The CAMROSE BOOSTER January 22, 2013
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Diamond Jubilee Medal presented to Dr. McIver By Murray Green
Dr. George McIver was proud to receive a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his service to Canada and his Camrose community. The Calgary-born and Saskatchewan-raised (Herbert) Dr. McIver moved to Wolseley in 1934 to finish high school. After high school he joined the Air Force. "I tried to enlist when I was 17, but they sent me back until I was 18. That was back in 1940," recalled the former dentist. "We had an Anglican minister who taught me the Morse code. I enlisted as a wireless operator and the first thing I
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was in the number one wireless school in Canada, in Montreal. I was half way through the course and my code speed was up to 20 words a minute. They pulled me off and put me on staff. I spent the war years at various wireless operator schools across Canada teaching Morse code to others." Dr. McIver left the Montreal training centre to go to the second ranked centre in Winnipeg and then eventually to the third-ranked station in Calgary. "I asked to move west from Montreal. I ended up in Western Air Command after Calgary closed and that was in Prince George." After the Second World War, Dr. McIver enrolled in school
again. The former sergeant in the Air Force moved to Camrose in 1950. "When I graduated from dentistry in 1950, Dr. Ness was retiring in Camrose. I came down here and took over his practice." His son Dr. Pat McIver then took over the family business in 1987. "I was very active in the community. If there was something I could do to help out, I would," explained Dr. McIver. "I didn't hesitate to join in." Dr. McIver belonged to the local Kinsmen, Rotary and Legion clubs for more than 60 years. He also helped with cubs, scouts, disaster services and the Camrose United Church. "I
started to slow down when I hit 90," he said. "I have been an active member in the community for a long time and the Diamond Jubilee Medal is an honour to receive because it recognizes the contribution to the community," Dr. McIver said. "It just became a natural thing for me to do (volunteering). I was a cub master for 20 years and that included camping and everything else with cubs, so I was quite involved with the scout movement." Dr. McIver taught his wife Morse code and they spent many hours with the ham amateur operated radio club in Camrose. "I was very honoured to
receive the medal. It's not something you would get normally. I don't really feel worthy of it," Dr. McIver said modestly. "But, it has been very nice to receive it. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal was created to mark the 2012 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne as Queen of Canada. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal is a tangible way for Canada to honour Her Majesty for her service to this country. At the same time, it serves to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.
PEN POINTS by Berdie Fowler
Focus on achievement of worthy dreams Last Thursday morning I watched with awe the television presentation of a question and answer session between Chris Hadfield and students gathered in an elementary school gymnasium. I was awestruck because Chris Hadfield was in space and the students were on Earth in Ontario, and they were speaking to each other with perfect video and audio reception of the two-way conversation. To me, and folks of my generation who once believed it would never be possible to fly to the moon, this was truly awesome, an amazing and marvellous feat achieved by collaborative master minds in the fields of science and technology. While I think the students considered the event to be a special occasion – talking to an astronaut – I am sure the fact that they could communicate as they did seemed very ordinary. Chris Hadfield is the Canadian astronaut who is presently on a five-month research mission as commander of the International Space Station. Hadfield grew up on an Ontario farm. He was not yet ten years old when he watched on television, in July 1969, the landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon, and heard Armstrong say: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” That created in him a burning desire to become an astronaut, which he eventually did. He was the first Canadian to walk in space, and the first to use the Canadarm in orbit, and he is now on his third mission in space. One of the many questions students asked Hadfield last Thursday morning was, “How did you get to be the best Canadian astronaut?” Hadfield answered, with modesty, that he didn’t claim to be the best among other Canadian astronauts, but emphasized that it necessitated keeping his life-long focus on the goal, choosing the studies that would lead to achieving that goal, and lots of dedicated hard work to excel in learning what he needed to know. Other questions were of lighter vein which were invitations to Hadfield to demonstrate lack of gravitational pull in space, to do a few somersaults, play his guitar, look out of the space window and describe what he saw – the beautiful blue orb that is Earth and the continent of South America. When asked ,“What is the first thing you want to do when you come back to Earth?” Hadfield replied without hesitation, “Have a shower; in space we can’t have a shower.” (Just another reminder that we often take for granted our many earthly blessings and are not adequately grateful.} Sometimes we hear younger people say that older folks don’t understand what life is like today because older people grew up without radio, telephone, television, computers, cell phones, electrical power, natural gas for heating, air travel, ventures into space, robots, vaccines, organ transplants, et cetera and et cetera. That is true but we need to be aware that it was people who are old today that invented them. That precipitates the question to today's students: What will you invent or do to make a better world? I suppose technology will be refined and there will be new scientific discoveries. There is a great need to improve human relationships and I hope the next outstanding strides forward will be in that area. What the world needs is less disparity and more sharing of responsibilities and benefits; more mutual trust and understanding; more attention to things that really matter like fairness and justice rather than self-indulgence. May Hadfield inspire today's students to focus on worthy dreams!
Darlene Sorenson, wife of Crowfoot Member of Parliament Kevin Sorenson, pins the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal on the lapel of Dr. George McIver.
Camrose responds to elder abuse Submitted Agencies, businesses and nonprofit organizations will be coming together to learn how the Camrose community plans to address the
issue of elder abuse. This comes at the completion of a yearlong process to develop tools, resources and processes specific to the needs of Camrose and area. Free workshops on Jan. 24 and Feb. 13 will provide two opportunities for those who interact with seniors to develop skills in supporting people who are experiencing abuse. This includes all who connect with seniors, whether in businesses, social clubs, churches, health care or recreation. Participants can choose modules ranging from 90 minutes to three hours in length, or can register for the full day running 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The workshops are hosted by the Family Violence Response Council, an interagency network of Camrose organizations. Training is delivered by Community Initiatives Against Abuse. The term elder abuse refers to a pattern of abusive acts, or
lack of appropriate action, in a relationship of intimacy, dependency or trust. Most elder abuse takes place at the hands of someone the older adult knows, like a family member, friend, caregiver or landlord. The purpose of the abuse is to gain power and control and often to induce fear. Elder abuse can take many forms. Physical, financial, medical, emotional, spiritual, sexual abuse and neglect are all ways in which one person might exert power and control over another. According to Statistics Canada, seven per cent of seniors surveyed in 1999 reported some form of emotional or financial abuse by an adult child, caregiver or spouse in the five years previous. Applying that statistic to the City of Camrose, we would expect more than 225 seniors locally have experienced some form of abuse at the hands of a trusted person in recent years. “Elder abuse is a complex and delicate issue to address, said Sheralyn Dobos, chairperson for the Family Violence
Response Council. “Because of close, dependent relationships seniors have with those who use abusive behaviors against them, seniors are often fearful to speak about the abuse. Our aging population underscores the importance of creating an effective community response to this social issue.” The Elder Abuse Response project is funded by a Municipal Sustainability Initiative Grant from the City of Camrose and contributions from Camrose Ministerial Association, Primary Care Network, Association of Communities Against Abuse, Camrose and District Support Services, Camrose Seniors’ Coalition and Family Violence Action Society. The development process was led by Community Initiatives Against Abuse after having supported numerous communities throughout the province in similar processes. To register for Elder Abuse Response Training, email scbissell@shaw.ca or call 780-3149133.