Eva Reti, Chair
Eva has been a member of the Board of Durham Region Hospice – Whitby for six years and became Chair in November of 2020. Eva’s passion for bringing a hospice residence to Whitby is a result of her experience with her Mom and the whole family at ARCH hospice in Sault Ste. Marie. Eva lives in Whitby and has held a number of volunteer positions including the Whitby Public Library Board.
Eva is a retired Inspector from the Durham Regional Police where she had a distinguished career serving the citizens of the Region.
Judi Longfield, Vice Chair
Judi joined Durham Region Hospice -Whitby in 2015. She is currently the Board’s vice chair and is an active member of the Hospice Whitby’s steering and design committee. Judi’s roots in the community run deep. She is a former member of Whitby Council and served as the Member of Parliament representing Whitby and parts of Ajax and Oshawa for 3 terms.
Judi is the Co-chair of the Lakeridge Health Oshawa Whitby Community Advisory panel. She also served for 11 years on the Whitby Hydro Board of Directors as Chair of the Human Resources and Corporate Governance committee.
Judi’s passion for hospice and palliative care comes from her personal experience struggling to secure the appropriate levels of care for both her Mother and her Father in their final months.
Brenda Tilley, Secretary
Brenda joined the Board of Durham Region Hospice – Whitby in November 2020. Her previous volunteer work with Victim Services, Hand Bags for Hospice and Hike for Hospice inspired her to join the Board.
She has lived in Durham Region for over 30 years and in her retirement, she wants to give her time to support Hospice Services in Durham Region. Being involved at the starting stages of the new hospice residence in Whitby is a great opportunity for her to volunteer her time.
Bill Baxter
Bill has been a volunteer with hospice for 11 years and originally joined the Board to help keep the great hospice programs viable and to support the valuable work being done in our community. He has served on the Clarington Hospice board and is currently helping to bring a hospice residence to Whitby.
Bill lives in Whitby and works for the Mount Pleasant Group as the Funeral Director at Thornton Funeral Centre. He has been with the Mount Pleasant Group for over 30 years.
Roz Cawthorne
Roz is a retired elementary school educator who currently lives in Pickering. She has been involved with hospice since 2010 when she realized that there was no hospice residence available anywhere in Durham Region. Her volunteer work has included fundraising for the hospice community programs and lobbying for a hospice residence in Whitby.
Roz believes that “everyone deserves to die in a comfortable place. They deserve 24-hour nursing care, integrated health care and palliative expertise. When home care and hospital care is not optimal then hospice is a wonderful safe choice”.
Joyce Marshall
Joyce has been a Board member of VON Durham for over 20 years. During that time, she served as Board chair for 10 years. With the merger of Durham Hospice with VON Durham, she discovered the great community resources that Durham Hospice offers to those who have experienced loss of a loved one.
The realization that Durham Region had no hospice residence made Joyce quite determined that she would work tirelessly to help make it a reality.
Along with Durham Regional Chair. Mr. John Henry, she was instrumental in creating Durham Region Hospice Awareness Day which is now celebrated every January 29th.
Joyce, an active Whitby volunteer, is a Peter Perry recipient and a member of the Whitby Rotary Sunrise Club. She is keenly looking forward to the opening of the Whitby Hospice.
