Monthly Archives: September 2012

Obituary

Firby, Chris

It is with great sadness that the family of Barry Firby announce the sudden and untimely passing of L. Christine “Chris” George Firby of Kenaston, Saskatchewan on August 29, 2012. Chris is lovingly missed by her husband Barry; children Chad (Regan), Renée, and Mackenzie; grandchildren Haley, Jackson, and Summer; her mother Phyllis George; mother-in-law Lorraine Firby; brother Don (Gloria) George; sister Norma Nordquist; nieces and nephews Deanne (Al) Bleackley, Jason (Shauna) George, Blaine (Susan) Nordquist, Jonathan (Candace) Nordquist, and Adrienne (Stuart) Harrop; great nieces and nephews Denver, Laken (Terrance), Dielle, Taron, Gregory, Kealin, Thaniel, Dawson, Carson, Connor, Wil, Isaac and Kayson. Chris meets in heaven her father Peter George; father-in-law Fred Firby and brother-in-law Jerry Nordquist.

We would like to thank the First Responders, Paramedics, Cardiologists, nurses and staff at RUH for their life-saving efforts. Thank you to the hundreds of people who have visited, sent communication, brought items to our homes, made donations to the church and multiple charities, and extended their thoughts and prayers. It is a true testament to the degree of which Chris impacted thousands of lives.

Chris was born on February 25, 1952 to Phyllis and Pete George. On July 10, 1971 she married Barry Firby. Together they built their home and family residing east of Kenaston.

Chris had a charismatic nature, touching each of us in an extraordinary way. She had a natural ability to do things for others, making each and every person she met feel like they were the most special and important person. Chris shared many of Barry’s interests and together they built an empire of friendships across the country. These friends were drawn from sports to the realm of politics. People were instantly attracted to Chris and her infectious personality. It didn’t matter if it was a salesperson, or the Prime Minister of Canada, she made an instant impression on everyone.

Each of us who were touched by Chris undoubtedly have fond memories of her love of hospitality and entertaining, from her passion for cooking, to the beautiful home and yard she created. It brought her most joy to host a dinner party or take food to anything she was attending.

Travelling was upon many of Chris’ favorite pastimes. She was fortunate to have spent many vacations with her family and friends travelling throughout North America, Central America and Europe. She loved spending time with people and these memories she shared were amongst her most treasured.

The joy that the church and community involvement brought Chris was immense.  She was always the first to lend a hand and offer assistance anywhere that was needed. This coming October she will be recognized with the honour of receiving the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her volunteer commitment.

Chris had an exceptional faith in God. She did not fear death and always said that dying was a part of life.  There is a piece of us that is irrevocably broken, but we find comfort in knowing she rests in peace in eternity.

She was a true model on how to live life in faith, charity, selflessness and generosity. Everything she did for her family and others she did in an effort to either make the everyday occurrences special and more memorable, or make things easier for everybody else. Too often she took on extra to make other’s burdens lighter.

Of all of Chris’ accomplishments, her family was her proudest and most precious. She dedicated her life to being a wife, mother and grandmother. She always looked forward to family days, in particular, those with her grandchildren. We thank her from the bottom of our hearts for being the matriarch of our family and for her love and support in everything we did.

Our family will forever have lost a piece of us and the spirit in which Chris lived was genuinely inspirational to all who knew her. We thank God for sharing her with us and thank her for the beautiful memories. We love you with all of our hearts and miss you greatly. May you rest in peace.

Memorial donations in honour of Chris may be made to the Kenaston Evangelical Missionary Church, PO Box 271, Kenaston, Sask., S0G 2N0.

Hanson’s Funeral Home of Davidson was in care of arrangements.

featured

Schmit and More are headed to trial

Devin Schmit and Darak More are going to trial.

The two men are each facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Rob Vicente of Bladworth.

Schmit and More were at their preliminary hearing, which began Monday, Sept. 10. The hearing was scheduled for three weeks, but ended the next day, Tuesday, after it was decided there was enough evidence to proceed to trial.

There is a publication ban that prohibits reporting on evidence heard at the preliminary hearing.

