HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-12-13, Page 17PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012.
History books now available
Campbell marks retirement with open house
Celebrating 31 years
Ralph Campbell, pictured here, recently retired as the
Public Works Director of North Huron after 31 years of
working for North Huron and, before amalgamation, East
Wawanosh Township. (Denny Scott photo)
Continued from page 14it for eight years until his retirement
this year.
“It wasn’t long after I was made
public works superintendent that I
got to work on the Josephine Street
project,” he said.
The project, likely the largest of
his career, saw Josephine Street in
Wingham completely torn up and
replaced over the past two years to
work on not only the surface of the
road but to deal with infrastructure
underneath the road.
“Projects like that I could not have
done without people like Scott Price
and Greg Storey [of the Public
Works Department out of the
Wingham area],” he said. “They had
the knowledge of the infrastructure
under the streets.”
Campbell went on to say that
everyone from all the wards
provided similar history and that he
could not have done a lot of the jobs
he had to without a lot more timeand effort without the knowledge
they provided.
“It helps, when a drainage pipe
breaks or a water main ruptures, to
know where to go in with the
cameras and to know where the
infrastructure is,” he said. “I had an
awfully good work force, not just
now, but over the whole 31 years.
The guys are great in Blyth and in
Wawanosh.”
He said that, after amalgamation,
the borders just weren’t there
anymore for the different sheds
and the employees based out of
them.
“I could always call everyone in
when something needed fixing,” he
said. “The guys would always co-
operate well with each other. They
always worked well together that
way.”
Campbell said that another key
aspect of his time not only with
North Huron but beforeamalgamation was the back-up he
had in the municipal offices.
“There have always been great
staff at all the offices,” he said. “The
CAOs I’ve worked under have
always been great.”
He said that, over 31 years, a lot of
issues come up and that people in
charge have to deal with them.
Because of that, having a great staff
is indispensable.
“I’m going to miss that most,” he
said. “People were always willing to
help in the office and I’ve only ever
been as good as what my backup
help is. Thirty-one years doesn’t
seem like such a long time with good
people helping you.”
Campbell said his replacement,
Kelly Church, is also one of those
people.
“He was number one on all [of
North Huron Council and staff’s
list], “ he said. “He’s a great guy to
work with. He’s very co-operativeand he definitely knows what he is
doing.”
While the job has changed a lot
over 31 years, Campbell said that he
enjoyed it all.
“We had a lot of fun years plowing
snow and doing odd jobs,” he said.
“Back when I started, we didn’t have
one person for every job, so you
were out catching dogs one day,
cleaning up dead deer the next and
working on drainage and roads theday after that.”
As for future plans, Campbell says
that his children have plenty of work
to keep him busy, since he is handy
with carpentry, but he also plans on
making a lot of time to ride his
horses.
“I’ll also visit friends a lot,” he
said, adding that trips to
Peterborough and Wiarton are
hopefully forthcoming.
Continued from page 15
could do anything with,” Versteeg
said.
She would work on a family’s
story and knew she wasn’t doing a
good job, so she would work in
conjunction with those who
submitted their stories, to craft the
best story she could, given the
source material.
“I knew I was massacring their
story, so I would have to rework
them,” she said.
The secret to making sense of the
half-stories and scrawled notes,
Versteeg says, was the knowledge of
her staff. She said if she was stuck,
she would simply circulate the notes
to those working on the project and
somebody was bound to come back
to her with a lead.
One of Versteeg’s favourite
moments during the “construction”
of the book, as she calls it, was when
she received a school picture with no
names and no information.
She sent the picture out to a 90-
year-old former teacher and didn’t
hear back for a few days. Versteeg
simply thought it was a case of
one of Huron County’s older
residents not being familiar with e-
mail.
Versteeg, however, was happy to
be proven wrong as the e-mail was
initially missed, but the teacher e-
mailed Versteeg back with a
complete list of names, despite the
picture being over 40 years old.
Versteeg says she hopes the book
will be accepted by the community,
but that she realizes municipal
history isn’t necessarily interesting
to everyone.
“History doesn’t appeal to
everyone,” Versteeg said.
Versteeg says her hope is that
people will read the book as those
who put it together envisioned it, as
a drive through the two former
townships, although she realizes that
most people will likely just jump
around to what they want to read.
She said there are plenty of
interesting stories in the nearly
1,500 pages of history and she hopes
people will take the time to read
them.
While a large number of the books
were pre-sold and are available to be
picked up at the Morris-Turnberry
municipal office, Administrator
Clerk-Treasurer Nancy Michie says
there are still some available for
purchase. If interested, people can
call the municipal office at 519-887-
6137 or stop by the office and
inquire.
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History to go
The Morris-Turnberry history books are available after
being released at a book launch at the Morris-Turnberry
municipal building on Morris Road on Dec. 1. The history is
a two-tome collection that spans approximately 1,500
pages according to Mayor Paul Gowing. Shown wrapping
up the tomes are, from left, Marilyn Craig, Deb Hakkers
and Doug Garniss. (Denny Scott photo)