The Westlock Ag Society honoured a local couple for close to 70 years of volunteering with the organization.
At the society’s Nov. 23 AGM, Doug and Vera Brown were recognized with a lifetime achievement awards for innumerable contributions to the community.
“It feels really good,” said Doug. “It makes you remember all the good people you’ve worked with over the years.
“I thought there was something funny going on, my wife was asking me a bunch of weird questions about different things I did with the ag society, so I thought there might be something coming on. But I didn’t expect it.”
While Vera was aware of Doug’s award, the ag society managed to surprise her with an award as well.
“She was very surprised. She’s worked there for a lot of years, with different volunteering at different things. For the last few years she’s been looking after the trade show at the fair.”
Ag society president Bob Jones said they wanted to make sure both were honoured.
“We pulled a little sneak and gave Vera an award at the same time,” said Jones. “They’ve both been so involved with the ag society for all these years, it was quite a shock when we did his first and then we did hers.
“I didn’t think she was going to make it up there, she was so surprised.”
The honour is the capstone to a long history of administering, assisting and adventure for the couple, who also celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary Nov. 5.
“Yes dear,” is all Doug had to say when asked what was his secret to keeping his marriage going for six decades.
“Everyone has his or her own opinion, and you got to honour it,” he added.
There was no shortage of praise for the couple.
Mayor Leriger said at the Nov. 28 town council meeting: “I just find that incredible. When we talk about communities and all that the volunteers do for our communities, to have a couple serve in one organization for 67 years is amazing.”
Jones said it was hard to imagine where the society would be without the couple.
“They still are a huge help,” said Jones.
“Vera is in charge of the trade show, she looks after getting the tables set up, taking some of the bookings. You name it … if they’re something to do she’s involved. Doug looks after getting our new officers involved. They’re both very involved still.
“Work bees, if you needed to build a fence, or rebuild a fence. Anything that was going on, they were there.”
Both reminisced about a horseback-riding trek from Red Deer to Westlock during the ag society’s 75th anniversary.
“We went on a wagon train back from Red Deer when the Ag society was 75 years old,” said Doug. “We drove a team of horses all the way back from Red Deer. Took us five days.”
Added Jones: “Doug and Vera were there, we had good times, singing around campfires and doing the cowboy stuff. There were 11 teams of horses and around 90 outriders at any one time. It was a big thing.”
Jones added that the ag society relies on volunteers like the Browns for close to 95 per cent of it’s operations.
“There’s people who look after the track, the midway, the horse show, the cattle show. That all takes volunteers to put that on. Without the volunteers, we could not put our fair on. We need them.”
Both Doug and Vera said they would continue to work with the ag society, with Vera still helping out with the trade show. Doug said he would keep plugging at it as long as he could.
“We’re farm people. We believe in helping out where we can,” said Doug. “That’s the main part of our life, agriculture. The mayor said that 67 years is a long time to be volunteering, and when I look back, yeah, I guess it is.”
He wanted to express his gratitude to the society for the recognition.
“I’d like to thank the Ag society for giving us an honourary membership,” he said. “I’d also like to thank all the good people I’ve worked with.”
