From There to Here: Shyianne and Cody by Peri Hayes Over four years ago, Shyianne Kersey and Cody Edwards were living in London and had been apartment hunting when they widened their search and were led to St. Thomas. “We did a couple viewings until we found a place that we loved,” the pair reflect. “We would often drive down Talbot Street, and we thought it was funny when the Burger King sign read, ‘Closed, she gone’. We went to Boston Pizza a few times as well, and we slowly became more intrigued in how calm and peaceful it was here.” Shyianne is a Child Development Apprentice with the YWCA, while Cody is enrolled in his Honours Bachelor Degree in Digital Marketing through Fanshawe College. Considering their St. Thomas experience thus far, Shyianne earnestly expresses, “After we moved in and settled, I went through culture shock. I didn’t fully understand what I was feeling at the time. We started noticing that this was really a small town; everyone seemed to know everybody and word travelled quickly. It was quiet most of the time, and we felt a bit lonely. We tried to find a community at a church; this quickly went south. We lived close to Lake Margaret and no matter what was going on in our lives, we found peace at that lake: we would spend the day sitting by the water; we would walk the trails by the marsh and look for turtles; we would jog there sometimes as well -- it became our safety net. We began to see lots of friendly faces and recognize more people from our small town.” The couple highlight a few more of their favourite local spots, including the Dalewood trails, Joe Thornton Community Centre, and Why Not Cookies Café. Shyianne and Cody reveal that they are continuing to develop their sense of community, candidly conveying, “As you grow older, it’s incredibly hard to create true, authentic friendships. Our connections have grown throughout the past few years, from places we’ve worked and various local hospitality that we have visited.” Presently, Shyianne and Cody are interested in joining a sports club. As the pair lovingly conclude, “We have adjusted to the small community; it truly does feel like home here. After over four
years of living here, we are still discovering St. Thomas’ hidden gems. We are looking forward to building lasting connections, and we hope to adopt a dog someday in the future.” During our photo shoot which features the aforementioned Lake Margaret, I dropped the camera’s front lens cap (apologies, Geoff); a swift drop down the grate. Through the teamwork demonstrated by Shyianne and Cody, as well as the lovely local resident who walked us over our choice of tweezers, this moment could have been stressful and instead resulted in a fun side quest – with the lens cap retrieved. This experience offers a reminder of how compassion matters, humanity matters. When someone could use a lending hand, consider how you celebrate camaraderie and community. To the caring individuals involved in this story, thank you for celebrating community with me -- thank you for being kind.
Hometown St. Thomas November Cover Scenes from the Briwood Farm Market 35th Anniversary Party held September 24th at the CASO station. Photos by CVD Photogr aphy.
November 2026 Issue 84 Hometown St. Thomas
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Page 6 Hometown St. Thomas • November 2026
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