The Citizen, 2016-01-07, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016. PAGE 19.
Pastor masters local tradition
20 years strong
Fire Department of North Huron Chief David Sparling, left,
was handing out awards on Monday night to three of his
firefighters, thanking them for their many years of service.
One of those firefighters was his deputy -chief, Matt
Townsend, right, who was honoured for spending 20 years
with the North Huron department and the Blyth department
before that. Townsend, alongside Captains Paul Kerr and
Russ Nesbitt, all received their 20 -year pins in a special
ceremony held at the Wingham fire hall on Monday night.
(Denny Scott photo)
We are back for 2016. I am
trusting you had a wonderful
Christmas season. The village of
Auburn was at the centre of many of
my great highlights over the holiday
season. One of which was that for
the first time Huron Chapel had a
New Year's Eve service. The focus
was on families praying together.
We had moved the chairs in the
sanctuary to form small groups of
seating where families could sit
together facing one another. One of
the prayer exercises we did was to
have families look back over the past
year and share with each other some
of the blessings they were grateful
for in 2015. Having made a list of
these blessings, they then spent time
together as fathers and mothers and
children praying to God thanking
Him for these specific ways in which
God had worked in their lives.
After the New Year's Eve prayer
service many of us went downstairs
in the church to play some games
together. Brian Walden had brought
his deck of Lost Heir playing cards.
You may remember some time ago I
wrote about this popular game in this
very column. Years ago Lost Heir
was a game being played in many of
the homes in and around Auburn,
especially in the Westfield area. It
was the social thing to do back in the
day. I heard how during dark cold
winter months people would gather
at someone's home and play Lost
Heir into the wee hours of the
morning. Around the time I had
originally written about this game in
The Citizen I went to Brian Walden's
home and played my very first game
of Lost Heir. I won. "Beginner's
luck," I thought and left it at that.
During this Christmas season I
had our church staff and their
spouses over to our place for a get
together. After supper Brian
produced a deck of Lost Heir cards.
He grabbled Huron Chapel Youth
Leader and skilled Lost Heir player
Rob Campbell to be his partner. I
teamed up with Auburn resident Wes
Beacom as my partner. I played my
second game ever of Lost Heir and I
won again. Brian insisted we play a
third game and unbelievably, I won
one more time against this 50 -year
veteran of the game.
Now here we were on New Year's
Eve getting ready for round three of
my Lost Heir bout with Brian. This
time he was more serious and he
tossed aside his former partner Rob
Campbell and grabbed a seasoned
Westfield veteran of the game, Doug
Smith to be his cohort in my demise.
I had Wes as my partner again and
we began to play. We won the first
game. The second game took longer.
In the final hand I picked up my
cards. I didn't have the coveted
"Lost Heir" card in my possession
Firefighters honoured
Continued from page 1
connections from another Ontario
fire department, a method by which
fire trucks could replenish their
water supplies through rivers and
ponds would be realized. This
would be especially important for
fires in the rural parts of
communities covered by the FDNH.
The $2,500 covered two specially -
Obituaries
MARTIEN WILTS
Mr. Martien Wilts of
Londesborough went to be with his
Lord and Saviour peacefully at
Clinton Public Hospital on
Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015. He was
in his 76th year.
Martien was the loving husband of
Janie Wilts, devoted father of Robert
and Yvonne Wilts, Londesborough;
Anita and Karl Boven,
Londesborough and Ron and Tricia
Wilts, Dublin and Opa of Vanessa
and Justan Van Maar, Jeremy and
Jason Wilts, Matthew, Brendon,
Tyler and Alex Boven, Patrick,
Emily, Kaitlyn and Curtis Bergsma
and Isaac.
He was the dear brother and
brother-in-law of Sieka and Teo Van
Steeg, Strathroy; Margaret and
Gabbie Mol, Exeter; Gerrit and
Reino Wilts, Exeter; the late
Siebrand and Maria Wilts,
Kitchener; Henry and Susan Wilts,
Londesborough; Douwe and Jenny
Wilts, Clinton; Peta and John
Branderhorst, Hensall; Koos and
Rita Verburg, Londesborough; Tony
and Sylvia Verberg, Belgrave;
Wilma and John Hessels, Goderich
and John and Margaret Verburg,
Londesborough.
He was predeceased by sister-in-
law Roely Verburg.
Friends were received at the Blyth
Christian Reformed Church on
Saturday, Dec. 26 where the funeral
service was held. Interment is in
Hope Chapel Cemetery.
Memorial donations to the Clinton
Public Hospital Foundation would
be greatly appreciated. Funeral
arrangements were entrusted to
Falconer Funeral Homes, Blyth.
Messages of condolence for the
Wilts family may be sent to
www.falconerfuneralhomes.com
EILEEN ELLEN HANNA
Eileen Ellen Hanna (nee Taylor)
passed away at Alexandra Marine
and General Hospital on Tuesday,
Dec. 22, 2015. She was 91.
Eileen Ellen Hanna was born Jan.
2, 1924, the daughter of the late
Wilbert and Belva Taylor. She was
predeceased by her husband
Raymond Griffith Hanna (1993),
son Norman Wilbert Hanna (1958)
and an infant great-grandson Colby
Humphrey (2004). She is survived
by her loving family Ramona
Humphrey (Rick), Raymond (Del),
Joe (Vickie), Neil (Carolyn),
Dianne Nonkes (Gary), her
cherished grandchildren, Ellen,
Chris, Melissa, Amanda, Jeremy,
Matt, Taylor, Bethanie, Avaleigh,
Joel, Charity and 10 great-
grandchildren.
Eileen enjoyed family gatherings
and hearing all about her grand- and
great-grandchildren. She also loved
auction sales and finding treasures
and researching what she found.
A celebration of life service was
held at Falconer Funeral Homes,
Bluewater Chapel, Goderich on
Monday, Dec. 28. Visitation was two
hours prior to service time.
In lieu of flowers, memorial
donations to the Heart and Stroke
Foundation or the Diabetes
Association would be greatly
appreciated. Messages of
condolence for the Hanna family
may be sent through www.falconer
funeralhomes.com
designed pumps that could move up
to 800 litres of water per minute
from the ponds and rivers into
tanker trucks to make trips to refill
the vehicles less lengthy and keep
more water on hand for rural fires.
"As a fire department, the more
water we can have and put on a fire,
the better," Sparling said.
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Make Your Own
Beer, Wine, Coolers
and Fruit Wine
(O.rewn here
or at home.)
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84 Kingston St.,
GODERICH
524-2323
FROM AUBURN
but I still decided to bid boldly
claiming we would get nine out of a
possible 12 points. The bid was
quickly given to me and I made
trump. In this one hand, Wes and I
came from behind and took the
game. I was now five and zero
against Brain. He looked across the
table in disbelief and handed me the
score card saying, "Here, you may
want to keep this," and I did. In fact,
I put the score card in a frame where
it now sits in my office to remind me
of this David and Goliath moment in
the world of Lost Heir.
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Happy90th
Birthday
harlie Shaw
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The family of
Charlie Shaw
would like you to join
and help celebrate
at a
Come and Go Party
at his home
219 Wellington St., Blyth
on
Saturday, January 9
from 1 pm - 4 pm
Best Wishes Only
Afirp-
L
30 The Square
GODERICH 519 524 7811
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