Raymond Souster was born on January 15, 1921 in Toronto. Souster was a prominent Canadian poet based in Toronto. His poems illustrated the daily life of average people living in Toronto. He worked at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, but also built a career in poetry. Souster wrote and edited over 50 volumes of poetry throughout his life. He was a founder of 3 poetry journals as well as the League of Canadian Poets organization in 1966. Souster receved the Governor General's Award for poetry and the Order of Canada for his works. He died on October 19, 2012.

George Nichol Soulis was a professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1925 to George Roy and Grace (nee Nichol) Soulis, he grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick. Following World War II, during which he trained with Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, he graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in industrial engineering in 1950. After working in the industry for nine years, he was recruited by Douglas Wright to teach design to engineering students at Waterloo. Prior to beginning to teach in February of 1961, Soulis prepared by spending nine months studying at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, Germany. He was named associate professor in 1965 and was promoted to full professorship in 1966.

Soulis co-founded what is today known as Waterloo Systems Design and, along with Peter Roe and Vir Handa, authored The Discipline of Design, the first Canadian textbook focused on engineering design. In addition to chairing the department of systems design, he sat on the committee responsible for creating Waterloo's coat of arms, contributed to the creation of the Kaleidoscope Pavilion at Expo 67, served on Waterloo's Senate and Board of Governors.

Eric "Ric" David Soulis was a professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Born in Toronto in 1949 to George and Kathryn (nee Colwell) Soulis, he was raised in Kitchener where he attended Eastwood Collegiate Institute. After graduating from Waterloo with a BASc in civil engineering, he studied at Memorial University before spending ten years working in the industry. In 1988 he completed a PhD in civil engineering at Waterloo, where went on to teach and research with a focus on hydrology for the next 30 years. His father, George Soulis, He and Carol Amrell Moogk-Soulis were married for 46 years and together had two children, Neal and Graham.

Ulrich was born on November 9, 1926 likely in east Germany. He was raised on his family’s farm in Saxony, Germany. He married Gisela Höpken and together they had two children; Cornelius and Angelika. For an unknown reason, Ulrich’s father was dispossessed of the family farm. In search of a better quality of life, Ulrich immigrated to Canada along with this wife and children in 1954 and settled in Georgetown, Ontario.

In Georgetown, Ulrich initially worked as a farmhand and tried to raise chickens on his own property. Around 1960, he accepted a job working as a foreman in a small enamel factory which provided him with steady working hours and better pay.

In 1962, Ulrich and his wife purchased a house at 45 Charles Street in Georgetown, Ontario. The house featured adjoining rooms, a large basement, and backyard. On Saturday, July 21, 1962 Ulrich opened his own art gallery called Gallery House Sol. The gallery was located inside Ulrich’s home in Georgetown, Ontario.

For more than 40 years, Ulrich collected and displayed contemporary Canadian art including paintings, sculptures, prints and more in his gallery. He was a true advocate for the arts and remained a prominent figure in his local community throughout his life. Eventually, the art works owned by Gallery House Sol were donated or sold to various museums, galleries, and private collectors.

Ulrich died on April 2, 2018.

Gisela was born to Eduard and Elisabeth Höpken on July 10, 1920 and raised in Germany alongside her five siblings; Johann, Walter, Karl, Wilhelm and Peter.

Gisela married Ulrich Sommer and together they had two children; Cornelius and Angelika. In 1954, Gisela, Ulrich and their children immigrated to Canada in search of a better quality of life and settled in Georgetown, Ontario. Initially, Gisela worked as a farmhand with her husband. In 1961, she accepted a position as a dietary assistant at a local hospital in Georgetown, Ontario and was later promoted to a managerial position. Gisela’s work as a dietary assistant aligned closely with her educational background and the exams she successfully passed as a young adult in Greifswald, Germany.

In early 1962, Gisela and her husband bought a house at 45 Charles Street in Georgetown, Ontario. The house featured adjoining rooms, a large basement, and backyard. Later that year, her husband opened an art gallery in their home called Gallery House Sol. Gisela helped her husband run the art gallery, which remained in operation for more than 40 years.

Gisela died on February 7, 2020.

Cornelius was born to Ulrich and Gisela Sommer in Germany on July 21, 1948. In 1954, Cornelius immigrated to Canada with his parents and his sister, Angelika. Cornelius and his family settled in Georgetown, Ontario. After graduating high school, Cornelius completed a Bachelor of Arts in Toronto, Ontario.

During the 1970s, Cornelius worked and had various jobs in factories, workshops and on farms in an effort to save money so he could travel. Subsequently, he spent approximately one year travelling around Western Europe.

When Cornelius returned from his travels, he obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) and eventually opened his own law firm in Toronto, Ontario.

