PREECEVILLE — The Preeceville Wildlife Federation hosted a wiener roast with children’s games to pay tribute and honour the memory of those whose memorial donations contributed to the building of the Annie Laurie Lake Family Fire Pit.
Families, club members and community members gathered on May 25 at Annie Laurie Lake. Heather Gawrelitza, secretary/treasurer, spoke on behalf of the Preeceville Wildlife Federation and thanked Darcy Rediger’s family for the memorial donations that helped the club build the memorial family fire pit and stamped concrete pad.
“Special thanks to Darcy’s dad, Norman Rediger, for the generous donation in memory of his son. Thank you to Darcy’s wife, Pat Sykes, who had the idea to build the family fire pit. The club thought the best place would be down by the lake, where everyone in the community could get a chance to enjoy it. Darcy served as an RM councillor and was a lifelong Wildlife Federation member. He deeply loved his family, hunting, quadding, snowmobiling and all that had to do with the outdoors. One of his greatest joys was to sit around a campfire with family and friends,” said Gawrelitza.
The Preeceville Wildlife Federation also dedicated a fire pit bench to the memory of Hilding and Sheldon Nelson.
“Thank you to the Nelson family for the memorial donations in memory of their father, Hilding Nelson. Thank you to Sheldon’s son, Corey Nelson, for remembering the club and donating his Weyerhaeuser Safe Truck Driver of the Quarter awards,” stated Gawrelitza.
Hilding and Sheldon Nelson were father and son who had a love for all things outdoors, especially hunting and fishing. They loved having a good time with family and friends. Sheldon was a strong supporter of the Preeceville Wildlife Federation. He served as town councillor and was a key advocate in bringing the Handi-Bus to Preeceville.
The club also dedicated a fire pit bench to the memory of Nolan Thompson and thanked his family for the memorial donations. The front was also left open for wheelchair access in honour of Thompson’s memory. Thompson was an active community member, a part of Preeceville Wildlife, a founding member of the Roughrider Snowmobile Club, and loved playing baseball and slo-pitch. He was an avid hunter, loved fishing, sledding, quadding and spending time with family and friends.
Gawrelitza went on to acknowledge and thank everyone involved in creating the fire pit and benches: Jason Purdy from Evolution Masonry for the masonry installation of the bricks and benches; Frank Babiarz and Bonnie Kaytor of BBB Construction for their donated time and work on the concrete table tops and beautiful stamped concrete pad; and Owen Draper for volunteering and helping with the kids’ games.
The club also announced that Draper was accepted to attend the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation’s Youth Conservation Camp at the Hannin Creek Education and Applied Research Centre at Candle Lake in August.
James Bodnar was the winner of the quad tub trailer raffle.
