Editorial

A worthy Citizen of the Year

A few words about Stella Boisvert, who last week was named Slave Lake’s Citizen of the Year for 2007.
It’s fairly typical of people who do good work for their community that they aren’t comfortable receiving praise for it. Stella is one of those, but among all the nominees for this year’s ‘Slave Lake Citizen of the Year’ she was eminently well qualified.
Her qualifications were left in no doubt by her nominators.
Said one: “Years ago I had the privilege to meet and talk with another quiet, unassuming patron of the arts; Lois Hole. It struck me then, as it continued to this very day, of the similarities between these two outstanding women; they are both passionate about the arts, education and youth and understand, more than most, the (influence) that these three elements have on personal growth and success. Stella Boisvert has made an equally great impression on Slave Lakers as Lois Hole has on St. Albert, Edmonton and the province.”
Stella’s support of the arts by itself would be enough to win awards, but there’s much more. Another nominee writes of her dedication to the Slave Lake Hospital Auxiliary. A founding member, Stella continues to work for the betterment of patient care, and has managed the Auxiliary’s memorial fund for 30 years.
What else? Plenty. She served on the ambulance society board, the Royal Purple and as a volunteer reading to children several mornings each week at C.J. Schurter School. Also noted in the letters of nomination is her support for the local Rainbow Society and the Animal Rescue Committee, which a nominator says she was “instrumental in helping us create.” It’s quite an impressive record of community involvement, when you look at it all together – or at least all that Stella’s nominators were able to come up with. No doubt there’s more.
The last word goes to one of them, an old friend of Stella’s whom we’ll not name.
“This is a lady of varied and diverse talents. She actually helped the local nurse deliver babies 50 years ago! She was a great ‘First Lady’ for many years and continues to be a tourism ambassador for our town. We are indeed fortunate to have her working for our community.”

Job well done
Congratulations to the Friendship Centre and the Town of Slave Lake for putting on such a nice volunteer appreciation event. It just seems to be getting better and better the past few years.
This one was particularly well attended, with several organizations taking advantage of the opportunity to publicly recognize the volunteer force that makes them go.
With entertainment and a delicious meal, the awards banquet and ceremony is becoming one of the more notable events on the yearly calendar.
Keep up the good work!