Angelika was born to Ulrich and Gisela Sommer in Germany on December 8, 1949. In 1954, Angelika immigrated to Canada with her parents and her brother, Cornelius. Angelika and her family settled in Georgetown, Ontario. After graduating high school, Angelika moved to West Berlin, Germany to add the German Abitur to her Canadian high school diploma and become eligible to study at a German university. She was an excellent student and excelled at learning languages. She was fluent in German.

In the early 1970s, Angelika met and married a man named Uwe Schriever. Angelika and Uwe eventually divorced. Angelika later met and dated a man named Gunther (surname unknown).

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Angelika was involved in German politics and she supported Marxist and Communist ideologies. Angelika also trained and participated in local choirs.

Gisela Sommer and Ulrich Sommer, both from Germany, married and had two children; Cornelius and Angelika. In pursuit of a better quality of life, Gisela and Ulrich immigrated to Canada with their two children in 1954 and settled in Georgetown, Ontario.

The Sommer family fared well in Georgetown. Gisela worked as a dietary assistant in a local hospital. Ulrich worked in an enamel factory and eventually opened his own art gallery in 1962 called Gallery House Sol. Cornelius studied to become a lawyer and worked in Toronto, Ontario. Angelika moved to Germany.

Over the course of many years, the Sommer family wrote numerous letters to each other, their friends and their family back home in Germany.

Mary Somerville (nee Fairfax, formerly Greig) was a Scottish suffragist, polymath and scientist. Born to the distinguished Fairfax family Mary was largely educated at home and began studying mathematics while visiting her aunt and uncle's home. She learned Greek and Latin to be able to read the classics and eventually attended the academy opened by Alexander Nasmyth for ladies, where she began to study Euclid. Her studies took a pause when she married Samuel Grieg and had two children. Grieg did not support her academic pursuits and she didn't return to studies until her passed away in 1807. She continued to study mathematics, as well as astronomy, chemistry, geography, microscopy, electricity and magnetism and corresponded with a number of leading intellectuals of her day. In 1812 she remarried to Dr. William Somerville, who helped her in her studies of the physical sciences. The couple moved to Chelsea where Somerville worked as a mathematics tutor to Ada Lovelace. In 1826 Somerville published her first paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. In 1831 she published her first book The Mechanism of the Heavens which was an immediate success and was used as a textbook at Cambridge. In 1835 Somerville, along with Caroline Herschel, became the first women members of the Royal Astronomical Society. She continued to publish works including hypothesizing the existence of Neptune and publishing Physical Geography, the first English textbook on the topic. In her late 80's Somerville was asked to be the first person to sign John Stuart Mill's petition for women's suffrage. Somerville died in 1872 at the age of 91.

Lydia Kolb Shantz was born in Freeport, Ontario on August 17, 1851 to Benjamin Shantz and Lydia Kolb. She married Amos W. Snyder on February 15, 1874. Shantz died July 16, 1900 and was buried in the Bloomingdale Mennonite Cemetery.

Herbert Maplin Snyder was born April 21, 1873. He was a prominent citizen, a a furniture and upholstery manufacturer in Waterloo, Ontario. He died February 1, 1942.

David H. Snyder was a a farmer in the New Dundee area of Ontario.

Ralph Edward Snider was born July 19, 1904 to William B. and Faith Snider. He moved to Victoria with his family as a teenager, where he spent the rest of his life. Snider married Sarah Isobel Mowat September 19, 1928 and together they had several children. He owned an operated the Oaklands Nursery for 35 years in addition to being a long time member of the Rotary Club, the C.N.I.B., and a senior elder of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Snider died March 23, 1968 at the age of 63.

Gertrude Mabel Snider was born March 19, 1913 to William B. and Faith Snider. She moved to Victoria with her family at seven years of age where she developed an interest in art. She was an active member of the Victoria Sketch Club and helped found an art gallery in the city in the 1946. She died June 25, 2001 in Victoria and was buried at Hatley Memorial Gardens.

Children's author and librarian Barbara Classen Smucker was born September 1, 1915 in Newton, Kansas. Barbara began writing in elementary school and would later go on to earn a degree in journalism from Kansas State University in 1936. After university she taught English and eventually returned to her hometown in 1939 to work as a reporter for the Evening Kansas Republican until 1941. In 1939 Barbara married Donovan Smucker who she had interviewed for the paper. Donovan was a Mennonite Minister and the couple moved to Wadsworth, Ohio where he pastored a church. Donovan later took a job at the Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Chicago where Barbara got the idea for her first book, Henry's Red Sea. From 1967-1969 the couple lived in West Point, Mississippi where Donovan was president of Mary Holmes College. In 1969 they moved to Ontario when Donovan accepted an offer to teach at Conrad Grebel College.

