Trevor Daniel Zdunich March 31, 1968 — June 13, 2015
It is with heartfelt sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Trevor Daniel Zdunich. He is survived by his mother Loraine (Jim) Walmsley; brother Keven (Joann); niece Lacey; nephew Cylus; numerous loving aunts, uncles and cousins; many treasured friends and his faithful dog, Basil. Trevor was predeceased by his father Clarence Zdunich; grandparents Dan and Annie Zdunich and Peter and Helen Sarich; Uncles Leonard, James, Daniel, Stanley and Gabriel. Trevor grew up on the family farm outside of Kenaston, Sask. Once he was done high school he moved to Zama City to begin his 30-year career in the oilfield. He returned home to the family farm in the spring of 2015, until his untimely passing on June 13, 2015. He will be fondly remembered for his one-of-a-kind sense of humour and his unique personality. He was loved by everyone and touched many lives. Trevor had a strong love and passion for Harley Davidson motorcycles, Ford trucks, his work and farming, Mud Bog Racing, his family and his loyal and countless friends. A celebration of Trevor’s life was held on Monday, June 22 at 1 p.m. at Kenaston Place. For friends so wishing, memorial donations in memory of Trevor can be directed at the St. Andrew’s Cemetery Fund. Hanson’s Funeral Home of Davidson was in care of arrangements.
Glen Manz points to a bidder as a small wooden cabinet goes up for sale during the Burgess auction in Bladworth on June 6. Also pictured is Connie Glines.
By Joel van der Veen
BLADWORTH — As Bill Burgess watched the collection of a lifetime hit the auction block last weekend, he seemed resigned to its fate.
“It’s not easy, you know,” he said, “but I realized it had to happen, so I thought we’d better do it now.”
Burgess’s collection of farm equipment, vehicles, tools and other paraphernalia, as well as the buildings that housed them all, was divested in a sale conducted by Manz’s Auctioneering Service on Bladworth’s main street on June 6.
The sale of the vast collection drew an equally enormous crowd from across Saskatchewan and Alberta, including multiple antique dealers.
Upwards of 250 bidders registered over the course of the day, and Jan Manz estimated that more than 500 people had come through to bid, glance over the items for sale or simpy watch the proceedings.
Manz said the sale date was booked last fall, giving their staff plenty of time to promote it but also leaving them at the mercy of the weather. Employees spent a total of four days sorting the items for sale.
“It was just going to have to go ahead,” she said, noting that aside from a brief windstorm on Friday night, the weekend weather was ideal for the sale. “We were lucky.”
Bladworth Mayor Ron Bessey observed that, aside from the village’s annual Sports Days, it was rare to see so much activity in town.
“I’d be lucky if I recognized half of the people here,” he said, adding that it was good to see such a large crowd and fortunate that the weather co-operated.
Barkley Prpick, who owns and operates Barkley’s Bar with his wife Tannis, said his establishment was enjoying the extra business.
His children and their friends were also selling ice cream from the patio; they could later be seen walking through the crowd to sell their wares.
Prpick said he has known Burgess for many years — both as a frequent presence in the village, and for his maintenance work in area schools — but added, “I don’t know what possesses a person to collect all of these things.”
His comments were echoed by others, including Don Wilkins of Girvin, who said he was “overwhelmed” as he looked through the collection.
“The last words I heard leaving the house were, ‘You don’t need anything,’” he added.
Among the featured items in Saturday’s auction were four vintage John Deere tractors restored by Burgess and still in working condition.
Mary Walker, who attended the sale with her husband Lee and other family members, recalled that the tractors were a frequent presence in Bladworth’s Sports Day parades.
The sale also included other farm implements, vehicles in various states of repair, tools, musical instruments, and a host of smaller items, ranging from fire extinguishers to bank calendars.
Four buildings also went up on the auction block, including the former pool hall in which Burgess had displayed some of his collection, and the Silver Lake schoolhouse, which he had converted to use as a workshop.
The buyers of the buildings were told to make arrangements either to purchase the underlying lots through the village office, or to have the buildings moved elsewhere.
