My name is Mary Ward. I am 56 years old and have been blind since birth. I want this site to be user friendly to one and all including those visiting using screen readers. This is really important to me.

I have a lot of varied interests and they will be reflected throughout the site.

I enjoy reading, the computer, the internet, animals, some crafts and much more. I am also a history freak!

I have a dog guide named Clyde who just turned five years old on October 29, 2007. I also have three cats, Patches who is 19 years old, Zoe who is 15 and Precious who is four!

I am the mother of two! I have a son and daughter who I am extremely proud of and who are making a success of their lives. My daughter is the older.

I try to live my life with a positive outlook on life. I believe in reincarnation, spirituality and the power of the universe. I believe in the glass always being half full and I hope my site will reflect this belief of mine. I'll no doubt be adding to this bio so check back again frequently if you want to learn more about what makes me me!

I was born on January 15, 1951 to Ken and Helena Kyle, who raised eight of us successfully! I am the youngest of eight; six brothers and one sister.

I was born in Peterborough, Ontario Canada and raised in Ennismore, Ontario Canada about ten miles from Peterborough.

At age six I started school at The W. Ross Macdonald Schoolformerly known as the Ontario School for the Blind located in Brantford, Ontario.I was a frightened child of six and intensely homesick! It took me several years to resign myself to the fact that I had to spend most of the year away from my brothers sister and parents but i finally adjusted!

I graduated from high school June, 1969.

In September, 1969, I entered a Dictaphone Typing Programme at The Canadian National Institute for the Blindin Toronto, Ontario. I completed that in June, 1970.

I worked for a couple of years doing Dictaphone Transcription and being a Switchboard operator.

My daughter Shauna Dawn Smith was born on October 11, 1972 and my son, Kevin Peter Smith, was born on January 27, 1976. Both are wonderfully responsible adults but who both still know how to play and enjoy everything that life has to offer them. Both are such an inspiration to me!

Shauna got married this past September, September 22, 2007 to be exact, to a man by the name of Mark MacDonald and they are happy and doing well. Mark, welcome to the family.

On November 30, 1977, I received my first dog guide Chief from Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan. At that time, there were no training centres in Canada. Chief was a black lab and he was my dog guide until September, 1981 when he had to be retired due to arthritis.

My second dog guide, Alex, also came from Leader but I only had him until March, 1982, as he just didn't work out and suffice it to say he was more dog than I could handle.

I received my third dog guide, Griff,a Yellow Labrador fromguiding Eyes for the Blindin Yorktown Heights, New York. Griff was something else! He believed he was human. He took working as a dog guide very seriously and after he retired he would have worked in a minute had I needed him to! In previous sites he was the resident guide at my home and I hope to do this again in the very near future! it's a wonderful tribute to his loyalty and love and it also serves to keep his memory alive in the hearts of those who knew him!

I received my fourth dog guide, McDuff, a golden retriever on July 28, 1990 fromLions Foundation of Canada Dog Guideslocated in Oakville, Ontario. He was a layed back golden retriever and was a huge, gentle giant. Unfortunately, he had health issues and had to be retired in 1993 due to these issues.

On November 22, 1993, I received Max, a wonderful Golden Retriever from the Lions Foundation of Canada. He was wonderful. He loved the world, everyone was his friend, and he was smart. In 2003, Max became a therapy dog atBridgepoint Health Hospitalhere in Toronto. He loved every minute of it and so did the patients. I am still a volunteer at Bridgepoint, and I love what I do there!

I received Clyde from the Lions Foundation on May 28, 2004, and we are still together.

I've done advocacy work over the years as injustice doesn't sit well with me, and it was slogging at times but I'm glad I hung in with it.

I was on the board of Scarborough Community Legal Services a free legal clinic for those who can't afford a lawyer! It was interesting and challenging at the ssame time but it was good too! Unfortunately I had to step down after eight years in 1996 as my health deteriorated at the time and it was time to move on to other things.

I was a volunteer at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind from 1978 until 1984. I did public speaking in schools Brownie groups, church organizations etc on blindness and dog guides. I really enjoyed it and it brought home to me just how litttle the average person doesn't understand disabilities. I can only hope that my efforts left a small mark somewhere in the hearts of those I spoke to! Again, in 1985, it was time to move on and go into something different.

And now I'm a volunteer atBridgepoint Health Hospitalas I was a patient there in 2002 and was there for several months and got pretty attached to the place so came back as a volunteer. I volunteer at a programme called Diner where patients are brought from their rooms from all units of the hospital and we have lunch together at real tables with tablecloths etc and it's good for the patients. I went there as a patient and now go back as a volunteer and I love it.

This page created November 24, 2007.

Updated December 15, 2007.