Barbara became a children's librarian at Kitchener Public Library (1969-1977) and then head librarian of Renison College (1977-1982). During this time Barbara continued to write, producing some of her most famous works including Underground to Canada (1977) and Days of Terror (1979). In 1993 the couple moved to Bluffton, Ohio where she would continue to write and speak to children about reading. In all, Barbara wrote 12 books which were published in 16 countries and translated into such languages as Japanese, Danish, Swedish, French and German. She and her books received numerous awards including the Canadian Council Children's Literature Prize and an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo. Barbara Smucker died in Bluffton in 2003.

Mauritana Smith was the daughter of Damaris Isabella Smith and sister of Elizabeth Smith Shortt, who was one of the first three female medical doctors in Canada. Mauritana was born on August 9, 1856, to a loyalist family in Winona, near Hamilton, Ontario. She was educated by a governess, in the Winona School and at the St. Catharines Collegiate Institute. She taught in the Lee neighborhood and at Hamilton Beach, and the Waterford Public School. She married Hervey A. Coon in 1887. She died June 18, 1946.

Colonel Herbert D. Smith, K.C. (November 2, 1866-November 2, 1938) was County Crown Attorney in Chatham, Ontario in the 1930s.

Damaris Isabella McGee Smith was an author and teacher. She was born Sept. 27, 1831 at Somerville, New Brunswick. She moved to Ontario when she was 18 and taught school in the Lee neighborhood [of Hamilton?]. She married Sylvester Smith, son of a United Empire Loyalist, in 1853. She wrote "Pioneer Wife" which describes the condition of life in the early days of settlement in the area. She died Nov. 18, 1913 and was buried in the Stoney Creek cemetery.

Harold Stanley Smart was a Lance Sergeant in the 2nd Canadian Survey Regiment, No. 2 Canadian Artillery Reinforcement Unit, stationed in England during World War II. Born in Grassie, Ontario, to Frank and Edith (McLeod) Smart, Stanley had a fraternal twin brother Stuart, older siblings Murray and Kathleen, and younger siblings Norman and Helen. He joined the army ca. April 29, 1942, as a Gunner in the 1st Canadian Survey Regiment. He was later promoted to the rank of Lance Bombardier and transferred to the 2nd Survey Regiment, and eventually became a Lance Sergeant. He spent most of his time during the war in England, but also did tours of duty and spent time on leave in France, Belgium, and Holland. After the war, Stanley worked for McKinnon Brothers in St. Catharines, Ontario, which became a division of General Motors. On October 7, 1950, he married Helen Josephine Scammell and they had two children: David Stuart and Marie Helen.

Oscar Douglas Skelton was born July 13, 1878. He was appointed Undersecretary of State for External Affairs in 1925 by William Lyon Mackenzie King and filled that position until he died on January 28, 1941.

Miss Oktoberfest 1981.

William Andrew Sims was born in May, 1846 in Hawkesville, Ontario to James and Janet Harvey Sims. He died July 21, 1930 in New Westminster, B.C. after living in Swan River, Manitoba for many years. He was buried at Ocean View Burial Park.

Peter Harvey Sims was born May 18, 1844 in Hawkesville, Wellesley Township to the Rev. James Sims and Janet Harvey Robertson. He married Jemima Cook on May 18, 1869 and together they had two children: Harvey James and Rella May. He became a school teacher, serving for a time as principal of the Waterloo Central School. He later went in to insurance, eventually founding the Mercantile Fire Insurance Co in Waterloo, Ontario. As an adult he supported those of his family who did not flourish in Canada, including his parents James and Janet Sims and his sister Janet McQueen. At the time of his death, Sims was vice-president of the Dominion Life Assurance Co. He died November November 20, 1920 of pneumonia in Kitchener at the home of his son, Henry James Sims. He was entombed at the Forest Lawn Mausoleum in Toronto, Ontario.

Mabel Alguire Cameron was born July 19, 1904 in Cornwall, Ontario to James Cameron and Mabel Alguire Cameron. She married James Kenneth Sims, son of Harvey J. and Florence Sims, on June 28, 1930, and died August 10, 1961 in Kitchener, Ontario.

James Kenneth Davidson "Kenneth" Sims was born July 12, 1904 in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario to Harvey J. Sims and Florence Katherine Roos. He married twice. First, to Lyla Patterson Hughes (date unknown) and later to Mabel Alguire Cameron of Cornwall, Ontario on June 28, 1930. He died July 29, 1970 and was buried in Kitchener's Mount Hope Cemetery.