At Monday’s hearing, Schmit, wearing a black Saskatchewan Roughriders T-shirt under an unbuttoned collared shirt, and More, in a plain grey sweatshirt, appeared at the hearing. They sat in a glassed prisoner’s box at the side of the room. They have remained in custody since their arrest Feb. 11, 2011.

Members of Rob’s family, including his parents and brothers were at the hearing, which took place in a small courtroom in Regina Provincial Court.

On Thursday, Rob’s mother Pam said the abrupt end to the hearing caught them by surprise.

“We sure weren’t expecting it,” Pam said.

Pam and Ferd Vicente have been waiting nearly two years, and had prepared themselves, to hear the Crown’s evidence and to learn what is alleged to have happened to their son Rob, who was 25 when he was last seen at the Shell gas station in Davidson on Oct. 10, 2010.

On Oct. 12, Hanley RCMP was notified that Rob was missing. While family and friends tried to locate Rob, on Oct. 14, 2010 police reported that on Oct. 12 Rob’s burned-out car was found in a vacant farmyard about 29 kilometres west of Davidson.

Meanwhile, many people from Bladworth, Davidson and the wider community took part in extensive ground and air searches for Rob, with no success.

On Feb. 11, 2011, Schmit and More were charged with first-degree murder and robbery. On Feb. 14, 2011 RCMP said they had discovered human remains in a farmyard on the edge of Davidson. The remains were later confirmed to be those of Rob Vicente.

More and Schmit will stand trial in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Regina on first-degree murder charges and robbery with a firearm in connection with the death of Rob Vicente. Schmit and More have pleaded not guilty.

No trial date has been set.

Davidson, featured

Police investigate crime spree

The liquor store in Davidson was broken into during the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept. 9.

The culprits threw a rock through the front plate glass window to gain entry to the building, which is armed with a security system and video cameras.

The thieves stole a quantity of liquor and fled the scene, leaving a mess of broken glass and broken liquor bottles.

Later that Sunday morning, at about 7:30 a.m., Craik RCMP members responded to a report of a single vehicle collision near Girvin on Highway 11 after a car had rolled in the ditch and caught on fire.

Police report that passing motorists helped free the vehicle’s occupants, four males, from the burning car, perhaps saving their lives.

One occupant had to be airlifted to hospital in Regina while the other three were transported by ambulance to Regina.

Craik RCMP is investigating the collision. Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the collision.

Back in Davidson, Logan Tennent was asleep, unaware that his 2006 Pontiac G6 was missing from the driveway of his Washington Avenue home.

Tennent said the car had been stolen and was one involved in the single vehicle collision.

“It was in impound before I knew it was gone,” Tennent said.

This car was similar to a vehicle eyewitnesses reported seeing, at about 7 a.m., parked on 3rd Street in Davidson.

The eyewitnesses watched as three unknown males transferred goods including golf clubs and a flat-screen television from a maroon-coloured mini van into a silver car.

One witness said they had tried to put a mini-bike into the trunk of the car, but gave up, leaving it on the street, opting to take the TV instead.

The witnesses did call 911.

RCMP Cpl. Rob King said the matters are still under investigation.

Davidson, Sports

Raiders volleyball team get the blues

The Davidson Raiders senior girls volleyball team kept the score close against a talented Outlook Blues team at Davidson School last Wednesday, but couldn’t “catch any breaks” in the two games played losing 3 sets to 2 in the first match and 5-0 in the second.

Tony Baldwin, volunteer coach of the Raiders, said the team “earned every point” against the Blues and generally played good, but the girls still have some work to do in gelling as a team and getting more serves on target as the season progresses.

“It’s just the first week of the season, so there is a lot of rust there, but I thought the young girls played well and they’re in the process of learning how to play together,” said Baldwin. “Some of those girls have played for a couple years in senior ball and some of them have never played a senior game until (this one), so that is what the start of the season is about in getting them all hooked up.”

The coach said the older girls on the team are doing a great job in coaching the younger ones on good position play and it is “really exciting” for him to see how well the Grade 10 students understand the defensive structure already.

