Three members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 139 were honoured Friday Sept. 6th for 50 years of loyal service.
Mona Kavanagh, Wes Fraser and Robert Kipling were greeted with appreciation and applause at the legion as they were each awarded with a pin and a medal for their dedication to the organization. Kavanagh began her service at Branch 4 in New Westminster and has held the role of secretary for the legion in Williams Lake. She said she’s been so busy with things like Bingo that it hasn’t felt like 50 years. “It was just all the sudden,” she said.
Kipling joined the legion in the 50s when only members were allowed access to the legion, and their guests. He would visit escorted by his father, who had been in the Air Force, before joining the legion himself at a time when bars had separate sections for men and women. He also agrees that 50 years went by fast.
Fraser, whose father served in the army from 1940-1945, participated in the executive committee for the legion over the years. He took the role of president in 1990 when the legion’s lounge moved from the basement to the ground floor. “This legion has helped people out a lot,” he said.
Fraser continues to visit the legion every day, always sitting in the same spot according to the legion’s Poppy Chair and Service Officer Bonnie O’Neill. “Just being a member here and... participating in the things we do is very important because that’s what gives us the camaraderie and that’s what a legion is about,” she said.
The celebration coincided with the legion’s 90th anniversary, having been established in 1934. There will be a dinner on Oct. 19 to officially celebrate the anniversary.
