Newly elected MLA Lori Carr has an affinity toward the Wylie-Mitchell No. 30 Air Cadet Squadron, having been a part of its history for several years both as a cadet, as well as a commanding officer and then area director.
“I started with the air cadets as a 12-year-old,” said Carr with a chuckle. “Richard Marcotte had been to our school to tell us all about air cadets and I really wasn’t thinking much about them, but I got into an argument with my parents a few nights later and I thought they were going to ground me, so I told them they couldn’t because I was joining the air cadets who were meeting that night, so that was the start of it.”
Her first year as a cadet also coincided with the squadron’s 40th anniversary.
“As a youth, it was a great experience, and I only realized later on what a positive impact air cadets had on me. They have an effective speaking course as part of the training, so I got over my fear of speaking in public. You might say I was able to use that as a base for what I’m doing now. I’m not as afraid of public speaking as I might have been without that public speaking exposure in cadets.”
After graduating from the cadet ranks, Carr said she found herself back in Estevan after gaining some post-secondary education and right away Richard and Ruth Marcotte, who had taken on leadership duties on the military side (Richard) and civilian committee front (Ruth), approached her to see if she would be interested in re-joining the ranks as an adult contributor seeing as how she had been a valued cadet officer.
“I said certainly. After all, it was Ruth and Richard. It’s hard to say no to them anyway,” she said. She started her family and she also began taking classes and training to gain officer status and ended up with a 17-year career on the adult officer side of the local squadron, seven of them as the commanding officer.
After completing a full career in the uniform, Carr accepted the next challenge, that of representing the squadron as an area director on the provincial civilian committee, a post she held for seven more years, the most recent one as second vice-president. But it was a role she relinquished shortly after being elected as the Sask. Party MLA for the Estevan Constituency on April 4.
“I would say the Marcottes were the ones who kept me interested at first and then they were always helping us,” she said.
Her career within the air cadet movement also led to her achieving the Gold status for the Duke of Edinburgh Award which she accepted from Prince Edward. It also earned her a prized posting as an aide-de-camp for former Lieutenant-Governor Jack Wiebe for four years whenever he was required to travel in and around southern Saskatchewan.
“It’s been a pretty rewarding experience, all because of air cadets,” she said.
