award from Rotary International which recognizes individuals who give of themselves for the benefit of humanity.

Kaberi Sarma-Debnath – St. John’s
Kaberi Sarma-Debnath is a Bengali Canadian born in 1959. After residing for a period in Germany and England, she moved to St. John’s in 1994 where she raised two children with the support of her brother, sister, and her husband who has been her strongest supporter in her life and career. Ms. Sarma-Debnath began volunteering with the Multicultural Women’s Organization of Newfoundland and Labrador (MWONL), which provides gender-based, culturally competent services to meet the needs of immigrant women and their families, in 1998. In 2009, Ms. Sarma-Debnath was hired as the organization’s executive director after nearly 11 years as a volunteer and project coordinator. Prior to joining MWONL, she was a university professor in Bangladesh and worked as a social worker with the provincial Department of Health and Community Services. She has also written several articles and published two books. She has served as a board/committee member of the St. John’s Status of Women Council, Newfoundland and Labrador Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, Newfoundland and Labrador College of Social Workers, and the RCMP Commissioner’s Diversity Advisory Committee as the provincial representative. In 2017, Ms. Sarma-Debnath was a nominee for the YWCA Women of Distinction Award. She currently serves on the City of St. John’s Building Safer Communities Steering Committee. Her leadership has helped to grow the impact of MWONL and to increase awareness of the challenges faced by newcomer and racialized women throughout the province. Ms. Sarma-Debnath is also a registered social worker and provides culturally competent counselling support to help and empower multicultural women experiencing gender-based and/or spousal violence. She is credited with spearheading programs and advocating for policy changes which enhance the social and economic well-being, and retention of newcomer women and their families. Ms. Sarma-Debnath credits her mother for her drive and dedication in advancing women’s empowerment and strives to act as a role model for her granddaughter while creating a better world for women everywhere.