Northumberland

Meet Felicity Sidnell Reid

Live your questions now, and perhaps-2When the student is ready…

We can learn from each person we meet. Teachers are everywhere when we are willing to be students. For years I’ve been a stealthy student watching and listening and reflecting, my mind a people-powered repository. Every day I reflect on my learnings: ideas and insights from experiences, conversations, and encounters.

People can teach us valuable lessons about various aspects of life, but we need to listen well, we need to pay attention. Learning is everywhere and in everything.

For years I’ve wanted to begin a blog category that celebrates people who influence and inspire others through their example. To influence is to have the capacity to affect character, development, and behaviour. “Influential teachers” are those who change the people and culture around them. They may be famous or they may be in our family or they may be the person at the grocery store. We choose our teachers and that’s the best part: every person we meet has the potential to be a teacher and to influence us–it’s our responsibility to catch their light and to learn.

Each month I plan to feature an influential teacher, sharing with you what I’ve learned from this special person. In most cases, the person is not an educator and the learning has happened informally through events, observations, and reflections. I want to do this as a way to thank the people who influence me and to share my lessons with you.

Catch the Sun


Felicity Sidnell Reid
Felicity Sidnell Reid by Gerri’s Photography

About Felicity Sidnell Reid

I met Felicity through the Spirit of the Hills Writing Group. She is our generous leader, organizing and chairing our monthly meetings. Over the last five years our paths have crossed at writing breakfasts, book events, and library events.

I know Felicity as a local writer, editor, and radio host. She was one of the editors for both volumes of Hill Spirits (Blue Denim Press). Some of her publishing credits include pieces of memoir in two anthologies: Family Ties (Hidden Brook Press edited by Elizabeth Kimberley Grove) and Grandfather, Father and Me (Hidden Brook Press edited by Donna Clark Goodrich). In 2014, The Ontario Poetry Society included two of her poems in their 2014 anthology Scarlet Thistles.

Felicity is also a Sunshine in a Jar Press writer with a poem published in The Writing Spiral: Learning as a Writer.

Here are some other interesting details about Felicity’s life, work, and writing:

  • Graduate of University of London, King’s College
  • Lived in New Brunswick for 7 years
  • Then lived in Ontario: Peterborough, Toronto, and now Colborne
  • Taught Grade 5 students to University students in Canada, England, and Thailand
  • Taught English, History, Drama, and ESL
  • Worked as Vice Principal at Harbord Collegiate and Northern Secondary in Toronto
  • Mother of four children
  • Poet
  • Master of Arts in Victorian Studies from the University of Toronto
  • Master of Education from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
  • Education Writer (text books and resources)
  • Volunteer with Cramahe Public Library
  • Co-Host of “Word on the Hills” radio program 89.7 FM
Felicity and Gwynn, recording for Word on the Hills
Felicity and Gwynn, recording for Word on the Hills

Felicity with one of her granddaughters, Summer 2014.
Felicity with one of her granddaughters

Five Things I’ve Learned from Felicity:

  1. Fortitude: Felicity exudes a peaceful strength. Her optimism and resiliency shine through her confidence and kindness. She is assertive, but not aggressive. She teaches me to be self-reliant, strong, and connected to community.
  2. Humility: Felicity gently puts others first. She finds ways to share moments, to build confidence in those around her. She is a natural teacher and “invisible” leader. She teaches me the impact of using our gifts to support others.
  3. Patience: Everything has its time and even when her schedule is packed, Felicity is fully present. She teaches me the value of careful planning and the benefits of committing to each moment of the day and each person I meet.
  4. Generosity: Felicity leads our writing group with a generous spirit, making space for our diverse personalities and sometimes disparate voices. She teaches me the art of facilitation and the gift we can give others by quietly leading without expecting anything in return.
  5. Focus: Intentionality seems to ripple beneath the surface of my observations of Felicity. She seems to know what she wants, how she wants to spend her time, and focuses her attention on what’s most important to her. While she juggles a number of priorities, she teaches me how to attend to each ball with laser beam focus and with a clear understanding of intention.
Felicity and I reading our conversation in poetry at Word Northumberland, 2013. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Reyes.

Live your questions now, and perhapsQuestions in a Jar

Felicity answered three questions pulled from my 50 Questions in a Jar so we could get to know her better

Q: If you could fill a piñata with your favourite candy, what would you put inside?