Watching the progress of the sale with Bill Burgess was Kay, his wife of almost 64 years. Together the Burgesses raised six children; they now also have nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Bill and Kay were married in October 1951 and lived on the family farm, located 22 miles east of Bladworth, until 1959. They have lived in Imperial ever since.
After leaving the farm, Burgess worked as a carpenter, attending STI (now Saskatchewan Polytechnic) in Moose Jaw to get his certificates. As his first project, he was part of the crew that built St. Pius X Roman Catholic Church in Imperial.
In 1973 he became maintenance supervisor with the Davidson School Unit, remaining in that position for 21 years.
Burgess recalled how he would continually add to the collection, restoring some items and putting others on display in the old pool hall, which he called his “museum.”
Asked how she coped with her husband’s growing collection, Kay Burgess said that for the most part she wasn’t aware of it.
“I never knew he bought it,” said Kay, who turns 91 this year. “He would see these things all over the country, and if he wanted it, he bought it.”
Bill, who turns 87 in September, said he plans to keep busy working in his shop at home.
Greg Burgess, their second son, said most of the family had returned home for the auction. He added he was surprised at the extent of the collection.
“I didn’t think he had that much stuff,” he said. “Every building had something in it.”
Greg added that there were no “first dibs” for himself or his siblings. They were told that if they wanted anything, they had to show up and bid like everyone else.
And there was plenty of bidding going on. The tractors and buildings sold for thousands of dollars each, but even some of the smaller items attracted their share of bids.
A keychain collection numbering in the hundreds sold for $270; a collection of pins and buttons went for $70; a lot consisting of four bank calendars and a tobacco sign sold for $190.
Yet there were deals to be had. Trevor Mooney, a 12-year-old lad from Imperial, paid $55 for a black Gibson electric-acoustic guitar. The instrument needed some work, but Mooney was pleased with this purchase.
Another satisfied customer was Greg Prpich, a retired farmer who now raises bison four-and-a-half miles northeast of Bladworth.
Prpich paid $80 for a cloth banner once carried by Bladworth students, bearing the slogan “For King and Country”; he guessed that it dated back to at least the 1940s.
He said he has known Burgess for decades and remembered seeing the banner in his collection. He wasn’t sure what he would do with it but said it would be a unique souvenir.
“It’s my hometown,” said Prpich, adding, “I just wanted a keepsake to remind me of Bill.”
Bill and Kay Burgess watch the auction in progress.
Rev. Tracey Taylor stands in front of St. Columba Anglican Church in Kenaston last week.
By Joel van der Veen
KENASTON — Sometimes it takes a lot of noise to wake people up.
That’s the thinking behind an initiative taking place in Kenaston, where two churches are ringing their bells to raise awareness of the high rate of violence against aboriginal women in Canada.
Their efforts will reach a pinnacle this Wednesday when, beginning at 2 p.m., the churches will ring their bells a total of 1,181 times.
That’s one ring for each and every one of the 1,181 aboriginal women reported as murdered or missing in Canada between 1980 and 2012, as highlighted in a report issued by the RCMP last year.
Rev. Tracey Taylor, one of three associate priests serving the Midlakes Parish of the Anglican Church of Canada, said the churches were inspired to join in the initiative along with other cathedrals and churches across Canada.
She said she believes that Anglicans and other Christians need to raise awareness of the situation facing aboriginal women and thus join the voices calling for change.
“If the church can’t draw attention to this . . . who will?” she asked, adding, “Part of our baptismal vows is to uphold the dignity and (demand) justice for every human being.”
According to a news release, the initiative is part of a 22-day period of prayer and renewal that marks the end of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established to respond to the legacy of Indian residential schools in Canada.
The period lasts from May 31, the Commission’s last day, to June 21, which is being celebrated as National Aboriginal Day.
“Historically, church bells were used to alert a community to an emergency,” Rev. Mike Sinclair of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Regina was quoted. “Surely, 1,181 missing and murdered women is an emergency.”
On June 3, the bell at St. Columba Anglican Church in Kenaston rang for a sustained period beginning at 2 p.m.
Last Wednesday, they were joined by St. Andrew’s Catholic Church a couple of blocks over. This week will see the culmination of the churches’ efforts.
A group of students from Kenaston School, including this year’s seven graduates, will split up and keep the bells ringing for between 60 and 90 minutes, until they have tolled 1,181 times.
