麻豆传媒AV

Allie Raycraft could still be working, but just over a year ago she said, "I'm 76 years old. I don't think I need to do this any more."

Raycraft was born in Inverness, Que., which is a small community in Megantic County. Having originally been settled by Irish and Scottish families, the area was home to a mix of English- and French-speaking residents. She grew up on a farm, attended a country school for four years, then was bused to Inverness when it closed. She took her Grade 10 and 11 in Sherbrooke in order to take the commercial course that included shorthand, typing and bookkeeping.

She came to the prairies with her now late husband in 1956. The Raycrafts settled in Asquith, and between 1956 and 1965, they had five children.

"I was always happy I had my kids young," says Raycraft.

When her first grandchild arrived, while she was still in Asquith, her friends said, "Oh good! You can curl in the grandmother's bonspiel." (She now also has seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.)

During the first years in Asquith, Raycraft worked various jobs in Saskatoon, In 1970, she began a full time job as town administrator, which she held until 1984 when she took on the job of administrator for both the Village and the Rural Municipality of Meota.

In Meota, she found an active French community. While Raycraft's first language was English, she spoke French as well. In Meota, she was able to use the language more, however she admits she's now lost much of the ability to speak it.

"I understand it though," she says.

"Retirement" from her job in Meota didn't spell the end of her career as an administrator.

"I retired June 30, 1997, then went out and did relief work for different RMs." says Raycraft. "If people were sick, got fired or quit unexpectedly, I filled in, and I trained lots of people."

Raycraft explains because she had the appropriate certificate she was often called to supervise staff who hadn't yet received their certificates.

"Someone without a certificate needs somebody to supervise until they get their hours in and their course done," the course being a University of Regina correspondence course in local government administration.

Raycraft says she did relief work in 15 different RMs and eight or nine villages.

"A year ago in December, I got three calls to go to work, and I said no," says Raycraft. "I finally phoned up and said take my name off the list."

She has no regrets.

"I enjoyed it. I met a lot of people," she says. "I did a lot of work around the northwest here."

Working as an administrator includes acting as a returning officer for elections, and her expertise has been called upon for school division elections as well.

"I was the returning officer ... for Living Sky and Light of Christ for the last two elections."

When the school divisions were smaller, they were run as part of the city's election, but now, she says, the divisions are much larger and there is a need to supervise elections in other places.

In the last election, for example, there was an election in the Kerrobert subdivision of Living Sky School Division.

"I had to go down there to make arrangements for two polls, deliver the ballots."

Raycraft's career has been one oriented toward numbers. Working in local government involves activities such as accounting, budgeting,audits, assessment and taxation. Numbers still resonate with her, and she has always had a knack for remembering them.

"When I was in Asquith I was a licence issuer," says Raycraft. "They started started issuing the ones you kept in 1977."

She knew the license numbers of many of her community's residents.

"I don't know, I worked with numbers so much, books and everything else," she says. "License plates kind of grow on you. I'd like to have a Roughriders license plate but I like my number."

She says it's easy to remember.

"My memory's not as good as it used to be," she laughs.

While Raycraft is truly retired now, that's doesn't mean she isn't busy.

She's been the chairman of the Lakeland Library Region for about five years, having been on the board since 1996. She is also the president of the North Battleford Northwest Bingo Association which operates Carousel Bingo.

One thing Raycraft probably can't remember is how many bingos she's worked. She has worked as a volunteer for most of the groups that use the bingo hall as a fundraiser, and it has raised over $9 million over the last two decades.

It was at the bingo hall that Raycraft, who was widowed in 2003, met her current husband, Dwight Sloan. Sloan is a retired nickel miner who "came to North Battleford from Sudbury, Ontario, via Thompson, Manitoba." He didn't know anyone when he first moved here, so he did some volunteering at the bingo hall to meet new people.

At Sloan's insistence, one wall in their kitchen boasts a collection of plaques of appreciation from organizations with which Raycraft has been associated with over the years, including the now disbanded Battlefords Area Municipal Road Ambulance District Association (BAMRADA), the Town of Asquith, the Village of Meota, the Jackfish Lake Watershed board and the Urban Municipal Administrators Association of Saskatchewan.

