‘All worthy no matter what’: Top Seven over 70 in south Alberta winners revealed

“They were all worthy no matter what, they would have been great candidates for this program,” Andrews said.

“We’ve got an author, we’ve got some naturalists, one of whom has taught herself to be a photographer after the age of 70.”

One of the winners, Wilma Hunter from Brooks, found out about winning the award on her 76th birthday a week ago.

The cause that helped get her nominated was something she took on after seeing a Dress A Girl presentation at a church in Yuma, Ariz.

Hunter said she was inspired to create dresses to help protect those in other countries prone to being abducted for trafficking.

“Pastors in other countries tell us that when a girl is wearing a nice dress with a dress a girl label on it, it looks like she’s being watched by an organization, so she’s less likely to be abducted and that’s the whole goal behind it,” Hunter said.

“Since we start, basically the start of the year in February, we’ve made 257 dresses. 112 of these have already been sent out to different places,” she added.

“We’ve sent 40 to the Philippines to two organizations that protect Children and rescue Children from trafficking. And I have another 145 ready to go somewhere else as soon as we find a place.”

Jacob Eckert is another winner from Brooks, a 95-year old author, who wrote a book at the age of 88.

The book is the story of his family’s trials and tribulations coming from Germany to Russia, escaping the Stalin era in Russia to reside and live in China.

Eckert’s journey ended up in Alberta in the early 1950’s.

At the time he was able to speak Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German and a little bit of Korean, but no English.

Andrews said it’s a story of newcomers that we still hear today.

“People who come from war torn parts of the world from violence and tyranny and a safe haven here in our country,” Andrews said.

“It’s to our credit as a community that we welcome those people still today.”

Additional winners are Deborah Forbes, Martha Munz Gue, Blair Reid, and Bill Yuill, all from the Medicine Hat area.

Forbes, an artist and an educator at Medicine Hat College, who takes the science of jellyfish and combines it with her art and and creates a message in an exhibit, which has been shown at local galleries and will tour in the future.

Munz Gue, started the adopt a pond program for Medicine Hat and Redcliff, a volunteer program that has grown to 75 volunteers.

Reed, a sportsman interested in rodeo, who got involved in the development of the Dunmore Equestrian Center.

Yuill, a well known businessman and philanthropist who development the Margery E. Yuill Cancer Centre at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, making it possible for those in Southeastern Alberta to get life saving cancer treatments in Medicine Hat.

As well as Nancy Hanson from the Oyen area who became a self taught photographer after the age of 70, combining them with poetry to make postcards.

“She’s given out hundreds of these to friends and strangers alike all around the place,” Andrews said.

“And now she’s writing stories, stories about people who live along the Red Deer river and they’re wonderful stories.”

All will be honoured further during an awards banquet in October.

by Jesse Gill

‘All worthy no matter what’: Top Seven over 70 in south Alberta winners revealed

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