Felicity: “In my pinata I’d like to find chocolate roses, sugared violets, silk flowers and butterflies.”

Q: What do you like thinking about?

Felicity: “What do I like thinking about?! Such a huge question—I like thinking about my family, walking in the woods with my dog, sitting b the sea and watching the tide come in– or out– and, of course, writing, and what I am reading, since I have been an obsessive reader all my life.”

Q: What is the greatest love song?

Felicity: “My favourite love song is Burns’ My love is like a red, red rose…


Felicity’s Next Big Project

Alone: A Winter in the Woods by Felicity Sidnell Reid with illustrations by Jirina Marton

A story for all ages, Alone: A Winter in the Woods quickly engages the reader in thirteen year-old John Turner’s adventures. Forced to grow up quickly, while left alone on the family’s land grant in a virtually unsettled township, in the winter of 1797, John has to overcome devastating isolation and loneliness. With only a couple of oxen, a pregnant cow, a handful of chickens and his dog to keep him company, everyday tasks become ten times more difficult than they were while Pa was still with him, building their tiny cabin. Meanwhile John’s mother has adopted the orphaned Joséphine, who keeps a journal recording the life of the Turners and her own experiences. The family waits for Pa to return to Adolphustown to escort his wife and young children up the lake to the new settlement once spring allows water traffic to start up again. This tale explores the differences between family life and expectations in the eighteenth century and the present, as John and Joséphine reflect on what home, family, and friendship mean to them and struggle to find the courage, determination and faith needed to face the future.

Alone: A Winter in the Woods
Alone: A Winter in the Woods

Additional Details:

  • Published as part of Hidden Brook Press’s North Shore Series with six more books in this series.
  • Launch party on October 4, 2015.
  • Alone: A Winter in the Woods will be available online from: Amazon and many other e-stores around the world; Local bookstores (Northumberland); May be ordered from any bookstore in Canada by giving them the title, ISBN number and contact info for Hidden Brook Press: writers@hiddenbrookpress.com

16 Comments

  • Pat Skene

    What a wonderful post and great tribute to Felicity. The people we meet in our lives do teach us valuable lessons every day. How very thoughtful of you to take the time to write down all the good things you’ve learned as her friend and fellow-writer. Good on you Jess and congrats to Felicity for inspiring you to write this post.

  • Peggy Leavey

    A wonderful tribute, Jessica, to a fine woman. We SOH writers all trust and deeply appreciate Felicity, and you put these feelings into words so perfectly. Thank you. I also learned a lot about her that I didn’t know! Felicity doesn’t talk a lot about herself and her accomplishments.

  • Donna Wootton

    Thank you, Jessica, for profiling Felicity and sharing how she has influenced you in 5 short years. Like others in SOH I appreciate the wonderful leadership role she’s performed as chair of our writers’ group. You have revealed what a truly wonderful woman she is.

  • Mary Norton

    Joining Cramahe Library in 2010, Felicity welcomed and advised me with sensitivity and a great listening ear. She was Chair of the Library Board for many years before I joined, but has still kept a close watch on the library since stepping down from that position. Jessica your comments, particularly on ‘staying focused’ while juggling everything around her, are well deserved ……. thank you for expressing what we all feel.

  • aunt estelle

    Jessica this is a wonderful ‘life lesson’. We would all be better for taking the time to appreciate these ‘teachers’ that come in to our lives and learn from them. Great post Jessica. We now want to have Felicity over for Sunday dinner 😊.

  • Cathy Maclennan

    I know that Felicity is a truly great lady, she is my sister. She is strong and constant and a true wordsmith. She has always been an obsessive reader and she has sharp observations and critiques to make about other’s work. I, too loved her book and it brought her a little closer to me.
    Cathy Maclennan

  • Cheryl Edwards

    Felicity and I taught together many years ago and it is interesting to see how a true teacher never does stop inspiring others. I am delighted to learn that Felicity continues to be appreciated by those who are fortunate enough to know her. Looking back over the years, it is easy to see why her students, colleagues and friends cherished her. Our lives were always greatly enriched by her kindness and wisdom. Her brilliance, humour and her love of learning are only a few of the wonderful qualities that make her such a special person. Thank you for writing about her Jessica. It is most deserved.

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