About Us

Terry Vesta The NetLetter began in 1995 as the result of the desire of Vesta Stevenson (now deceased) to create a weekly newsletter for Air Canada retirees.

Vesta, who resided in Victoria, B.C., knew what she wanted to do, and although a "techie" with computers, she didn't know how to create a mail list.

Remember, this was in 1995 when the Internet itself was fairly new and there weren't nearly as many mail lists and websites as there are now, so we were on the cutting edge of technology.

Soon after, through email, Vesta contacted Terry Baker who also lived on 'the island' and they started an online collaboration. We believe that our NetLetter, which originates from Vancouver Island, was the FIRST to use this medium to disperse information for retirees of Air Canada.

Alan Rust joined Vesta and Terry shortly before Vesta's passing and served as the NetLetter website administrator until his own passing in April 2019. Alan created the original website and newsletter format that we still use today.

Alan brought Wayne Albertson on board in 2014 to assist with the website to add the content to each issue for email publication. Wayne has now assumed the website administrator duties as well.

Ken Pickford has been a long time NetLetter subscriber who generously offers his keen eye to proofread each issue for spelling and punctuation mistakes. Ken also has extensive knowledge regarding the history of aviation in Canada and 'fact checks' us as well.

Bob Sheppard is retired from AC Maintenance and worked with Alan and Wayne in Vancouver for several years. He also offers his keen eye to assist us by proofreading each issue.

It may be interesting to note that although the three members of the original team (Vesta, Terry and Alan) worked closely together to publish 'The NetLetter', it was all done by email and the trio never actually met in person for many years. Although they all lived in British Columbia, they weren't really physically close to each other and only met on a few occasions!

Today, The NetLetter is still assembled and published in the same manner as originated. Terry is on Vancouver Island, Wayne and Bob live in Surrey British Columbia and Ken lives in Switzerland.

The NetLetter has evolved greatly over the years to a new and improved newsletter that continues to grow. Terry prepares most of the content weeks ahead of time, and sends the next issue to Wayne soon after each issue is released.

Wayne then compiles most of the content from Terry in HTML format and builds the articles that end up in the NetLetter. The first draft is then sent to Terry, Ken Pickford and Bob Sheppard who proof read it and advise Wayne of any corrections required.