The Tamitik Sports Complex meeting room has a new name – the George Thom Meeting Room, in recognition of the contribution of the ex-Kitimat mayor.
The idea for the renaming came to longtime Kitimat resident and prolific letter writer Roma Burnett at Thom’s memorial service last year.
“As I sat at former Mayor George Thom’s memorial service and listened to all the accomplishments made during his time as mayor to help improve our community, I wondered why there is nothing done to honour him,” said Burnett in a letter to the Northern Sentinel at the time.
“No streets, rooms, buildings or parks are named after him, yet this man and his council helped this community in so many positive ways.”
The letter motivated retired Kitimat fire chief Bill Dawson to submit a proposal to the District of Kitimat council in July, calling for the renaming of the Tamitik Arena to the George Thom Arena. Council decided not to rename the arena but agreed that something needed to be done to recognize Thom’s contribution to Kitimat.
As a result, council passed a motion in September 2017 to rename the Tamitik Meeting Room the George Thom Meeting Room.
Thom’s family were invited to attend the unveiling of the renamed meeting room, which was also attended by Burnett. Thom’s daughter Teresa Petry thanked the DoK for naming the meeting room after her father.
“My dad loved Kitimat. His pride and joy was working for the city. A lot of what the town has is thanks to him and the council at the time,” said Petry.
