The Creemore
Echo
Friday, January 31, 2014 Vol. 14 No. 5
thecreemoreecho.com
News and views in and around Creemore
Inside the Echo
Outdoor artist
“Big Heart Days” get bigger
Bianca Perren at Curiosity House
New midwinter activities Feb. 14 - 17
PAGE 16
PAGE 12
Publications Mail Agreement # 40024973
in sickness, health... and snowstorms
Amanda Urbanski Creative Photography
they score! – The wedding party of Sean Gallaugher and Amber Soper (centre) celebrated their nuptials with a post-vow skate – complete with puck and hockey sticks – at the Honeywood Arena in Mulmur on Saturday, January 25.
By Kristi Green In spite of a winter storm that left about 150 people stranded at the Honeywood Arena last Friday night, a wedding set to take place at the venue the next day went off without a hitch. In a first for the arena, the wedding of avid hockey players and fans Amber Soper and Sean Gallaugher was to take place on Saturday, January 25, followed by a skate on the ice. Cheryl Soper, the bride’s mother, said the group set up for the wedding in the arena’s upstairs room on Thursday before returning for the rehearsal on Friday evening. That was when Mother Nature intervened with “the worst snow snowstorm my husband and I have ever seen in our lives,” Soper said. “One of my sons drove into a ditch on the way (See “Running” on page 3)
Learning from Avening house fire A lifelong friend of the community By Kristi Green The owner of a house in Avening that caught fire last week graciously allowed the site to serve as a training ground for new fire inspectors. At 11:30 pm on Thursday, January 23, Clearview Fire Department received a call about a structure fire at a residence in Avening. Acting Deputy Fire Chief Roree Payment arrived first on the scene where resident Brian Carruthers and his two sons were safely out of the house. By 1:30 am, 24 firefighters (plus Acting Fire Chief, Colin Shewell, and Payment) had the fire under control using eight pumpers and tankers from all five fire halls in Clearview. The next day, eight fire investigatorsin-training from the Office of the Fire Marshall in Midhurst arrived on the
scene for a mock investigation. The OFM had approached Clearview Fire Department in December about providing teaching opportunities for people learning to be fire investigators. “Thanks to the Fire Department and the graciousness of the homeowner, we were able to provide training about fire patterns and development,” said Jeff Minton, Fire Investigator Supervisor at the OFM. “Our guys need these opportunities for training.” On Friday, January 24, Minton led the students (most of whom are police officers) through a systematic process of gathering evidence to determine the cause of the fire. “There was nothing abnormal about this fire,” said Shewell. “it went the way a fire ‘should’ go. We attacked it the way we would any other, so it was (See “Passing” on page 5)
Jim Steed
On Monday, January 20, this community lost an old friend. Jim Steed, a lifelong resident of Creemore, was born south of the village on June 4, 1938. He passed away at his home on 10 Hill, just north of Creemore, where he lived with his wife, Marilyn, and raised two daughters, Barb and Shirley. Reverend Glen Eagle, who presided over Jim’s funeral service at St. John’s United Church on Thursday, January 23, told the congregation that Jim had two goals: one was to farm for 50 years and the other was to make it to 50 years of marriage. Last summer, he celebrated both. With Jim’s passing came many stories about his life, his farm and this community. In his eulogy, Jim’s friend John Miller said: Monday, January 20 was 50-and-a-half (See “Farmer” on page 6)
Taking care of buyers and sellers in Mulmur and the Creemore hills for 38 years
RCR Realty. Brokerage
Ginny MacEachern
(705)
444-1414 10230 Highway 26 East, Collingwood E-mail info@collingwood.toyota.ca
B.A., Broker
The Town & Country Agent with the City Connections 1-800-360-5821• 705-466-2607 • maceachern.ginny@gmail.com www.ginnymaceachern.com