MADAWASKA – The Township of South Algonquin is welcoming a new councillor.
Sandra Collins, owner of All Star Resort in Madawaska, decided to apply for the position left vacant by Linda Thom, who stepped down due to personal reasons.
Collis was born in the east end of London, England. After completing high school and university, she trained as a clinical biochemist at a nearby teaching hospital.
During this training period, she obtained her Fellowship status at the Institute of Medical Laboratory Scientists.
She married Ian, and together the couple had two sons, Matt and Jon.
“Promotions at work meant transferring hospitals, first a foray into the private sector and then back into the public health service and another major east London hospital,” Collins explained. “As I was approaching 40 and childcare becoming more of an issue, entertaining two very boisterous young boys during the three long school breaks in the UK, I retrained as a high school science teacher.”
Over the following few years, she taught at three different high schools, all with more than 1,200 pupils. She was eventually promoted to an assistant principal position.
“As Ian was about to retire, we faced an opportunity to change our life completely,” Collins explained. “We choose to immigrate to Canada and purchased All Star Resort in Madawaska where we have lived happily since 2007.”
Get your January 11, 2017 edition of The Valley Gazette to read the full article.