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The Citizen, 2017-05-11, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017. Countdown to 1 Falconer's IPM history dates back to Huron in '78 A warm welcome In 1978, the Armstrong family hosted the International Plowing Match just east of Wingham on the land that is now the Richard LeVan Airport. The event was a monumentous one for Huron County and is fondly remembered by many. Deb Falconer, right, seen here with her three Armstrong By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen The 1978 International Plowing Match holds a special place in the heart of Beautification Chair Deb Falconer - for a number of reasons. It was Falconer's family - Jim and Carol Armstrong and their children, one of whom was Deb - who hosted the match, so that will always be a memory that she cherishes. However, the match has a special and lasting place in her heart because it was at that match on her family's farm that she met Les, her future husband. While Jim and Carol were busy with every aspect of hosting the match - which included the perk of meeting moonwalking astronaut Neil Armstrong, who was on hand to help open the event - Deb and her three sisters were chipping in wherever they were needed. Much of this work, Falconer said in an interview with The Citizen, involved greeting and working the gates at the match. It was fun work, Falconer remembers. She says she's a very social person, so being able to talk with patrons of the match all day was a task that was right up her alley. Falconer remembers marching into the office of her high school principal the Friday before the match, announcing that she would be absent from school for a week. While this may have raised an eyebrow under normal circumstances, Falconer said the principal didn't even make a phone call and granted her the week off. He even offered her a drive home, although she declined and walked the short distance. It was during one of the nights of sisters, was just in her teens at the time when her parents, Jim and Carol, hosted the match. Falconer and her sisters worked as greeters for that match and they did just that when they met the Honorable William G. Newman, Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food, showering him in IPM buttons. (Courtesy photo) the match, however, that a 16 -year- old Falconer and her sister would spend time walking around the midway with Les and a friend of his. Falconer said that she and her future husband, who was at the match working at the time, went on a ride or two together at the IPM midway and the seed of a relationship was sown. Up in the sky Huron County played hosted to the 1978 International Plowing Match and it was Jim and Carol Armstrong's Wingham-area farm that set the stage for the week. Some of the grounds are seen here, in an aerial photograph taken during the match. (Courtesy photo) BUY? SELL? TRY CLASSIFIED They wouldn't begin dating right away, but a year and a half later they began seeing each other and then in 1985 they were married. The Armstrong family history and its roots with competitive plowing in Huron County, however, run even deeper, dating back to the mid-1950s and a chance meeting with the man who would involve so many locals in that world: Gordon McGavin. In the early 1950s, Jim started working in the world of agriculture and that meant exhibiting at the Huron County Plowing Match and beyond. Soon, through his work with David Brown, Jim met McGavin, who would eventually convince Jim to get involved with the Ontario Plowmen's Association (OPA). In 1979, the year after his family hosted the match on their home farm, which was near Wingham on the property now occupied by the Richard LeVan Airport, Armstrong would serve as OPA president. While Falconer remembers how much fun she and her sisters had at the match, another memory is just how surreal it was to see this vast tented city, full of life, outside the windows of their home. She also remembers some Continued on page 11 REPRINTS* OF PHOTOS taken by Citizen photographers are available to purchase. ALL ARE IN COLOUR 4x6 - $4.00 5x7 - $5.00 8x10 - $8.00 Phone to order - 519-523-4792 or 519-887-9114 Listowel Wingham HOSPITALS ALLIANCE Enriching Life's -tourney Together Corporation of the Listowel Memorial Hospital Corporation of the Wingham and District Hospital ANNUAL MEETING & ELECTION OF DIRECTORS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2017 7:00 PM TRILLIUM INSURANCE 495 MITCHELL ROAD SOUTH LISTOWEL, ONTARIO The Annual Meetings of the Listowel Memorial Hospital and Wingham and District Hospital will be held jointly for the purposes of receiving the financial reports and statements required by the Public Hospitals Act, for the election of Directors, and for the transaction of other such things as may properly come before the meeting. Copies of the Annual Report/Financial Statements may be obtained at the front desk of both Hospitals effective May 31, 2017 and at the Annual Meeting. Memberships granting voting privileges may be purchased at the front desk of the hospitals for five dollars ($5.00) prior to five o'clock p.m., Tuesday, May 23, 2017. No membership sold after that time will entitle the purchaser to vote at the Annual Meeting.