It's amazing to me sometimes how the extraordinary can arise out of the ordinary, how someone can come from commonplace surroundings and go on to produce something of astounding beauty and depth.

The best example I can think of right now is W.O. Mitchell, a native son of Weyburn who went on to become a Canadian writer of almost legendary status.

This observation came to mind as I've been reading the new biography about W.O., released recently by his son Orm and Barb Mitchell, entitled, W.O.: The Life of W.O. Mitchell, Beginnings to Who Has Seen The Wind.

I was on hand for the book launch, along with the launch by legendary photographer Courtney Milne, in early November. During my interview with Orm, he remarked that both he and Barb's eyes were opened by their visits to Weyburn as to how much of an effect Weyburn had on his father's life.

Weyburn plays very heavily in both Who Has Seen The Wind, and a later novel, How I Spent My Summer Holidays, not to mention the Jake and the Kid series of stories. It's not just a geographic point, but the town held a very real, living place in his memory as W.O. wove it into the fabric of his stories.

As I've been reading Orm and Barb's biography on W.O., it's amazing all the little details about his growing up years that are in there, stories of little incidents here and there that affected W.O., and how some of them ended up as a particular scene or person in one of his books. Some of the stories are also interesting as historical tidbits about Weyburn's past.

One tale I thought was quite interesting regarded the running of the Weyburn Rink. At one point, W.O.'s mother, Margaret, held the mortgage on the rink rather than the city, and W.O.'s older brother, Jack, was the manager. W.O. had been away for a number of years, and came back during the Depression for a brief time.

W.O. wanted to raise money to be able to go to Edmonton to take some courses, so he staged an ice show (before the days of Ice Follies), which apparently was a big hit at the time.

During his brief stay, there was an incident with Father Athol Murray and the Hounds of Notre Dame. Apparently Father Murray brought his team to town a little early for a game versus the Beavers; he demanded immediate access to the ice during a public skating time, so he took the team onto the ice and wouldn't leave. W.O. turned the breaker off for the lights until Murray removed the Hounds and left the ice, proving the rivalry with the Hounds has been around for many, many years, probably longer than with the Estevan Bruins.

I'm not done reading the biography yet, but I would recommend the reading of this book for anyone wanting a slightly different point of view on Weyburn in the 1910s and 20s, and on the formative years of one of this country's most-beloved authors.