Jemima Sims was born October 4, 1845 to James and Elizabeth Cook. She married Peter Harvey Sims on May 18, 1869, with whom she had two children: Harvey James Sims and Rella Sims. Sims died in 1921 and was entombed at the Forest Lawn Mausoleum in Toronto, Ontario.

Janet Harvey was born ca. 1806 in Insch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. On January 2, 1823, she married John Robertson with whom she had four children, Alexander, James, John and Jane. Her husband died ca. 1832 and on June 1, 1836 she married James Sims. They emigrated to what is now Canada in 1837, settling as squatters on Queen's Bush land near Hawkesville, Ontario. Together Janet and James had four children: Janet McQueen, James Campbell Sims, Peter Harvey Sims and William Andrew Sims. Janet Harvey Sims died October 3, 1881 and was buried in Kitchener's Mount Hope Cemetery.

James Campbell Sims was born February 14, 1842 near Hawkesville, Ontario to James and Janet Sims. He lived in Montreal, working as a civil servant in the Post Office Department. He died in Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 22, 1929 and was buried at the city's Brookside Cemetery.

The Reverend James Sims was born ca.1812 in Insch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and was largely self-educated. On June 1, 1836, he married the widow Janet Harvey Robertson and in 1837 came to what is now Canada with a large party of relatives: his father and mother, his wife and step-children Alexander, John and Jane Robertson, his brothers Peter and Andrew, his sister Margaret, and nephews James and Peter Sims.

In the spring of 1838 the family settled as squatters in Queen's Bush near Hawkesville, Wellesley Township. The journey was likely complicated by the birth of James and Janet’s first child, Janet Sims, born March 1, 1838. They later had three sons: James Campbell Sims (1842-1929), Peter Harvey Sims (1844-1920) and William Andrew Sims (1846-1930). The family worked to clear a homestead on the land with James working as a labourer in surrounding areas when needed. He was ordained a minister on October 5, 1841, after joining the Baptist Church in Blair, and began working as an active itinerant preacher. In addition to preaching at the church in Blair every other weekend, he oversaw marriages, funerals and baptisms, and supported both Black and white residents in and around the Queen's Bush. He left the Baptist Church in the 1860s to join the Christadelphian faith.

Excerpts from Waterloo Region Hall of Fame describe him as "a significant religious and educational leader in Waterloo County in the 1800s. [...] Sims was perhaps best known for his significant leadership role in promoting public education. In 1853, when Waterloo County was established, he became the first Superintendent of Schools for the Townships of Woolwich and Wellesley. He also became the first Chairman of the Board of Public Instruction.”

James Sims died October 31, 1880 and was buried in Kitchener's Mount Hope Cemetery.

Harvey James Sims was born December 25, 1871 in Waterloo, Ontario to Peter Harvey Sims and Jemima Cook. A graduate of Trinity College at the University of Toronto, he went on to complete his law course at Osgoode Hall. "In 1921 he was made King's Counsel and became a well-known authority on municipal law, acting as Kitchener's solicitor for many years. He was a leading authority on insurance law and was author of Life Insurance Contracts in Canada." (Waterloo Region Hall of Fame) He became known for the landscape gardening of Chicopee, his country estate south of Kitchener, Ontario, and for reforestation programs in the area. Harvey J. Sims married Florence Katherine Roos on October 29, 1902 and had two sons: Kenneth James and William Harvey respectively. After Florence's death in 1938 Harvey married again, to Gay Estill. Harvey J. Sims died June 8, 1945.

Gay Estill Sims, born September 7, 1884, was the second wife of Harvey J. Sims of Kitchener, Ontario. She died May 8, 1970.

Florence Katherine Roos was born December 22, 1873 in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario to William Roos and Elizabeth Davidson. She married Harvey J. Sims on October 29, 1902 and together they had two children, James Kenneth Sims, born July 12, 1904 and William Harvey Sims, born June 27, 1908. Florence Sims died June 20, 1938.

The Sims family were early white settlers of what is now Hawkesville, Ontario. Members of the family are the descendants of Reverend James Sims was born ca.1812 in Insch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. On June 1, 1836, he married the widow Janet Harvey Robertson and in 1837 came to what is now Canada with a large party of relatives: his father and mother, his wife and step-children Alexander, John and Jane Robertson, his brothers Peter and Andrew Sims, his sister Margaret, and nephews James and Peter Sims.

In 1838 the family settled as squatters on Queen's Bush land near Hawkesville in Wellesley Township. James and Margaret Sims had four children: Janet Sims, (1838-1926), James Campbell Sims (1842-1929), Peter Harvey Sims (1844-1920) and William Andrew Sims (1846-1930). James Sims died October 31, 1880. Both he and his descendants played an active role in the the educational, religious and commercial development of what is now the Region of Waterloo.