Dear Editor
In journalism, giving credit to whom credit is due is entrenched in the newspaper business. So, I will give credit to myself first. I wrote the majority of notables myself and rewrote the other drafts. The only exception was the essay on Julian Sadlowski (his words as told to his daughter Jo Ann).
The Notables were a centennial project - to showcase 52 (one per week) of North Battleford's extraordinary and illustrious citizens from 1913 to 2013. From the many, many phone calls, people stopping me in the Co-op Mall or Sobeys for example, the exercise was a success.
I logged hundreds of hours researching the stories - telephoning, emailing, interviewing, writing drafts and emailing them to family members who would then email them back until we finally agreed on the text. Locating good pictures was perhaps the most difficult task. There were many obstacles. I threatened myself to quit a couple of times, but then I didn't (obviously). Why? Because of the many people who looked forward to the Notables every week, who were appreciative and who supported me.
Expressions of thanks are in order. First to the News-Optimist and editor Becky Doig, who was directly involved in the project. She often caught grammatical flubs and gaps in the logic flow that I and Harvey Cashmore missed. Thanks to the North Batteford centennial historical committee for its support and contributions. A large thank you to chair Gil Bellavance of the historical committee. Like the soldier he was, he exercised some "military discipline" shall I say, to keep our eyes on the goal. He wasn't too hard on us. And the overall leader of the centennial project and historical committee was chair, Tammy Donahue-Buziak. Her enthusiasm was infectious. She told many times how important the Notables were to our city's centennial celebrations, and that I was doing an excellent job. I always felt better after talking to Tammy.
Finally, a special, heartfelt thank you to Harvey Cashmore who went far above and beyond the call of duty - contributing far more than his share. Harvey proofed every article sentence by sentence and word by word. He picked out my flubs with accuracy and consistently. Harvey was a stickler for historical accuracy, and would spare no effort to "get it right."
Again, to Harvey, thank you so much. I owe you.
The reading public and history buffs will be happy to know that the Notables will be put into a book to be published by the Battlefords NorthWest Historical Society. The book will also include my other writings on the architectural history of our city. We will also showcase the mayors from the first mayor to Mayor Ian Hamilton. We expect that the lieutenant-governor will write the foreward. So, two books history books to celebrate our city's centennial - Julian Sadlowski's and mine. Look for large display ads in the News-Optimist in March. Take care.
Richard W. Hiebert
North Battleford
Editor's note: Reflections of North Battleford, compiled by the City of North Battleford Historic Archives, is a third book associated with the City of North Battleford centennial year.
