The City of Weyburn unveiled three new plaques on its Walk of Fame in front of City Hall on Friday afternoon, in a ceremony followed by a tea reception held in the Legion Hall.
The plaques honoured former mayor Isabelle Butters in the humanitarian category; Dr. Noel Hall in the academics and literature category; and Art Mainil in the agriculture category. Speaking about her sister Isabelle being honoured by the city, Wilma Oliver said to laughter, "I told one of my friends we were coming here because my sister was being hung." She said due to the dedication and resilience of early residents, Weyburn is here today.
"My sister and I enjoyed a rural upbringing," Oliver told the crowd. "We learned how important neighbours are; when someone needed something, everyone just showed up, nobody had to ask. We learned how important Weyburn was too, with the Hi-Art Theatre, dances at the Legion, the excitement of the Fair. We had one telephone, one car, so wherever that car went, we went."
She noted these were simpler times, but "these were things that made us what we are today." Things were accomplished in Weyburn because of those who had vision and leadership, such as Isabelle.
"When I hear of something going to happen at Weyburn, I don't even ask, I know Isabelle's involved," said Oliver, noting as a recent example the push for the new Triple C Centre, replacing the "beloved WCI" which holds a lot of memories for a lot of people.
She also pointed out that her sister is not only involved at the local level in such organizations as Quota and Rebekahs, but that nationally she is the Marshall for the International Association of Rebekahs Assembly.
"She's chauffeured everyone from the rich and famous down to her relatives who are not rich and famous," quipped Oliver.
Inside the Legion Hall afterwards, the Quota Club hosted a tea reception for the award recipients, and the first order of business was to announce that the Quota Community Service Award would be renamed as the "Isabelle Butters Community Service Award", as part of the Women of the Year Awards presented annually.
Club president Lorraine Wilkinson made the announcement and presented a certificate to Butters to signify the honour, pointing out that Butters is a charter member of the Quota Club, present when it was formed 60 years ago.
Butters expressed her thanks at the two honours she received that day. "No matter what organization I've served with, and I've enjoyed them all, I've made and met many good neighbours, friends and volunteers. Life is fun, just cause of the friends we've made," she said to the audience. Later, in an interview, Butters admitted to feeling a bit overwhelmed, as she didn't know about the honour being bestowed by the Weyburn Quota Club.
"I really appreciate all the people I've been able to work with, the volunteers and elected officials. Look at the time spent; that's what makes the time worthwhile, working with people with the city, with Quota, Rebekahs, the library system," she said, noting she served 42 years with the public library system, including at the local, southeast regional, provincial and national levels.
Dr. Jim McGillivray, here from Collingwood, Ont., spoke about Dr. Hall's humble beginnings, as his father walked to Weyburn from Carnduff in 1930 because he didn't want to spend what little money he had on the train ride to get here. Later he had a family with eight children, and Noel was one of the smallest of the Hall children. He began his schooling under Kate Myers, and had a lot of excellent teachers along the way.
"He did well in school and supported himself, and did his share for his family," said McGillivray, noting Hall then left after finishing his schooling in 1948; with a suitcase full of his worldly belongings, he took a bus from the Four Corners (now Government Road and First Avenue) to Vancouver to attend university, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. He then went to the University of California to get his master's, coming back to B.C. on staff. He later went to Harvard to earn his doctorate in philosophy, "and for a boy from Weyburn to have earned a degree from Harvard is a remarkable achievement," said McGillivray.
He became a full professor at UBC, taking two years off to set up a university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, returning to UBC as professor and then as dean. In this time also, he became known for mediating large labour disputes, including postal and rail disputes.
"He hobnobbed with the great and powerful in Vancouver and Ottawa; he did a lot to broker peace for the Canadian economy," said McGillivray. Speaking for the late Art Mainil was Darwin Lackey, and his eldest daughter Kara Cubbon, who spoke about the passion for freedom that drove Mainil.
Reading a definition of "indomitable", meaning "impossible to subdue or defeat", she talked of her father's indomitable spirit.
First, it was his dream to see a farmer-owned grain terminal here like he saw in the U.S. while custom-combining down there, and he became a driving force behind establishing the Weyburn Inland Terminal, the first inland grain terminal in Canada.
His second great passion was to fight against the single-desk monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board, as he wanted farmers here to have marketing freedom. He became involved with the group Farmers For Justice, and tried taking a load of grain across the border without a CWB permit, for which he was heavily fined, and had his truck seized.
Finally, on Nov. 5, 2011, the federal government brought in legislation to end the CWB's monopoly, which Mainil was aware of before he passed away.
Quoting her father, Cubbon said, "Freedom isn't free. You have to be prepared to stand up for it and fight for it every day," ending her speech by telling the crowd, "I'm very proud of my dad."
