Despite stepping away from council, Caul busy as ever

In the months since her time as a part of Fort Frances Town Council ended, June Caul has not slowed down any.

While she says life is a bit less stressful, she’s found it hard to just drop many of the things she worked with the Town of Fort Frances on.

“When you’ve been in that role and you walk away from it, it’s hard to walk away and not think about how difficult it is to get things done,” Caul said. “You know what you’ve been through as far as frustrations, not only from constituents but from your own perspective.”

Caul also said she often finds herself wondering how the new council Town staff are doing with ongoing issues that remain from her administration.

“The little things that weren’t quite done like the Shevlin Wood Yard, that kind of got started and I was involved in talks with the old mill site and the whole issue with CN Rail right now,” Caul reminisced. “All those things I was involved with before I left office and all of a sudden you’ve lost contact, you’ve lost sight of what’s going on and it’s hard not to be concerned.”

Despite those concerns Caul has a lot of other things on her plate. Even before the end of her time as mayor she took over as a lay minister at Zion Lutheran Church.

“For the last almost 19 months I’ve been the Lay Minister at Zion Lutheran Church , that means I’ve been writing sermons for every Sunday, and leading worship every Sunday and I’m also the chairperson of the church council, so trying to make sure the church is in order.”

Caul said she’s grateful for the congregation at the church which is very helpful with taking care of everything.

She estimates she puts around 15 hours into writing a sermon each week as well.

“It’s a very time-consuming role that I’ve never been involved with before,” Caul said. “Just to do the research and then write a proper sermon for Sundays. I’d say it probably takes me a good 15 hours a week for that.”

In addition, Caul has other volunteer roles including as chairperson of the Rainycrest Auxiliary. She says she loves having the opportunity to interact with the residents at the long-term care facility.

“We raise money, we volunteer there, and it’s just the best feeling in the world to be there and spend time with our elders,” Caul said. “I enjoy that so much and hope I can continue dong that for a long time.”

She also finds time to volunteer with the Kiwanis Club and has often helped with the Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts.

Caul attributes her desire to keep busy in retirement to the way she was raised.

“I was raised on a farm and taught to work really hard,” she said. “You didn’t sit around and just do nothing. Even if I’m sitting and watching a show on TV I’ve got a cryptogram puzzle or a crossword puzzle or something in my hand at the same time. That’s just the way I am, I can’t sit and do nothing. So I love to be busy.

As some of those volunteer roles slow down in the summer, Caul is hopeful to spend some time getting back to those farming roots in her own garden.

“I have a huge yard, so I have a lot of gardening I do in the summertime,” she said. “So I’m looking forward to spring finally coming so I can be busy outside again as well. I’m looking forward to that part of life where I can actually spend any time I feel like out there rather than running to meetings every other day.”