Bert was born in Scarborough, Ontario which is now a part
of
Toronto. An electronics technician by training, Bert operated an
electronics service business, 'Christensen Television' for many years until
he retired in 1998. Several years ago, Bert taught himself to program
computers and to design web pages.
A lot of Bert's time is taken up by being a house husband and webweaver. His
wife,
Dr. Louise Ripley
is a Professor of Marketing at
York University in Toronto.
As her career was getting busier, Bert's electronic
business was getting slower (modern electronics is amazingly trouble-free),
so it was decided that he would assume the major responsibility for the
house. This has worked out very well and Bert loves
cooking and househusbanding. Their
son, Erik is now a journeyman carpenter and sometimes works in very high
places. From a previous marriage, Bert also has two sons, Mark and Brent,
and four grandchildren. Mark and his wife, Soo, Brent and his wife, Maureen
are all computer professionals. The Ripley/Christensen household also
includes two cats,
Blue and Juno, a
greyhound,
Jake, thousands of books, hundreds
of frogs (Louise collects them), and many, many computers (don’t ask!).
The Ripley/Christensens live in a townhouse in the
north-east part of Toronto. The house overlooks a large open area and is
close to a wooded ravine. There are a large number of birds who come around
for food as well as raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, deer, coyotes, chipmunks,
foxes, and the occasional skunk. In January, 1999 Toronto experienced the
snowiest January on record. For pictures,
click here.
Bert and Louise are long-time
Unitarian Universalists.
Bert has served as a board member and president of the
Canadian Unitarian Council, a board member
of the
Unitarian Universalist Association, as
well as many positions in both
Don Heights
Unitarian Congregation and
The First Unitarian
Congregation of Toronto where Bert and Louise are members He is the
Webweaver of the web site of the
Canadian Unitarian
Council,The
Hamilton Unitarian Church,
Don Heights
Unitarian Congregation, the
Getting Married in British Columbia site and, of
The UU Intergenerational
Worship Services site. These sites receive a total of more than one
million page views (hits) a month.
