Duane Hicks
Ruth Caldwell had suspected her daughter was up to something.
Karen (Spritt) Magill had come from Port Alberni, B.C. to pay a surprise visit to her mom for her 85th birthday just prior to Hallowe’en and Caldwell had noticed her going through some of her things.
At the time, she simply thought her daughter was copying some of her mother’s poetry to take back home with her.
In fact, Magill had been doing research on her mom’s achievements and accolades over the years so she could nominate her for the 2016 “Citizen of the Year” award in Fort Frances.
But this fact didn’t become clear to Caldwell until she got a phone call Monday night shortly after Mayor Roy Avis announced at the council meeting that Caldwell had been named to the honour.
“Some of my friends were watching the council meeting and they phoned me and congratulated me,” said Caldwell.
“I thought they were playing an April Fool’s joke.
“They said, ‘No, they just saw the mayor congratulate Ruth Caldwell,’ and I thought, ‘Well, that’s what my daughter was up to.’
“I should have suspected. I think she’s done this before,” added Caldwell.
“I got the feeling she had nominated me before and was disappointed, so she followed through again.”
Caldwell, who retired as head of the children’s department at the Fort Frances Public Library some 21 years ago, remains an active community volunteer.
Most recently, she’s been spending her time at Rainycrest sharing her lifelong love of books with residents.
“I read there. One of the things I promised is I would be their eyes,” said Caldwell.
“I read there every Saturday morning,” she added. “I’ve devoted my time after I retired from the library, which is over 20 years ago.
“I go every Saturday morning and read for an hour to a roomful of the residents there,” she explained.
“I share a chapter book and I brief them on how the book is going so far,” she added.
“And then we discuss it.”
Caldwell also visits various residents there, including her dear friend, Frances Shelfantook, who is 103.
“I vowed to be her eyes, too, so I share our local newspaper with her,” she remarked.
“I read all the headlines and tell her what’s going on in Fort Frances.”
Among her many affiliations, Caldwell is a member of the Rainycrest Auxiliary, the La Verendrye Hospital Auxiliary, and the “Friends of the Library,” of which she was a founding member along with Jean Boileau and former library CEO Margaret Sedgwick.
“I’m still the treasurer almost 30 some years later,” she noted.
“That’s very important to me, the library.”
Caldwell will ride in the upcoming community Christmas parade on Nov. 26.
She formally will be honoured during council’s next meeting Nov. 28.
