It might be yet another year that most people want to forget, that does not mean 2021 did not have its successes and good news stories.
In 2021, Barrhead area residents celebrated several successes. The Leader staff combed our issues and selected some of our favourite good news stories over the past year.
Starting the year, in our Jan. 19 issue, we told our readers about George Visser, a long-time Neerlandia area farmer, being nominated to Alberta's Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Technically, Visser was nominated in late 2020, but due to delays, in part due to the pandemic, the province announced his appointment in early January.
Visser entered the hall as part of the 2020 class with Walter Paszkowski and David Price. He is the sixth County of Barrhead resident to be inducted into the Agricultural Hall of Fame. The others are Claire and Hubert Anderson, Gloria Paquette, Dr Hugh Horner and Lloyd Lee.
County of Barrhead Coun. Walter Preugschas, who helped nominate Visser, said the honour was long overdue, as his influence on the province's agricultural industry is undeniable.
Preugschas said the move away from the typical mixed farm that Visser grew up on started to change in the early 1970s.
"He is one of the farmers who really influenced the industry and helped move it away from the small, family-owned mixed farms with a few dairy cows, chickens, pigs or sheep, along with hay and grain crops to that of specialization and intensive agriculture," he said.
Marilyn Flock, the now-retired, long-time agricultural fieldman for the county, said she could not think of a more deserving person to be inducted to the province's Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Flock worked with Visser through his involvement in the Agricultural Services Board (ASB).
"He was a progressive-thinker," she said. "During his time on the ASB, we were able to accomplish things that at the time were the first in the province. We did a lot of test plot work, learning what crops and products would be best used, adding to the provincial shelterbelt program to create one of our own, working on conservation through the creation of county-run initiatives and working with farmers."
Staying in touch
In our Feb. 16 issue, readers learned how 94-year-old Martha Neumann kept in touch with her friends at the Barrhead Continuing Care Centre through her daily two-kilometre constitutional. Due to the pandemic, visitation to seniors living facilities has been severely restricted, including limiting visitation to one support person only.
However, Neumann did not let the restrictions stop her from her daily visitation rounds.
"We wave at each other through the window," Neumann said.
And like the post office, she does not let the weather stop her from her appointed rounds.
The day the we talked to Neumann, she had just returned from one of her daily visits, the temperature was -41 C.
Swinging for the fence
The organizers of the annual Jackpine Slow-pitch tournament were able to donate $9,600 to the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation.
The softball tournament has been an annual tradition in Fort Assiniboine since the 1980s, but it has only been recently that the event has become a fundraiser for the Stollery.
September's tournament was the fourth and would have been the fifth, if COVID-19 hadn’t cancelled the event 2020 event.
"We just wanted to do something good. As parents of a daughter with a disability, we have been to the Stollery a lot," said Darren Wood who organizes the tournament with his wife, Jennifer.
Barrhead man celebrates 105th birthday
On Sept. 23, in a small gathering in his room at Hillcrest Lodge with his children Shawn and Connie, Enders celebrated his 105th birthday.
Otto grew up on a farm in Stony Plain and was the fourth oldest of 11 children.
"He is the only one left," Connie said.
Otto moved to Barrhead in about 1954 to be closer to his wife's (Mildred Mayer) relatives, a few years after being discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces. He enlisted in 1942.
In Barrhead, he worked as a truck driver for what was then Barrhead Transport, a post he held for more than 20 years.
As for the biggest change Otto has seen in his close to 70 years in Barrhead, he said he wasn't sure.
But he said one of the most visible changes, is the paved streets.
"It was all dirt, with no sidewalks," he said.
Restoring faith in humanity
Six kittens have a new lease on life thanks to a Barrhead woman, Barr-North Veterinary Clinic and the public's generosity.
Late in the afternoon of Oct. 13, Fleur Whitley was making her final trip of the day to collect leaves for the Community Garden at the Town of Barrhead's compost site near the fire hall when she heard a strange sound.
It turns out the noise was the mewing of six newborn kittens in a securely-tied double grocery bag next to a newly-dumped pile of leaves.
"They were just screaming," she said.
Whitley brought the kittens to Barr-North Veterinary Clinic near their closing time. "They told me they might have to be put down," Whitley said.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case as a Barr-North staff member took them home to bottle feed the kittens, who were estimated to be only three or four days old.
The staff member then put out an SOS via their Facebook page looking for people to foster the young kittens, especially those with a nursing mother cat that might be capable of adding to her litter.
Within a few hours, Barr-North received several offers from people willing to either hand feed the newborns or add them to a nursing mother’s litter.
RCMP honour two County of Barrhead residents
On Oct. 1, RCMP Eastern District Supt. Shane Ramteemal and Barrhead Detachment Commander Sgt. Bob Dodds presented the pair with the District Commander's Certificate of Appreciation for their participation in helping a Barrhead RCMP member successfully apprehend a suspect.
On Sept. 11, Martyn responded to a complaint about a violent altercation of two individuals involving a knife about 12 miles southwest of Barrhead.
However, when Martyn arrived, he found a "clearly agitated individual".
A physical altercation then ensued, and although Martyn had the situation under control, Dodds said, it was tenuous.
It was at about this time when Tuininga and Meunier happened to be passing by in their pickup.
At first, they drove by, as they believed Martyn had everything under control, but they decided to turn around to make sure.
"(Martyn) had him on the ground but it looked like he was struggling to keep him controlled, so we asked him if he needed a hand," Tuininga said.
"He said yes. So we got out of the truck and helped him get him into the car," Meunier continued.
It turns out the individual did not have a knife, but Dodds noted neither the officer nor did Meunier and Tuininga know what they were walking into when they offered their assistance.
"When the police get in an altercation like that, it is our job. We are being paid to do it, but sometimes we might be struggling or overmatched and when people like these young men step in to help ... it just means so much to us," Dodds said. "A lot of people, if they were to drive by, and you see this all the time, might have just taken out their cell phone and start filming it. That is so counterproductive. All that does is escalate the situation. For the member, it potentially could have meant his life. We need all the help we can get, and these guys stepped up. It takes a lot of courage to do what they did."
Overdue family reunion
It was a day Wegahta Aman was not sure would ever come, but on Nov. 22, she was finally reunited with her parents and six siblings, thanks to the efforts of the Barrhead Community Refugee Committee (BCRC)
Wegahta came to Canada in 2014 from East Africa after being sponsored by her husband, Mussie. He came to Barrhead about 10 years ago through the help of the Neeerlandia Christian Reformed Church Committee.
Her father had been a refugee since 1987 after fleeing from Sudan to escape the Eritrean’s People’s Liberation Front who were at war with Ethiopia.
The BCRC had been working on reuniting the family for the better part of three years.
BCRC chair Rita Lyster said they are so grateful that the family is in Barrhead, adding if their arrival had been much later, their reunion would not have taken place.
"The last month was very tumultuous in Sudan between demonstrations and uprisings," she said, adding that newly instituted travel restrictions due to the Omicron COVID-19 variant would have made their arrival impossible.
