Lifetime Members

Miecia Burden 1941 - 2009. Miecia started in this hobby in 1975 with a just a 5 gallon tank in the bathroom as a decorating idea. Her next purchase was a 65 gallon for the living room in 1976. From there she expanded to a fish room in 1978 with a total of about 20 tanks in various sizes from 5 gallons up to a couple of 65's. She discovered Bob and Dorothy Daniells aquarium business in 1976 and through them learned about KWAS. Miecia joined KWAS in the fall of 1976 and volunteered to be the CAOAC representative where she was Recording Secretary in 1978 and hasn't been off the Executive or Board Of Directors since that time. She has held various positions multiple times (President, Editor and Corresponding Secretary) and currently is the Recording Secretary and Membership chair. Miecia has been active in CAOAC since 1977 and has held various positions in that association - President, Editor, Corresponding Secretary, Vice President, Recording Secretary, Membership and Information Binder. Currently, in CAOAC she holds the last three positions mentioned.
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Dorothy Daniells 1910 - 2007. Dorothy started with the Preston - Galt Club in 1957 and joined KWAS in 1960 where she was a founding member of the club. Back then meetings were held at the Victoria Park Pavilion in Kitchener on Tuesdays (Dog club met upstairs/Fish club downstairs). KWAS held it's Show & Auction there for 2 years. The club became inactive in 1973 but was restarted in 1975 in response to university student requests for a local tropical fish club. When the club restarted there were 31 people present and because the room was so crowded they had to find a new place to gather. The club then moved to the Adult Recreation Centre in Waterloo and the meetings were held on Tuesdays as they were before and continue today. Dorothy and her late husband owned and operated Waterloo Aquariums on Bridgeport Road from the basement of their house from 1960 to 1990 when the business was sold to George Reist who moved operations to Franklin St in Kitchener. Some members have referred to their store as one that is often imitated but never duplicated. Bob Daniells (Dorothy's late beloved husband and co-owner of the business) died in September 1981. Shirley Pipe, a fellow KWAS member assisted Dorothy on weekends at the store until it was sold.
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Rein Breitmaier 35 years ago Rein started his first aquarium when he and his wife Char got their first apartment. His first tank was a 15 gallon set up that embraced the usual collection of starter fishes, the ones that are called the 'bread and butter' fishes in the pet trade. Things went swimmingly for a year or so during which a second 15 gallon joined the collection. Then all heck broke out, Rein was assured that a 65 gallon tank was far easier to maintain and would make a grander showing in the living room of their home. So it went on, each time Rein and his family moved, more aquaria tagged along than during the last move, and still more were acquired. Rein joined the organized aquarium hobby in 1976 pretty much on his first meeting with the Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society. He wasted no time getting his feet wet and within the first few months was on the executive as acting club secretary.
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Al Ridley, In 1978, Al joined an aquarium club at his school. At that time Al was in grade seven! In February of 1979 a friend introduced him to the Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society and he joined that night. Al's first aquarium was a 35 gallon that was purchased at the Conestoga Mall Pet Shop. He was a general member until February of 1987 when his brother Paul and he took over the Ad and Raffle positions. With the exception of a short move to British Columbia, Al has been involved at this level ever since. For a number of years, Al spoke on the Ontario club circuit and even spoke to three aquarium clubs during a visit to London, England. Listed below are Al's achievements over his 30+ years in KWAS.
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Dave Boehm I started keeping fish around 1977, when I was 39 years old—fairly late in life. It was a 15-gallon tank that my wife and I knew nothing about caring for. Each week, at the start, we would put all the fish (the usual assortment of livebearers, catfishes and tetras) in buckets, remove everything form the tank, scrub it all down and set it up again. Needless to say, we weren't very successful fish-keepers and we gave up. I moved to Toronto in 1979 and my friend Jane (we're still dating to this day) had some friends who were turtle keepers. They introduced us to the Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society. I joined immediately and became their Canadian Association of Aquarium Clubs (CAOAC) rep shortly after. I served KWAS in various positions (CAOAC rep, librarian, membership, even president) over the years; I also led the club on field trips collecting both live food and native fishes and spoke about native fish at various times. But I think my most important contribution to the club was as newsletter editor. I remember when the newsletter was produced on a typewriter and published with a messy, troublesome Gestetner machine. I was one of the first who had the computer and the programs to use desktop publishing for newsletter production. With those tools and the help of some great KWAS writers, we were able to produce a top-notch newsletter, which continues to this day in other capable hands.
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Bob Brown Bob is in his 28th year in the aquarium hobby as a member of the Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society. He was a junior member from 1964 to 1968. At that time the meetings were held at the Victoria Park Pavilion in Kitchener. The yearly show and auction was held at the Casino Hotel (now Golf's Steakhouse.) After a year or two of urging from a fellow Police Officer and friend Rein Breitmaier, Bob rejoined the club again in 1983 and has been a member ever since.
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