Addendum to My Friend Emma Awarded Queen's Jubilee Medal blog post

Hello There, VivBounty here to add to the story of my friend, Emma Cormier being awarded the Queen's Jubiliee Medal.

It turns out my friend, Cathy Consentino of Timber River Farm Country Antiques was also awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal, but I did not find out until weeks after I attended Emma's ceremony. I certainly would have been there to celebrate with Cathy, had I known she was to be awarded or even if she had been invited to receive the award in person in a special ceremony like Emma's.

Cathy and Emma are just 2 of 60,000 deserving Canadians recognized during the year of celebrations, by being awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 2012 for significant contributions and achievements, and as I have since discovered, not all recipients are invited to receive their honour in person in a formal ceremony. To my great disappointment, Cathy received her medal in the mail without any pomp, circumstance or pageantry and so I felt I must post this addendum in her honour.

I would be remiss if I did not share with you how much Cathy does for the region. Not only is she an antique dealer, with not one, but two antique stores, but she also finds time to be the President of PEDVAC, the Port Elgin District Voluntary Action Council, a registered charity which serves the surrounding district which runs from Cap Pele to the Nova Scotia border and from Halls Hill (Jolicure) to Cape Tormentine, on which board of directors Emma and I also serve, amongst others. PEDVAC offers a wide range of services including Food Bank, Christmas Boxes (food and gift boxes to families and individuals in need at Christmas), School Lunches, Boutique (A used clothing and household goods store which provides items from 25 cents to $4), Income Tax Preparation, Literacy, Youth At Risk, Advocacy, and Employment Opportunities (employing at least 3 people to make and sell products for social enterprise which makes mittens, pillows, and other items from recycled woollen and fleece items).

Cathy Consentino's volunteer experience and causes further include secretary of Port Elgin Housing Inc., a Social Services agency offering subsidized housing, she is board member/vice chair of Port Elgin Public Library and liaison member to Provincial Library Committee. Credit for content to Cathy's LinkedIn profile.

Manning the Timber River Antiques Shop in Summer 2012

The biggest reason that I write this post is to celebrate my friendship with this amazing lady who in addition to employing me from time to time in her shop with pay calling it a favour, has made me promise that I would never drive behind an ambulance alone again if ever, God forbid, my hubby (as it once happened) had to be rushed to a hospital in an emergency situation. She further clarified that it didn't matter what time of day or night, whatever weather, that I must call her and she would come with me. I would without a doubt do the same for her.

Congratulations Cathy, my friend on a well-deserved honour for your extraordinary service to our community, region, and like I mentioned in Emma's tribute, ultimately to Canada like Her Majesty The Queen who has been an extraordinary servant of her country, so are you to ours.

Please leave me a comment below and be sure to subscribe to this blog feed for more lovely stories about the joy of country living.

Bountiful blessings to you and yours, 
VivBounty

My Friend Emma Awarded Queen's Jubilee Medal

Hello There, VivBounty here to share with you the story of my friend, Emma Cormier being awarded the Queen's Jubiliee Medal. Emma is one of the first friendly faces we encountered in the community when we arrived here 5 years ago. As my husband was emigrating here, aside from the myriad of forms to fill in, medical tests were a part of the process. In those early days we spent a lot of time at the library printing forms and as much time between our local clinic and hospitals. More often than not, we met Emma at one or more of those places. As part of the same worshipping community, Emma, her sister, Emerise and I often met at church where they were ever so welcoming with smiles and Emma giving the warmest, tightest hugs making us certain that we had picked the right community to settle in. At the time, names were secondary and we only knew each others' faces from the village.

Left to right: Brian and Vivienne Edwards, Vina McGraw,
Emerise Cormier, Emma Cormier, Marc Cormier, Patsy Murphy,
Jeanine Cormier, Bernadette McGraw
Photo credit: Joan LeBlanc, Writer / Journalist / Photographer

At Mass one Saturday as we hugged Emma let me know about her impending award. I was thrilled at the news, assuring her that she certainly deserved it. She then invited us to attend the special ceremony, and to say that it was an honour would be an understatement! We were 2 of 7 guests permitted to witness the ceremony for each of the 6 recipients from our area, held at the Marshland's Inn in Sackville, NB.

Emma's list of volunteer efforts within the village for many years includes Treasurer of PEDVAC, where I have the pleasure of serving on the board with her, Church community work, local housing association, Scouts Canada and in our case, a warm welcome to a lovely village in the Maritimes. We didn't know this lady from a bar of blue soap and yet she has always treated us like family. It did not surprise us then that by command of Her Majesty the Queen, the Diamond Jubilee Medal was presented to Emma in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of her Majesty's accession to the throne and in recognition of her contribution to Canada.

The Ark, Safari Lodge, Aberdare Mountains, Kenya

Incidentally, this is even more special to me as Her Majesty's accession occurred while she was visiting my birthplace, Kenya. On vacation at the Treetops Lodge in Aberdare National Park, she received the news of her father's passing. The affectionate phrase often used to describe the transition was that "She was the young woman who went up a tree as a princess and came down a Queen". My mother as a young woman remembers Her Majesty's visit to Kenya, standing amid the crowds along the parade route in Nairobi for this auspicious occasion, awaiting a glimpse of the beautiful then-Princess Elizabeth in Kenya in 1952.

Officiating were recently appointed Liberal House Leader,
  Liberal Foregn Affairs citic, Beauséjour MP,  Dominic Leblanc,
NB Senator Fernand Robichaud, and representing RCMP
was the dapper Constable Yoan Comeau
Photo credit: Joan LeBlanc, Writer / Journalist / Photographer

The Queen has been an extraordinary servant of her country and likewise has Emma of our small community. Small communities like ours all across this great nation help to make Canada the wonderful country that it is and make me proud to call it my home. Emma's fellow recipients of the medal this year were Shirley Buck, Carolyn Carmichael, Doreen Richards, Francis Sweeney and Michael Dean. Without these hard working volunteers and so many others like them, our communities simply would not have many services taken for granted in larger towns and cities. Congratulations to all the recipients of the Queen's Jubilee medal and thank you all for your selfless contribution to make the world a better place.

Congratulations to my friend, Emma Cormier! We love you and thank you for including us in this celebration of Her Majesty the Queen and yourself, who are both such a large part of the fabric of our lives.

Article addendum: 

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Bountiful blessings to you and yours, 
VivBounty