Taylor said everyone is welcome to come by and assist with the bell ringing, or just to sit in the pews and pray.
Part of the problem is changing public perception about violence against aboriginal women, said Taylor, adding, “When you hear on the news that it’s a native woman, people’s attitudes change.”
Instead of making assumptions or relying on stereotypes, she said, people should ask why so many native women end up in dangerous or violent situations.
She acknowledged that the lack of a large, visible native population in the area may make it easier to ignore the issue.
“You only have to go to Saskatoon and you’re in the middle of a very diverse culture,” she said. “We’re a little homogeneous here . . . That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be aware.”
Taylor also countered that there’s a larger aboriginal population here than many might think, though she joked that some native people are “undercover.” For instance, her mother is Cree.
Ringing the bells over the last two weeks has attracted more and more attention, said Taylor, adding, “People were driving by and looking, wondering what we were doing.”
Taylor, who also serves All Saints Anglican Church in Davidson, said she planned to go through some activities on the subject with students at the Wednesday program there.
She said it’s important to engage with younger generations in calling for justice, especially given that many of the murdered or missing women have been teenagers or young adults.
“The hope is that this is not just a flash,” she said. “It’s just a great thing for the church to be doing . . . The church needs to be real in the world.”
CRAIK — The Town of Craik is facing a “severe water shortage,” town foreman Jo-Anne DuBeau told councillors during last Wednesday’s town council meeting.
DuBeau told council that daily demands on the system have soared upwards of 85,000 gallons per day, up from a normal rate of about 40,000 gallons per day. She expressed grave concerns that the system will not be able to sustain that rate for more than a few days and that watering lawns was responsible for the situation.
With May having the second lowest recorded amount of rainfall in the last 10 years, council moved quickly to implement water restrictions aimed at curbing excessive demands on the water plant.
From 6 p.m. June 12 to 6 p.m. June 16, the town has placed a ban on all outside water usage including watering lawns and gardens as well as the washing of automobiles,
Once the temporary ban has been lifted, a rotating schedule will be initiated. Residents on the west side of the railway line are permitted outdoor use on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Residents on the east side are permitted on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays with Sunday being a “day of rest” where outside use is prohibited for both sides.
A typical garden hose delivers about nine gallons of water per minute, or 540 gallons per hour. The increased demand is equivalent to roughly 35 households watering lawn for two hours on a given day.
For the complete story, please see the June 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader, or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe.
ROSETOWN — Keeping a balanced budget while maintaining a standard of primary health care will be a challenge going forward for Heartland Health Region, its CEO said last week.
Greg Cummings said regions across the province are aiming to “bend the cost curve,” explaining, “It’s not to reduce the cost of health care in the province, it’s to reduce the rate at which the cost of health care is increasing.”
The regional health authority approved its budget and operational plan for the 2015-16 fiscal year at a meeting in Rosetown on June 5. The operating budget itself totals $105 million; including a capital transfer of $648,000, the grand total comes to $105.7 million.
While the region ended the last fiscal year with a minor surplus, Cummings said that balancing the budget this year was a challenge.
The budget saw an overall increase of 1.6 per cent or $1,424,000, which represented collective bargaining increases, physician remuneration, and the purposeful rounding initiative for long-term care, which entails responding to residents’ needs within a set amount of time.
To balance the budget, the region must find around $1.5 million in savings and efficiencies, according to a news release issued by Heartland.
Cummings said the region’s goal for Davidson and area is to keep the hospital and emergency services operational as it continues to develop its primary care model.
“We will spend what we have to, to support that model,” he told the Leader on Wednesday. “We build our budget from the ground up.”
Davidson is currently served by two full-time doctors, Dr. Lang and Dr. Ola, both of whom are on the emergency room call rotation for Davidson Health Centre.
The Heartland and Five Hills health regions announced in an update on Wednesday that two additional doctors would join that rotation between now and early 2016.
Dr. Modupe Olufunmilayo Arowolo, a general practitioner currently living in Calgary, has accepted a posting to serve the Craik-Davidson corridor.