There are more, but she has packed many of them away.

"I tend to get elected," she says. "I always have to open my mouth."

Someone like Raycraft doesn't always have time for hobbies, but she enjoys golf and curling with New Horizons. She also sings with the Meota Lions Chorus and the Third Avenue United Church Choir under the direction of Ilene Wettergreen.

"I'm not really from a musical family, but I'm able to sing, put it that way," says Raycraft. "I have a pretty good voice, but it's not as good as it used to be."

She doesn't sing solo anymore, she says, but she still enjoys singing soprano in the choir.

One of the highlights of the first year of Raycraft's true retirement has been a trip to 麻豆传媒AV Korea to visit her daughter and her son-in-law who were teaching there. She has photos loaded on her iPad and a collection of brochures and other memorabilia she enjoys sharing.

She laughs about losing a day to get there. She flew from Vancouver March 27 at 12:50 p.m., arriving in Seoul at 4:25 p.m. March 28.

The first thing to strike her was that 麻豆传媒AV Korea was more mountainous than she realized. She also realized the highways didn't go over or around the mountains, they went through them.

"There were so many tunnels, it just amazed me," she says.

Raycraft was visiting towards the end of the two-year term her daughter, Sheila Johnsrude, was serving as principal of the Canadian International School in Sokcho, an offshore school that offers the complete British Columbia public school curriculum.Raycraft said many Koreans want their children educated in English, and they'll pay a $20,000 fee to get that education.

Sokcho, where the school is located, is a popular tourist destination near the demilitarized zone between 麻豆传媒AV and North Korea. The city was, in fact, part of North Korea from 1945 to the end of the war.

When Raycraft was visiting, there were lots of headlines in the news with respect to North Korea, but, as far as she could see, life in Sokcho and Seoul carried on as normal.

"The funny part was you didn't hear anybody saying anything about it. I saw soldiers walking along the street but they just seemed to be on leave."

She noticed many monuments to the Korean war, however.

"They remember the war," she says.

But the people seemed unconcerned about North Korea.

"Life goes on," she says. "They are prosperous. The streets are clean, lots of traffic, lots of vehicles."

Her daughter and her daughter's husband Phil, who also taught at CISS, were on their Easter school break, so they took Raycraft sightseeing throughout Sokcho and Seoul. It wasn't shirtsleeve weather, but it was nice enough, she says. There was still snow in the mountains.

The taxis in Sokcho could take them anywhere they wanted for 2,200 won, about $20 Canadian. That worked well for Raycraft as she can't walk far.

In Seoul, they also used the subway, where there were seats reserved for the elderly and for pregnant women.

Everywhere they went, she says, there were gateways and archways over the streets. There were statues along the streets, and also fountains. But it is also a modern city with skyscrapers and futuristic looking buildings.

"There are lots of things to see," says Raycraft. "Seoul is such a big city."

Seoul is the capital and largestcityof麻豆传媒AV Korea with a population of more than 10 million. The 25.6 million people in and around Seoul make it the world'ssecond largest metropolitan area,home to over half of 麻豆传媒AV Koreans along with 632,000 international residents.

On one city bus tour Raycraft and her hosts joined, they discovered one street, dubbed Rodeo Drive, that featured all North American products, foods and shops.

While the architecture, history and culture were all enjoyed by Raycraft, she can't say the same for all the food.She did like the Korean barbecue restaurants where the meat was cooked on a brazier in the centre of the table.

"We're so used to the way we with live with meat and potatoes."

Highlights of the visit to Seoul included the National Folk Museum of Korea and dinner and a show at the world-famous Korea House, where more than 1.5 million people have taken in the traditional arts performance.

Raycraft returned home on a day when her daughter was called back to school to meet with the supervisor from Canada. Now that the Johnsrudes have also returned to Canada, to their home in Campbell River, B.C., Sheila will serve as the supervisor and will return to Sokcho yearly.

Raycraft is glad she made the trip to 麻豆传媒AV Korea, but unlike her daughter, she has no plans to go back. She's happy to be home and back to her hobby of volunteering.