It has been a time for
celebration in Powell River as the Auxiliary celebrated its 60th
Anniversary. The entire community joined the celebration.
A tea and open house at the Powell River General
Hospital was held.Special guests included:
Kay Andrews, the first President; two other charter members Evelyn
Goldsmith–Black and Ivy Foote; Mayor Stewart Alsgard; Colin Palmer, Chair of the
Powell River Regional Hospital Board; Colleen Kason, BCAHA President and Brenda
Langevin [left], director of acute, home and health care for the Sunshine Coast
and Powell River.
Click
on small pictures below for larger view
A manned display
with historic and other information in the mall attracted many visitors.
(click on picture to se enlarged size)
POWELL RIVER HEATH-CARE AUXILIARY
BAZAAR OCTOBER 2005
(click on picture for larger
view)
NEWS
WORTHY EVENT - JULY 2005
Charter
members: Ivy Foote,
Kay Andrews, the first President; Evelyn Goldsmith–Black (Governor
General’s Caring Canadian Award July 2005) Picture taken for 50th Anniversary
Evelyn Black has been a leader in the success of the Economy Shop since its
beginning in 1945 throughout the years. Her work in the Auxiliary contributed to
her being awarded the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award in July 2005.
A founder of the Powell River
Health Care Auxiliary and of the Economy Shop still works two days a week on the
sales floor.
Evelyn (pronounced Ee-vlin) Black has been in the auxiliary family since its
first meeting, and has volunteered in the Economy Shop since it first opened in
1965.
"She's a feisty little lady," says Peggy White, current president of the health
care auxiliary. "There's nothing she can't do. She's very capable, even at 94.
She's there all the time. She's very smart, and smart-looking."
An Auxilian from the beginning,
Black first came to Powell River in 1934. Her volunteer career started almost
right away. "A friend of my mother-in-law called, and before I knew it, I was in
the WA," she says. WA was the Women's Auxiliary, a group associated with what
was then Saint Paul's Anglican Church.
Then came World War II. Black continued to volunteer for the church until the
end of the war in 1945, helping the Red Cross by making clothes and balaclavas
for troops overseas. After the war, Black and her group found itself wondering
what to do next.
Eileen Bailey, a matron of the hospital, suggested starting a women's auxiliary
to the hospital. "We got busy and got it going by the end of the year [1945],"
says Black.
Black was president of the hospital auxiliary in 1951, 1961 and 1962. "Nobody
wants those jobs, you know," says Black. "It's easy to become president. It's a
lot of work." She says she had time to give during the day, devoting her
evenings to her family.
"After the war, more women began to work," adds Black. "Then it became a
necessity."
Canadian kudos
Black received the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award earlier this year.
"I was embarrassed, to begin with, about the award," says Black. "I went to
Ross's [her husband's] younger brother, Alan Black's, 65th wedding anniversary.
They said, 'bad girl, bad girl,' and showed me the [Vancouver] Sun article. They
had stuck it up on the wall. I hadn't told them."
Black does not know who nominated her. She also didn't know that her three sons
and other members of the women's auxiliary had described the charitable
activities in which she had taken part to Rideau Hall. The first Black knew was
when she got word in May 2004 that she was going to receive the award.
Black met Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and Lieutenant Governor Iona
Campagnolo, who presented the award, in Victoria on July 26. "We found we had
mutual friends," said Black of Clarkson. Black had never met any of the other
recipients, four women and three men from all over BC. In all, 23 Canadians were
honoured.
Black remembers a conversation with a secretary from Rideau Hall, who travelled
to BC for the ceremony. "She said, 'I've seen quite a few 94-year-olds. I've
been watching you. I've never seen one that looked like you.'"
Black still drives her own car and keeps a garden.
Mayor Stewart Alsgard recognized Black at municipal council on September 13, and
announced that she had received the award.
Black says she had never heard of the award before she got it. Four years ago,
Black received the 2001 United Nations International Year of the Volunteer Truly
Outstanding and Deserving Volunteer for the District of Powell River.
Other good works
Over the years, Black's leadership skills have carried beyond the auxiliary.
She chaired a special mental health committee whose goal was to find needed
staff. "We wanted a visiting psychologist and a resident psychiatric social
worker, and a regular visit from a psychiatrist," says Black. "At that time, we
had a visit only once a year."
One of Black's neighbours took the training for the psychiatric social worker.
The group managed to find a psychologist, and finally a psychiatrist as well.
"That was a lot of work," says Black. "I had no idea what I was getting into."
Black was then appointed to the Juvenile Court Committee for Powell River by the
provincial government. The committee took the place of a parole officer. "It was
five men and me at the start," says Black. "We were looking for a regular parole
officer."
The committee lasted 10 or 12 years. until a parole officer position was created
in Powell River in the early 1960s.
Economy Shop
Black says she started the Economy Shop in about 1965. She got the idea during a
convention of the provincial hospital auxiliary organization in Penticton. "They
had a workshop on thrift shops," said Black. "I attended and became interested."
The auxiliary executive gave Black's group its blessing, but could not offer
money. "The paper mill company was a great help to us," says Black. "I think it
was the Powell River Company then."
Black did her homework. "Before I opened it, I wrote to many thrift shops in the
province, and visited quite a few." She says her husband wouldn't go into some
of them. "I decided ours was never going to smell," says Black.
Family
Ross Black, Evelyn's husband, worked as a general superintendent at the Powell
River Company. The two have three sons: David now lives in Vancouver, and Peter
and Ian live in Powell River. "Ian and his wife live next door," says Black.
Her husband retired in 1973. He became ill and died in 1977.
"Since then, the hospital auxiliary has been a godsend," says Black. "That was
the greatest interest, the thing that I enjoyed the most."
She likes the company. "You meet really nice women, clever women," says Black.
"There's a lot of talent in Powell River. It's amazing." She says there are
quilters, business heads, and people with antique knowledge volunteering at the
shop. Black adds that, in a broader sense, singers, orchestras and International
Choral Kathaumixw make Powell River impressive for its talented people.
She still volunteers in the shop. "I still work two full days a week at the
Economy Shop," she says. "I try to keep the garden. Things aren't as easy when
you get older."
The thing to which Black has given so much of her life now gives back to her.
"The Economy Shop has become of most interest in my life," says Black. "I had no
idea when we started it that it would grow like it has, and how important it
would be for different reasons."
Black says the shop is a help to single mothers and people on retirement
incomes, but that it is also important for "the help it gives to the women who
work there, too. It's proved to do good in many different ways."
(contribution from The Peak - Powell River's Local Newspaper)
