As people entered the Heliconian Club Hall in Yorkville, we were running a carousel of photos of Val from many stages of her life.
I had the whole thing run through a bunch of times to occupy that full hour until the program started. So that everyone can view the carousel in their own time, I've removed the repetitions and made this video which, for nerdy tech reasons, needed to be cut into two parts.
Each part has been set to its own piece of music.

The music accompanying this carousel is The Parting Glass as arranged and performed by Winnipeg's The Wailin' Jennys.
Please support this amazing group by streaming their music on Apple Music or Spotify or by buying the track as a digital download from BandCamp by clicking the related icons below.

There were a total of 17 speakers at the event: some presenting live in the room, others via pre-recorded segments, some very short, some longer.

Below are videos of each of the presentations separately. I've posted identifying details about the speakers for context as well as the duration of each so you can pick and choose and watch them in order according to the amount of time you have available. Come back and watch them all!

A very special thanks to Luke Gillett and Sydney Gillett for providing the tech and live-producing the event to include camera and the slide deck and to Sarah Gillett for hosting the Zoom meeting that allowed us to share the proceedings beyond the room. Luke was also invaluable in helping to create these videos so that you can watch them online below.

Jowi Taylor, son of Val & Don Taylor, coordinated the event and served as emcee and technical director. He spoke first.

Due to some issues with audible chatter from the Zoom meeting over which the event was shared, the first minute or so of Jowi's speech has been re-recorded. So don't worry, the video is not out of sync!

LIVE SEGMENT

5:56

Annalisa Taylor, daughter of Val & Don Taylor was present at the event but her remarks were pre-recorded.

And yes, we all agree she should be doing audio books!

PRE-RECORDED SEGMENT

13:04

Callum McDonald, son of Annalisa Taylor and Neil McDonald, grandson of Val, was present at the event but his remarks were pre-recorded.

PRE-RECORDED SEGMENT

2:25

Anika McDonald, daughter of Annalisa Taylor and Neil McDonald, granddaughter of Val, was present at the event but her remarks were pre-recorded.

PRE-RECORDED SEGMENT

3:00

Marya James, sister of Val.

Marya's mic was not live for the first minute or so of the speech so she later recorded that segment and it has been edited into the beginning of the video. Again, if it appears that the voice is out of sync with the picture, it is only temporary!

LIVE SEGMENT

14:23

Chris James, husband of Marya, brother-in-law of Val.

LIVE SEGMENT

8:51

Jonathan James, son of Chris & Marya, nephew of Val, was not present at the event and sent his pre-recorded remarks from his home in Vienna, Austria.

PRE-RECORDED SEGMENT

3:08

Hannah James, daughter of Chris & Marya, niece of Val, was present at the event but pre-recorded these remarks (complete with illustrations!) at home in London, England.

The segment includes the piece of music Now Nothing by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Please support this amazing band by streaming their music at AppleMusic or on Spotify.

PRE-RECORDED SEGMENT

3:10

Patricia Taylor, daughter of Cal and Vi Taylor, niece of Val.

LIVE SEGMENT

6:09

Colin Davis, cousin of Val, was not present at the event but submitted audio and photos with help from his son, Richard.

PRE-RECORDED SEGMENT

7:37

Pat Curley, dear friend and former colleague of Val.

LIVE SEGMENT

3:29

Trevor & Christine Gillett, parents of Jowi's wife Sarah, in-laws of Val. They were both present at the event but submitted their speech in advance.

PRE-RECORDED SEGMENT

2:05

Th

Pari Ghanbarzadeh, mother of Val's honourary grandchildren, Benjamin and Xavier, dear friend of Val.

LIVE SEGMENT

4:25

Eileen Simons & Jeanne Kennedy, fellow members of the Brookbanks Grannies in support of the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign , friends of Val.

LIVE SEGMENT

5:59

Louis Kizito, friend and handy man of Val.

LIVE SEGMENT

8:10

David Warner, early NDP Don Valley East candidate, eventual MPP and Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, friend of Val.

David was scheduled to attend but was not able to be there in person for medical reasons. His speech was read by Jowi.

LIVE SEGMENT

3:36

Thanks to all who spoke in either live or pre-recorded segments and thanks to everyone else for attending – either live in person, over Zoom on the day, or here in review on the website after the fact!

Thank you once again for technical support from Luke, Sydney and Sarah Gillett in the production of the event and the creation of these videos.

Thank you to Amos at the Heliconian Club Hall for his support and to Bar of the Gods for staffing the bar and bussing the room as we went.

Thanks to cousin Patricia for picking up and returning the rentals from Chair-man Mills and to everyone who assisted in getting us all set up, helping people into the room and finding seats and loading out at the end of the event. You all helped make it a wonderful experience and a great celebration of Val.