The Citizen, 2011-06-16, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2011.
Continued from page 6
Teeswater Kinsmen Club, in co-
operation with the Kinsmen clubs of
Belgrave and Lucknow and
Teeswater Kinsmen representative
Steve Tiffin took to the stage to
explain why they got involved with
the project.
“We’re proud of [Dinning] and the
other heroes on the mural,” he said.
Sopha’s original drive to create the
mural, according to Tiffin, was the
coverage of the deaths of Canadian
service people in Afghanistan.
“Dave [Sopha] was heartbroken
with what he saw in the media,”
Tiffin said. “When news of the three
[service personnel] deaths came that
brought the total to 100 it became
too much and he decided to create
the mural.”
Sopha introduced the mural,
which features the likeness of 156
soldiers, and explained the process
behind the creation of it.
He said that for two and a half
years he has worked on the mural,
which is oil on canvas, and,
unfortunately, isn’t finished yet.
Sopha explained that, just mere
days before the ceremony, another
service person had died and he was
preparing to add their likeness to the
project.
The goal behind the project is to
let every Canadian know that they
should be proud of the service
people repreenting them, and that
they should recognize the efforts
these people go to.
“I want people to know that if they
see someone in uniform they should
pat them on the back,” Sopha said.
“People should shake [service
personnel’s] hands, talk to them, buy
them a coffee and let them know we
appreciate their efforts.”
Greetings were brought from all
levels of government including
Councillor Alma Conn from North
Huron Township Council, a letter
from Huron-Bruce Minister of
Provincial Parliament Carol Mitchell
and a representitive from Member of
Parliament Ben Lobb’s office.
Donations were made by several
schools including Blyth Public
School and East Wawanosh Public
School.
Groups like the Kinsmen and local
legions also made donations to the
Portraits of Honour tour.
Funds raised through the tour will
be used to bring service personnel
home and help those who suffer
physical or emotional trauma.
Each individual face takes
upwards of 80 hours to complete
according to Sopha and the mural
won’t receive its final touches until it
reaches its final definition.
“The last coat of the painting
could fade or run in sunlight or when
exposed to flash photography,”
he said. “I decided not to put it
on until the mural is where it’s going
to stay. It will add things
like wrinkles and definition to the
faces.”
Following a storm that reached its
peak around 3:30 a.m. on June 9 and
decimated trees and knocked out
power, community spirit shone
strong outside of Walton on Walton
Road.
The farms of Jeff McKee’s family
and Neil Mitchell on Walton Road
were hit hard by the storm with the
Mitchell family losing many trees
and the McKee family losing trees,
structures and vehicles.
The next day neighbours arrived
with farm machinery, chainsaws,
strong hands and willing hearts and
helped the neighbours to get rid of
the fallen trees and try and clean
their properties up.
Eleven-year-old Mitchell McKee
and six-year-old Matthew McKee
helped to explaine what the storm
did to their home.
“One really big tree got fell over
during the storm,” Mitchell
explained. “The branches from it
broke our windows in our house,
took out our garage and put a hole in
the trailer. It took the shed right off
its foundation and buried our house
and our car.”
Matthew agreed, saying it was
“scary” when the sticks punched
right through the windows.
The McKees had a deck built
around a large old tree but,
according to Matthew, it folded over
and snapped during the storm.
Matthew was also disappointed to
have lost two tree forts that were
attached to fallen trees, one of which
had been built last year.
While Mitchell estimated more
than 100 trees were felled during the
storm, his father Jeff said the
number was probably closer to 25 to
30, but did admit he hadn’t taken an
entire inventory.
Marie Mitchell, across the road,
said that, during the early-morning
storm trees were bent and eventually
broken in half, and that her family
was fortunate to have no damage.
Both the McKees and the
Mitchells were surprised and happy
to see how their community came
out to help.
Eighty-four-year-old Emerson
Mitchell, who had lived on the
Mitchell farm prior to Neil and
Marie, was surprised at the size of
some of the felled trees.
“It’s been eight years since we left
the farm, but we lived there for 50
years prior,” he said. “Some of those
trees were mature when we came
here, so they’re big, strong trees that
have survived a lot.”
Emerson said that the farm house,
which was originally part of the
Murray farms, was built in 1890,
and estimated that some of the trees
that were down were likely the same
age.
Walton communitypulls together after
storm does damage
A former treehouse
Matthew McKee, left, was particularly unhappy that one of his two tree houses was counted
among the casualties from the summer storm that tore through the Walton area on June 7.
Matthew’s brother Mitchell, right, said that well over 100 trees got knocked down on his
property, but his father, Jeff, put the number at closer to 25 or 30. (Denny Scott photo)
Dinning inspires
Wingham tour stop
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