FABER Home Page

Some things about us:

* We, Dan and Joanne, live in Nepean, Ontario, which is now a part of megalopolis Ottawa. Dan is retired from the National Museum of Natural Sciences, a Federal Crown Corporation, now known as the Canadian Museum of Nature. Joanne is retired from the Museum of Man, a Federal Crown Corporation, now known as the Canadian Museum of Civilization. We have two children, a boy, Darin, and a girl, Jill. Joanne passed away in 2009, so Dan now lives with his second wife, Michelle, who is retired from a nursing career.

* Darin is married to Jisok Chung, lives in Barrhaven and works nearby at Algonquin College. Jill is married to William Good and they have two children, Nathan who was 12 in 2010 and Abby Gayle who was born in 2006. They live in Powassan, Ontario and both work in nearby North Bay. We have a few photos of family and friends that are available to view (See: Family and Friends)

* We have a chocolate Labrador Retriever, named Kayla. She eats a gourmet meal twice a day and demands a walk almost every day. She is a large Lab and demands lots of exercise. There is a "dog park" nearby and she loves to take the walk around the park where she can run without a leash. Unfortunately, Kayla passed away in April, 2011, from bladder cancer.

* After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a Ph.D., Dan started his biological career in 1962 with the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests at the South Baymouth Fisheries Research Station on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. When he left the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests in 1967, he was the Acting Director of the Fisheries Station. He moved to the National Museum of Natural Sciences (NMNS) in Ottawa. He was hired by the Museum as the Scientific Director of the Canadian Aquatic Identification Centre. The Identification Centre consisted of a zooplankton unit, a benthos unit and a freshwater unit. When the CAIC was disbanded, he was appointed a Senior Museum Scientist. Dan is now retired from the Museum. He is presently involved in several activities, including searching family roots, fishing in local lakes and rivers, creating a Web site on the early lives of Canadian fishes, The Baby Fishes of Canada , and a few other things. Dan's Germanic roots from the Rhineland are shown in: John Faber Sr. Family History. The family roots of Dan's Father are in the town of Auen, Duchy of Rhineland while his Mother's roots are in the town of Crivitz, Duchy of Mecklenburg- Schwerin.

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* Dan was a member of the "Organizing Committee" and the Second President of the "Early Life History Section" (ELHS) of the American Fisheries Society. The Early Life History Section is developing into a full-fledged international organization of fishery members who are interested in and doing research into the early lives of fishes. Also, Dan was the Founder of the "Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections" (SPNHC), Chairman of the "Organizing Committee", First President and the first Editor of Collection Forum, the Society's scientific journal. The Society has gone international with meetings in Spain and Great Britain. In 1987 the Society's Executive established a funding grant for museum conservators named the "Faber Grant". In 1992 Dan was awarded by the Governor General of Canada, The Right Honorable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada for his volunteer contributions to his community and to Canada.

* Joanne was active in teaching the fundamentals of early Canadian Indian and Inuit life to the hoards of school children that visited the Museum of Man in Ottawa. Her first personal encounter with Ojibway people was on Manitoulin Island where she was hired to teach high school on the West Bay Indian Reservation near Mindemoya, Ontario. She taught at the Museum with the famous and probably not-so-famous "Friday Teaching Group". Because of her long period of teaching at the Canadian Museum of Man, she was appointed a "Founding Member" of the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC) in Gatineau, Québec, across the Ottawa River. She still helps with family genealogy classes, writes letters and talks on the telephone to family members all over North America, organizes the social activities at 9 Bellfield Street, and enjoys watching television. The family roots of Joanne's Father are in the town of Sogndal, Sogn Fjord, Norway while her Mother's roots are in the town of Aurland, Sogn Fjord, Norway. Unfortunately, Joanne passed away on 29 November, 2009. (Obituary). She now is watching us wistfully from Valhalla.

* After Joanne passed away, Dan met Michelle Biosvert at the (Nepean Songsters) practice. They became very good friends and married on 14 June, 2011.

* Michelle was born on July 19th, 1943 in Shawinigan, Quebec. Her father started out making and delivering ice around the city and in his later years was a labourer, working for the city of Shawinigan. Michelle had two sisters and one brother. Her sole surviving sister, Ginette, lives in Laval, Quebec and her brother, René, lives in Montreal. Her oldest sister, Nicole, died of breast cancer. Her mother died at the age of 54 and her father died at the age of 89. Michelle never married. She started working at the age of eighteen, obtaining a teaching job, as a grade school teacher for 12 years. Then she went back to school to study nursing, obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing at Concordia University in Montreal and later a Master's Degree in Sociology. She worked in different fields of the health care system such as: general medicine, intensive care units, industrial nursing, and even management. She spent some time working in the U.S. and England. Michelle designed a device relating to a shoe insole for which she was awarded both Canadian and U.S. patents in 1980. She was working on her Ph.D. in Sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa when she developed a detached retina and was unable to complete her studies. Michelle is retired and now living with Dan in Ottawa.