District residents saluted for heritage contributions

Sheri Stamarski of Burriss and Emo resident Gary Judson were among four recipients to receive a 1999 Heritage Award certificate from the Fort Frances Museum for their contributions to preserving heritage in their communities.
The awards, announced last Friday, were given in conjunction with Ontario Heritage Week (Feb. 15-21).
Stamarski was nominated for her contribution and efforts as Tweedsmuir curator for the Burriss Women’s Institute while Judson was nominated for sharing his antique collection with district communities.
Also nominated for an award were the Heritage Depot committee, which was instrumental in saving the former CN station here (now a Heritage Building of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada), and Abitibi-Consolidated Ltd. for its assistance and support in recognizing the role of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Fort Frances with an Ontario Heritage Foundation Plaque and interment marker for the Hudson’s Bay Company cemetery.
“We were looking for communities to think of people who had made contributions and these awards are a pat on the back for preserving [that] heritage,” Fort Frances Museum curator Pam Hawley noted.
“I think we will probably continue [the awards] each year now that we’ve started the ball rolling,” she added.
Stamarski, 35, has been a member of the Burriss Women’s Institute for eight years, including the last three as president. She is busy gathering facts on family histories, soon be published in a history book for Burriss.
She felt the WI’s role in preserving heritage, which includes taking local history into the classroom, was a vital one.
“It’s very important [especially] to go into the schools and get the younger [generations] interested in preserving heritage,” she stressed.
“I think it’s very, very important to know where we came from,” added Judson, 60, who shows off his collection of antique tractors, cars, engines, and household appliances during parades and community events.
“I especially like re-capturing [heritage] to show it to the kids of today,” he added.
In related news, Randy Sisco (Alberton) and Rilla Race (Chapple) were among 128 individuals recognized in the 1998 Ontario Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Community Recognition Program.”
They were among those re-acknowledged on the new Ontario Heritage Foundation poster unveiled Monday in Belleville.
Also listed on the poster were Curtis Sprague (Kenora), Roy Hoffman (Pickle Lake), and Doreen Holland (Sioux Narrows).
The posters are now on display at LCBO retail outlets across the province for the rest of February, and also have been distributed to libraries, local architectural conservation advisory committees), municipalities, and First Nations band offices.