Two men who have helped put Weyburn on the national map were honoured by the Soo Line Historical Museum on Monday, as they were inducted to the museum's Wall of Fame at the Heritage Day open house.
Don Turner, founder of the Turner Curling Museum, and lawyer Harold MacKay were inducted, along with a number of community members to the museum's Memory Book.
The Memory Book inductees, whose work has contributed to the museum and to the community as a whole, included Ivol Krueger, Elva Hemphill, Ruth Hoffart, Royden and Grace MacKay (Harold MacKay's parents), and Jim and Marlene Nedelcov.
Art Wallace, president of the historical society, told the gathered crowd on Monday afternoon that Turner was inducted as his curling museum, and its extensive collection of pins and curling memorabilia, is unique in Canada and in the world.
Turner first became involved with curling in 1945, when he became a helper to ice-maker Harry Church in the old curling rink. His collection of pins, and later of memorabilia of all kinds, began in 1974, and began its compilation, with the help of wife Elva, in the basement of his home.
The collection finally reached a point where it needed a bigger and more permanent home, which he found in an arrangement with the City of Weyburn at the Leisure Centre, where it has been housed for the past seven years. Besides his extensive involvement in the sport in Weyburn and throughout the province, Turner was named to the Governor General's Curling Club in Ottawa last year.
MacKay took his primary and secondary education in Weyburn, graduating from the Weyburn Collegiate in 1957 before going on to university. He joined the Regina law firm of MacPherson Leslie and Tyerman, becoming the managing partner in 1989 and the chairman in 1997. He is currently the firm's senior business law partner.
He is involved on the national scene in many ways, including as the Canadian nominee to the NAFTA panel of arbitrators, and serving most recently as the chairman of the federal Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector which tendered its report to federal Finance Minister Paul Martin late last year.
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