Former Sunnybrae resident Roy Sharp will be remembered with a park renamed in his honour.
On Friday, May 25, at 11 a.m., the Columbia Shuswap Regional District will be hosting a ceremony at which the Robinson Creek Community Park, located at 5964 Sunnybrae-Canoe Point Road, will be renamed the Roy Sharp Community Park.
To David Miege, who initiated a petition for the name change, it’s an honour Sharp may have fussed about but certainly earned.
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“When we were doing the petition, I gave people a chance to leave a comment as well, and there were just so many incredible comments about him and then stories about how he would teach waterskiing at that park to other kids in that community – those kind of stories came out,” said Miege. “And I think it’s entirely appropriate that park be named after him. His family is 100 per cent behind it. Whether Roy would have been, I don’t know. I think he might have thought it was just a little bit much because he was quietly one of the biggest people in the community.”
Sharp was killed after a May 5, 2017, mudslide came crashing down, enveloping his Sunnybrae Canoe-Point Road home.
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Miege said Sharp was very community-oriented individual who loved to lend a helping hand whenever he could, and his loss had an impact on everyone in the community.
“An event like that is just an unprecedented tragedy, not something you’d expect on any stretch,” said Miege. “It really affected everyone in the community in a big way and (the park dedication) sort of seemed like a good idea and everybody, not just in the little community where Roy lived but up and down the road and in Salmon Arm, really embraced the idea and supported it wholeheartedly.”
Miege credits CSRD staff who went the extra mile to make the dedication happen.
“Veda Roberge (CSRD community parks and recreation coordinator), she took this idea to heart and I think helped set up some of the organizing for the ceremony, and I don’t know if it was her idea, but she certainly worked to have a memorial bench made for Roy as well with a plaque put on it, so I thought that was great,” said Miege. “And then Ryan (Nitchie, CSRD team leader, community services), he was one of my first contacts I think at the CSRD. I had collected a whole bunch of signatures… and then I set up a meeting to present those to the CSRD and the day I had that meeting, my mom passed away or it was the day before, so Ryan stepped in and said I’ll do the presentation for you. So I thought that was really great on his behalf. I was impressed with the way the CSRD handled it.”
Miege says the park dedication will help people remember Sharp and be inspired by him.
“It’s clearly impossible to replace a guy like that, but it can maybe indicate to each of us that are neighbours up and down the road and that we can try and do some of the things that he did,” said Miege. “So help out somebody when they need it, look at your own kids and be a great parent to them… So there’s a few things we can all learn and sort of take away from what it is to be a community minded person. I think he embodied that spirit.”
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