Service Above Self

The evolution of towns and early settlements can be traced to men and women who made a substantial investment in community welfare and development. In varying ways, all residents make a contribution that defines a community. This includes low profile residents who pay their taxes, support local merchants, send their kids to school, attend church, help promote community ventures, play bingo, go bowling, visit library, town hall, hospital, and manage to get along with their neighbours. A smaller segment assume a higher role and go above and beyond. These people may be referred to as the builder category. They assume leadership roles in church, civic politics, board of trade, youth sports, fraternal, Red Cross, curling club, service clubs, and organizations too numerous to list. The goal of this column is to feature the activist - meaning men and women who saw a need, rolled up their sleaves, got involved, worked harmoniously, provided leadership and followed it through to completion. These same energetic contributors raised their families, functioned as business owners or tradesmen, held responsible railway positions and still made time to support community groups. Rotary describes this level of involvement as an ideal - Service Above Self. A sterling motto applicable to outstanding residents who dedicate themselves and work for the benefit of others.
When examining our origins, intensive research occurs only after you burrow deep down inside your subject and learn to think like your material. Those driven by historical interrogation get immersed in their subject to the point where their mind is transformed into another era. At that stage, you begin to understand the character of earlier times. Quite a challenge. It's a threshold we strive to reach. You'll know when you get there.
Most individuals who will be featured in this column are long removed. So are their contemporaries, colleagues and family members from their era. In many cases, there is precious little recorded save for fleeting references to their attendance at events, participation in various ventures and faded family albums. To learn about them, one has the difficult task of tracking events that occurred in the 19th or early 20th centuries. These limited sources stress the urgency of collecting and recording detailed information when memories are fresh, more complete and more reliable. Fortunately, historical interests have stepped up their efforts to capture information and fill some large gaps from the earlier part of the 20th century. The relative ease of publication as well as the abundance of material available on the Internet makes research easier and more readily accessible. We certainly have the technology.