Anne Day recognized as Senior of the Year, named to Top Seven Over 70 list
Retirement almost as busy as working life - and Day likes it that way
PUSLINCH – Anne Day was pleased and proud to receive the Senior of the Year award from Puslinch Township back in June.
She just wishes the word senior didn’t factor so heavily into the title, she joked.
“But I am 75 years old,” she added with a sigh. “So I guess I qualify.”
The township cited Day’s work with local Rotary Clubs and her role as editor of the Puslinch Pioneer – both volunteer roles – as contributions that have helped improve the community and qualify her for the award.
Day is also among the United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin’s inaugural Top Seven Over 70 award recipients.
She was cited by the United Way as a “publisher, community connector, Rotary leader, mentor and advocate who builds stronger communities through collaboration, inclusion, and volunteer engagement,” according to a press release.
Day has had a lifetime of giving back in both paid and volunteer roles.
She and her husband came from Scotland to Canada in 1945 and landed in Oakville. There she had a daughter and became part of a group lobbying for a childcare centre.
Once that opened, she turned her attention to a group working to open a women’s shelter. And then she worked with teen mothers in a program to help them get back on their feet.
“All my work focussed on women and children,” she said, adding she was editor at Today’s Parent magazine for a while and took a job with the province for a time as well. That work was centred on programs to attract women into the skilled trades when that was a new idea.
But it was her consulting firm Company of Women that gave her the most satisfaction, she said.
Company of Women was an organization that connected, supported and mentored women in business. Day hosted regional chapters across Toronto and southern Ontario and held an annual Journey 2 Success conference.
She’s also written books (Day by Day) and co-authored Good Enough.
The pandemic, of course, meant the conferences couldn’t happen in person, “and virtual conferences just aren’t the same,” she said. “Although we gave it our best.”
In 2021 she closed the business and retired.
She and her husband moved to Puslinch in 1975, where she had the best of all worlds – a business that engaged her, a home surrounded by nature, and her own network of friends and colleagues that kept her fresh, interested and energized.
“Retirement is a big adjustment. So much of our self-esteem is tied up with the work you do. Without work, you don’t know who you are anymore,” she said. “It takes time.”
But before long, Day had joined the Rotary Club of Guelph-Trillium and two years later was president of the club. She now serves as assistant district governor connecting local Rotary Clubs as they work together on causes and issues.
She’s been editor of the Puslinch Pioneer for 15 years, a job she considers a labour of love.
The Puslinch Pioneer is a local publication with 10 issues per year that’s produced entirely by volunteers. And this year it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
In all, Day said she’s been blessed with good health and a reliable vehicle and that allows her to get out and about.
Finding organizations that mesh with her skills and interests has kept her mind sharp. And whatever time and effort she gives to her volunteer work has come back tenfold in boosting her self-esteem and sense of purpose, she said.
“It’s an honour to receive the Senior of the Year award. But I don’t really like the senior part,” she said.
