MIA JOHNSON returned to Vancouver after living in California to complete an art history degree at Emily Carr School of Art. She followed that up with a master’s degree and then a PhD in computer technology at UBC in the 1990s. She says the disciplines fit together because her ultimate interest lay in the interface with computers to allow people to make art.
“It’s a human drive to draw, to make marks, to create things – knitting, doodling, etching,” she says, explaining her ongoing curiosity and fascination with image making. “I loved the research,” she says, of the time she was both teaching and studying at UBC.
Much of Mia’s work has corresponded with her hands-on support of the challenges of raising her autistic daughter, now an adult, in times well before the current support structures. Eventually, she started building websites, and then founded and currently runs a local web design business. She has also written a book, Running on an Angle, about her first-ever formal exercising experience at 65; and started the National Pit Bull Victim Awareness website after one of her dogs was fatally attacked by a pit bull in her neighbourhood.
“I have so much left to do,” says Mia.
ANNE TUPPER says she was always interested in “things medical.” She grew up in Winnipeg and New Westminster with her parents, who were both medical professionals.
“But I didn’t want to be a doctor or a nurse,” she adds, “so I studied pharmacy.”
Working in retail pharmacy, initially at Vancouver’s iconic Woodward’s and later at Shopper’s Drug Mart on West Broadway, the mother and grandmother says she’s always really enjoyed working with people.
Post-retirement, Anne has continued to do just that. As a Wednesday Front-of-House Greeter at Vancouver’s non-profit volunteer-run Brock House Senior Centre, her friendly demeanour welcomes people. She checks memberships and gives directions to the many and diverse programmes, which she participates in when she is not on the desk.
Anne says that many people recognize her from her years as a local pharmacist, handing out prescriptions and good advice. “It’s kind of nice,” she says, “to continue to see so many familiar faces.”
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