BATTLEFORD - The Fred Light Museum in Battleford has a new manager.
Justin Miller has been announced to replace retiring long-time manager Bernadette Leslie in the position.
"I'm excited," he said. "I'm looking forward to it. It's going to take a little bit of getting used to. It's different from what I'm used to, but I'm looking forward to it."
Leslie said Miller was the right person for the position.
"He's a local person and he's been a volunteer since 2016 doing blacksmithing, and then he was a board member for a few years," she said.
Leslie noted it was important that Miller had a good knowledge of the museum and was local.
"That was one of the most important things we were looking for, for it to be a local person," Leslie added.
Miller, who is a carpenter, previously worked for Home Hardware. More recently he was employed with Jety Builders.
He said he was interested in the position due to his long interest in history.
"I've always had a love of antiques and older things, and the collection here is amazing," Miller said. "Just to have that in my daily environment is pretty awesome."
Former museum board chair Floyd Andersen first recruited Miller to the museum board because he knew that Miller was a blacksmith and had an interest in the trade.
Then, while he was on the board, Miller helped start the museum's blacksmith's shop.
Leslie, who will be retiring after over 45 years with the museum, will be training Miller in his new role while she is still there, until the end of October.
"I certainly can't learn everything that she knows, even by October, but I believe that will come in time, as long as she gets me headed in the right direction from where she's gone," Miller said. "Then, after that, she'll probably just be a phone call away."
Miller hopes to follow in Leslie's footsteps as a preserver of history.
"[I hope to] preserve it [the museum], and keep it heading in the direction that it was intended to from the start," he said.