She will primarily serve Craik, providing the town with physician services four days a week as part of the primary health care team at Craik Health Centre, but will also join the ER call rotation in Davidson.
Dr. Arowolo entered the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) program in May. The region said she is expected to be ready to practise by the end of September.
A fourth physician is expected to join the collaborative in early 2016. Dr. Kayode Emmanuel Bamigboje, or simply Dr. Kay — known to some Davidson residents as the husband of Dr. Ola — is scheduled to enter the SIPPA program in September, and will join the ER call rotation next year.
In the meantime, the regions have secured a locum physician from Regina, Dr. Anne Lillian Kavulu, who has been hired on a short-term contract to serve Craik and Davidson between July 27 and Oct. 30.
Dr. Kavulu is scheduled to tour the Craik and Davidson health centres soon. She will work primarily from Craik but will also be part of Davidson’s ER call rotation during her short-term stay, according to the regions.
Cummings said the doctors will determine amongst themselves how the schedule is divided up, explaining, “They make the decision about how they’re going to make the rotation work.”
Without multiple doctors available, he said, it has been impossible to provide round-the-clock service at the Davidson hospital.
This effected not only Davidson and district residents, but others travelling through the area who required emergency services but would arrive at the hospital to find none were available.
“We want to reassure the public that if they go there, that it’ll be open,” said Cummings, adding that the matter of health care will continue to be an “ongoing discussion.”
“Like all discussions on health care, there’s a high emotional component to it,” he said, noting that as the new doctors arrive, “I think it’ll be less emotional, and we’ll be able to talk more about better providing the services to meet the needs of the community, instead of being in crisis mode.”
For the complete story, please see the June 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader, or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe.
Maddy Vollmer of Loreburn is seen at left carrying the baton during the senior girls relay race at the provincial track meet in Yorkton.
By Joel van der Veen
YORKTON — Local high school athletes were among the hundreds who competed at the provincial track and field meet at Yorkton’s Century Field on June 5 and 6.
Jade Peters, a former Hanley student who now studies at Rosthern Junior College, took home several medals in the senior girls division, including a gold in high jump with a result of 1.64 metres, and a silver in triple jump with a result of 11.21 metres.
The West Central junior boys relay team — which included Shane Lafontaine of Loreburn Central School — captured the gold medal in the 4 x 100-metre relay race, with a total time of 45.68 seconds in the final.
Lafontaine also earned the bronze medal in the junior boys long jump, completing a jump of 6.03 metres. His teammates on the relay team included Jae Evans and Matthew Jones, both of Dinsmore, and Kevin Stockman of Beechy.
Meanwhile, the West Central senior girls relay team took the bronze medal in their 4 x 100-metre race, with a result of 51.21 seconds in the final.
That team included Cheyanne Sincennes of Kenaston, Maddy Vollmer of Loreburn, Nicole Anhorn of Elrose, and Justine Jorgenson from Outlook’s Lutheran Collegiate Bible Institute (LCBI).
Megan Fehr from Hanley Composite School received the bronze medal in the midget girls pole vault with a result of 2.10 metres.
Competing from Davidson were Jacob Schilling, Emily Read, Travis Nelson and Ben Nykiforuk. Craik School was represented by Carson Kearns and Hayley Folk.
Kenaston students competing in the events included Kaitlyn Yelich, Dawson George, Alyssa Evashenko, Jesse Boot and Cheyanne Sincennes.
Loreburn Central School was represented by Brianna Jess, Tori Rendall, Shane Lafontaine and Maddy Vollmer, while Leah Hundeby, a former Loreburn student now studying at Caronport High School, also competed in the events.
Hanley Composite School students competing in the events included Megan Fehr, Kianna Dietz and Carissa Williams.
The West Central district, which includes Davidson, Loreburn and Kenaston, earned the distinction of scoring the most points per thousand students with a total of 741.5 points.
The weekend also saw a record of nearly half a century broken, when Jae Evans of Dinsmore jumped 6.96 metres in the junior boys long jump, beating the record set in 1967 by 23 cm.
Evans was also the junior boys aggregate winner, taking five provincial gold medals in the 100-metre dash, long jump, high jump, triple jump and the 4 x 100-metre relay.
For complete results, please pick up a copy of the June 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader.
