Brian Slemming’s delightful article about the charming Barbara Sterne (REM, September) is an inspiration. A mere 82-years-old and still showing us youngsters how determination and honesty win through.

Slemming does make one error, however, when he talks of the “computer, fax and cell phone, none of which had been invented when she was born.”

The fax machine was invented by Alexander Bain in 1843 in the U.K., and was used commercially in France from 1856 to 1870 transmitting between Paris and Marseilles. It seems that the technology slumbered, with machines gathering dust in offices across the land until almost a century later. But new technology it isn’t.

Thank you for an excellent monthly paper.

Brian McDermott

Royal LePage Westside

Vancouver