There have been many Valley residents who received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal this year for various activities and volunteer efforts. Valley resident Connie McKay was one who received the medal and was nominated by MLA Rick Wowchuk. McKay has volunteered and helped at various community functions for many years.
“All my life I’ve done things for people and the community,” said McKay. “I taught sewing in 4H for young girls for many years and curled lots, which led me to helping the school-aged kids learn to curl in the Valley. I volunteered to work at the Monster Bingos in Bowsman and did lots of other volunteer work.”
McKay now does a lot of stuff through the senior centre and still continues to not only keep active and socialize but volunteer and help out as well.
“I just love doing stuff for other people and helping out,” said McKay. “Now I’m involved with the senior centre. We were closed for a couple of years due to the pandemic, but now it’s reopened and we got things going, which is really nice.
“We have floor shuffleboard and cards, and I work at bingo every other week. There are over 83 new members coming to the senior centre and they’re a really fun bunch. Since the pandemic, very few of the seniors, who came before COVID-19 hit, have returned. Instead, we’re seeing a whole new group of seniors coming.
“I love to go to the senior centre, it’s a great way to socialize and keep busy. In the summertime, I love to golf and used to curl in the winter. I curled for over 50 years, but haven’t done so in the last 10 years.”
It was quite a surprise for McKay when she learned she was going to be a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medal. Fortunately, she was able to make it to the reception in Brandon to receive the medal, despite the cold weather.
“When I received the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medal I was trying to think of what I did to deserve this recognition and it was hard to pinpoint because I was always doing things,” said McKay. “I was pretty thrilled to receive it.
“At first I wasn’t going to go to the presentation to receive it, because it was in Brandon, but Rick Wowchuk encouraged me to go. I’m not one to be in the limelight and prefer to be more in the background, so this was a bit out of my comfort zone. On Jan. 17, Darin and Della (McKay) took me, so I did go to Brandon to the award ceremony. I believe there were over 80 people who were to receive the medal at that presentation, so it was really nice.
“I’m really glad I went,” concluded McKay. “At first I was unsure because it was wintertime and not the best time to travel, but it all worked out.”