Two more Clearwater and area residents have received Queen’s Jubilee Medals. M.P. Cathy McLeod presented the medals to Muriel Dunford and Pauline Gregory during a special ceremony held in the Wells Gray Inn on Monday, Nov. 12.
“This is a very special opportunity to honor two fine people,” McLeod said. She noted that the Jubilee medals are meant to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne, and compared the recipients’ years of service to the Queen’s.
The Kamloops-Thompson-Shuswap M.P. also noted the presence of a third medal recipient from the area – Jean Nelson. The longtime local Girl Guide leader had received her medal during a ceremony held about three weeks earlier in Kamloops.
Mayor John Harwood recalled that Dunford, Gregory and Nelson all had been school trustees at one time or another.
He credited Dunford, as school board chair, for standing up for him many years ago when the Minister of Education had attempted to have him lose his job as a teacher after he had strenuously pushed to have a hospital established in Clearwater.
Dunford also has been an important recorder of local history, he said. She wrote her book, North River: The Story of B.C.’s North Thompson Valley and Yellowhead Highway 5, after retirement.
As the manager of Clearwater Library for many years, she helped promote literacy and education in the area.
Although she now lives in Clearwater, the mayor described Pauline Gregory as “the queen of Birch Island.”
“I don’t think there was a function that went on in that community that Pauline wasn’t involved in,” he said.
He recalled that Gregory had been instrumental in setting up the Hospital Auxiliary – even though there was no hospital at the time.
During the 40-plus years since then the Auxiliary has helped the hospital be well equipped through its successful fundraising.
Gregory also went door-to-door for many years every spring to raise money for the fight against cancer.
Other organizations she has been involved with include Birch Island Women’s Institute, Christmas Amalgamated and the United Church.
