Chipman loses a pillar of the community

BY JANA SEMENIUK

Members of the Chipman Players, a local theatre group performing in Chipman for the past 15 years, were left heartbroken last week after news of their founder’s death rippled through the community.

On May 18, 74-yearold Bruce McGregor passed away at the Lamont Community Health Centre after a short bout of cancer.

“The stage will not be the same without him,” said Chipman Players’ President Keiron Willis. “He was amazing at engaging the crowd and drawing the audience in through his antics. He really made them feel welcome and comfortable.”

McGregor’s friend and fellow stage performer, Tom Hrehorets, said McGregor was experiencing pain this March, during the Players’ performance of ‘It Happened on Route 66’. McGregor played the role of ‘Cookie’, the owner of the Route 66 diner where several entertaining stories were unfolding at the same time.

Hrehorets said McGregor’s commitment to the show pushed him through.

“He was in so much pain. While we were acting, if he was off the scenes, he would just sit there and you could just tell the pain he was in,” said Hrehorets.

“During our practice, the same thing, he was in so much pain and we kept on telling him to go.”

But McGregor, true to his character, refused to go until the shows were done. Hrehorets remembered another time when McGregor suffered heart problems and was rushed to the Mazankowski hospital to have surgery where several stints were placed in his heart. Hrehorets said McGregor’s surgery was on a Thursday and by

Chipman Players’ founder passes away

Saturday he was back onstage.

“Thursday night was our dress rehearsal; we laughed so hard everybody cried. That night, Bruce got home, and in the middle of the night, he got up and called the ambulance. I think he had three or four stints put in (and) Saturday night he was out performing on stage,” said Hrehorets.

“He didn’t miss out. We had one of the other ladies learn his lines but Bruce was there and acted right through.”

Chipman Players President Keiron Willis remembers McGregor’s mentorship and guidance as she first volunteered for the little acting troupe before being elected as their president five years ago.

“He was my mentor in regards to leadership and guiding groups and that sort of thing. Everything I know in that capacity, I've learned from him,” she said, choking back tears as she described McGregor’s gift for theatre.

She said during his last performance this March, he asked her to do something unscripted, allowing him to display his signature on-stage persona.

“Feeling as bad as he was at the very last show, he said ‘You’ve got to do this for me. You’ve got to play the song’,” Willis knew what song he meant. As the character of Elvis was leaving the stage, Willis played ‘All Shook Up’ at which point McGregor’s character of Cookie took over.

“He just did this lovely little dance on stage (and) really jazzed it up. He left a lot of energy on the stage. (I thought) Oh my God, you're going to kill yourself, because I knew how much pain he was in. I just knew at that point that even if he did get better, he probably wouldn't be with us next season. That was kind of like his goodbye.”

Although McGregor was a life long cowboy, easily recognizable with his handlebar moustache, cowboy hat and scarf tied around his neck, Willis said he also voraciously loved literature.

“He was always reading something and talking about what he was reading. Literature has always been his passion, and he always wanted to go on stage,” she said, adding that McGregor also delighted crowds with his performance as Mark Twain, bearing a striking resemblance which added greatly to the entertainment value.

In terms of family, McGregor’s daughter-inlaw Tania Davis said McGregor was a warm, generous man who welcomed her and her daughter Amelia to his family with open arms when she married McGregor’s son Josh seven years ago.

“Amelia isn't their biological granddaughter, but that didn't matter. He took us in and treated us like we had been there the whole time,” she said. “He had a very large warm giving heart and he would give you the shirt off his back in a rainstorm if he could. You hear of people like that all the time, but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to actually meet someone like that. There's very few of them around that are that joyous with everything they do and such a passion for life.”

Davis said McGregor was always recruiting actors for the Chipman Players and still had big plans for the community even up to his last days.

“The one big thing he was trying to go for was, either a monthly or a weekly car wash on Main Street. People would pay to have their cars washed, and then we could put that money towards something within the community,” she said.

Willis also said McGregor was still planning for the future.

“A couple of projects he still wanted to see done. He really wanted to have a vaudeville show. He wanted the Players to put on a vaudeville show with different music acts and comedy acts,” she said.

“He (also) always wanted to see us expanding on the Players, and fitting it in with another group and the town, and doing an arts festival sort of thing. He said “we're so close to the city.

People would come out for this stuff”.”

Willis added that one thing is for certain about the future for Chipman Players; The show will go on.

“He loved the players. It was his brainchild. I know he did a lot of things, but I think his tri- umph, the success of his life (was the Chipman Players). We went to see him in the hospital, me and some of the other Players.

He said “you got to keep it going. This is a good thing we've got going here. Don't let it go”,” said Willis, adding a promise she made him.

“I will make sure it continues.”