Celebrating Carol Van Thyn

Any of us who have ever called the Solel office will recognize Carol Van Thyn’s helpful and caring voice. Carol started her Solel career in November 1993 when she was brought in as a part-time employee to key in the names, addresses and other details of Solel members from a bursting Rolodex to a 1990s-style “modern-day” desktop computer.

After completing this assignment that intrepidly took Solel into the computer age, Carol became a full-time employee and has been the familiar voice of the Solel Office for almost 31 years. In a world that has been changing constantly, where members come and go, and where technology programs and office systems have evolved Carol has been our constant, caring and stable resource. She has spoken to and assisted just about every past and present Solel family, and done so on numerous occasions. With her in-depth knowledge of our members and how Solel works, she has been an invaluable support to 15 presidents, two rabbis and one educator!

Carol considers Solel to be a second home for her and her family. This is not surprising as her family have also been great contributors to Solel. Since she and Leo joined Solel in 1984, the Van Thyn family have honoured our community by celebrating three B’nei Mitzvahs for their children Lisa, Michael and Rachel, three baby-namings — and then three more B’Nei Mitzvahs — for their grandchildren Ethan, Yasmine and Jayden. The family also hosted a Solel celebration after their daughter, Rabbi Rachel, married Toby Singer in New York. Various Van Thyn family members have been constant Solel leaders or volunteers on committees, the Solel Board, service leaders, technical support providers and Bet Sefer Solel tutors.

In the words of our Director of Education, Arliene Botnick: “The one thing that I think is so amazing about Carol is the fact that she remembers everything: each member, each child in the school, each event. Her mind is like a steel trap! If you want to have a Solel historian, it’s Carol. And she feels responsible for everything.” Meanwhile, Carol described to me how the office has undergone many changes throughout the years, especially with computer usage and the many new programs now used to manage membership information, invoicing and tracking payments, correspondence and, more recently: Zoom meetings.

Carol was delighted to hear that the Board wishes to recognize her long service and contributions. She considers Solel to be her “second home” and told me that our community has provided “a fulfilling and pleasant learning environment over the years, and it has been a privilege to work with many dedicated staff members, volunteers and friendly congregants”. However, when we sounded her out hosting some kind of in-person celebration, she demurred as she does not wish to be the centre of attention. Instead, she generously suggested that members may wish to honour her three-plus decades of service by contributing to one or both of Rabbi Pollack’s and Arliene’s Educator discretionary funds via the Support Solel page on our website. I hope many of you will join Brenda and me in doing so.

Carol, it’s been my pleasure to work with you and get to know you so well. Thank you from all of us!

John

Filed under: President's Message

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