He said the main struggle against the Blues in the second game was the Raiders’ serves and in senior volleyball “you can’t miss serves,” so that is something they’ll be working on in practice. Other problems that occurred against the Blues could partially be due to the fact Outlook is a bigger school than Davidson and organizes their team into an A squad and B squad.

To read more lease see the Sept. 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Provincial rink grants “a pebble in a lake”

The Davidson Communiplex is applying for two $2,500 community rink affordability grants for their skating and curling ice surfaces, but that’s still a couple goals short of a win in trying to keep their utility costs down.

Trevor Ouellette, town recreation director, said the money would help because “$2,500 is $2,500,” but when you factor in the actual power costs for running the Communiplex during the busy winter months it doesn’t come out to much.

“SaskPower, for 2011, we spent $32,000 on just power alone on the skating side and on the rink side it’s another $10,000,” said Oullette. “Just power for the Communiplex is $42,000. So $2,500 sure goes to help it, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a pebble in a lake type of effect.”

Ouellette said they should qualify for two ice surface grants for the skating rink and the curling rink, but he’s “not banking on it until we see it.” He said they should be eligible because both ice plants are running on separate meters.

The Government of Saskatchewan is doling out $1.9 million to ice surfaces across the province fulfilling a promise by the Sask Party in the 2011 provincial election. The grants will be administered and delivered by the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association.

Ouellette said since they started a program of sending in reports on utility usage and capital projects to the government in 2009, SaskPower has “actually been a leader” in helping the Communiplex reduce power costs, even though the program is run by the provincial government.

“The provincial government is committing $1.9 million, which does seem like a lot of money in the big budget, but when you have 700 eligible participants in that program to divide it up evenly, that’s where you get the $2,500 from,” he said. “If (utility bills) go down, every little bit helps I guess.”

Davidson

Optometrists set sights on Davidson

Doctors Joanna Keall and Chantel Kaytor will look you straight in the eye and tell you the hard truth. Don’t take it against them; they’re just doing their job.

Keall and Kaytor are the new optometrists in Davidson. The two doctors will be running a satellite clinic at the Davidson Family Practice every second Thursday, with the next one scheduled for Sept. 27, where they will be conducting eye exams as well as taking measurements on and dispensing glasses.

“We’re very excited,” said Keall. “We’ve worked for a good year to be set up here and we’re excited to be open finally. People will not have to drive (to the city) for exams and it’s an opportunity to make it easier on them.”

She said their first day on Sept. 13 was a bit slow, but that was “perfect” as it gave them a bit of time to get organized. The two doctors work fulltime out of InSight Vision Care in Regina and also practise in satellite clinics in Indian Head and Balcarres.

Donna Bessey, community development coordinator for Davidson, said the goal of the town is provide its residents with as many health services as possible. She said they will be looking into bringing the duo over more often once they have built up a big enough clientele, but for now it’s just great having them here at all.

“It will enable people to access services that otherwise they’d have to drive to Saskatoon or Regina or over to Outlook for,” said Bessey. “Especially for seniors it can be quite difficult for them or even for people who don’t drive, so it’s providing a needed service.”

Mary Jane Morrison, Mayor of Davidson, said bringing in the optometrists is part of a broader health plan that she hopes will see more caregivers from all areas of medicine come to town to practise including dentists, occupational therapists and podiatrists. She said if the town and the health region could work together and try to bring these services to Davidson and find space for them everyone from young people to seniors will benefit.

“It’s a little bit of a slow process,” said Morrison. “It’s not like we have the funding to build a building, but we’re certainly aware that if we could have a professional building it wouldn’t have to house all of these people at the same time. It could be rotating.

“Whether we work with the health region to try and do something more at the Health Centre or try to get a professional building on Main Street, we have our eyes and ears open for those opportunities. We’ll do what we can to make that happen.”

Keall said for now they are happy working out of the Davidson Family Practice and anyone can book an appointment with them by calling 567-1000 or just “mosey in” on their scheduled days to browse the selection of glasses on display.