Bulletin staff
It will be a proud moment for 101 year old Helen McDonald and family when her husband Robert (Bob) McDonald is honoured with a plaque on the Memorial Wall at the Kimberley Veteran Memorial Park this Spring.
Helen is a resident of Gardenview Village. Bob died in 2010.
Bob served from early 1943 until early 1946 in England, France, Belgium and Holland with the Calgary Highlander Regiment. His plaque will be added to the Memorial Wall alongside the other plaques that have been sponsored by families and friends, with honour, respect and in memory of, those who have served.
Bob was raised on the family farm near Paradise Valley, Alberta. After leaving school and working at several jobs in that area, he worked for the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (CM&S) at the Con Mine in Yellowknife, NWT before enlisting in 1943.
Bob and Helen, who also grew up in Paradise Valley, were married in July of 1943 just before Bob was shipped overseas. While Bob was overseas, Helen taught school in several communities in rural central Alberta.
After the war, Bob and Helen came to Kimberley. Bob worked for 35 years for CM&S, later known as Cominco. Bob and Helen raised two children and lived until 2009 on Lindsay Street in Lower Blarchmont. Helen was a substitute teacher in Kimberley schools for many years.
The Kimberley Veteran Memorial Park, 170 Wallinger Avenue, was built and unveiled in 2017 by Military Ames, a veteran camaraderie group, on City of Kimberley property. A project that was funded by many including the City of Kimberley, Veterans Affairs and many locals and some not local.
The new cenotaph replaced the previous cenotaph located across from the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 67 building, which was built in 1952 on the corner of Spokane Street and Kimberley Avenue. The building closed in 2010 but the cenotaph remained until the new one was completed in 2017.
People who would like to have plaques honouring their loved ones added to the Memorial Walls at the cenotaph can contact Cindy Postnikoff at 250 919-3137 or at militaryames@gmail.com.
Military Ames Society is a veteran camaraderie group that provides peer support and a safe place for veterans to meet, veterans meet the second Tuesdays of the month. We also provide veteran advocacy with Veterans Affairs and more. For more information contact Cindy.