Dear Editor:
As our community shows its appreciation for volunteers this Volunteer Week, we of the Beatty Heritage Society would like to acknowledge the contribution toward the preservation of Rimbey's heritage house of Alvina Grumbach, who died recently at the age of 92.
Mrs. Grumbach believed in the value of preserving the Beatty House 25 years ago when the Town of Rimbey decided to sell it. She was a charter member of the committee, a branch of the Rimbey and District Historical Society, that bought the Beatty property with a view to restoring and preserving that piece of local history for the community.
When the committee needed a substantial sum of money in those early days, Alvina was one of our members who came forward with an interest-free loan that would require several years to repay.
She was a dedicated member of the Beatty House Committee throughout its 15 years and she continued to serve on the board from the time the committee grew into the Beatty Heritage House Society, until her hospitalization three months ago.
Alvina missed only a handful of monthly board meetings over the past 25 years, and she single-handedly provided the lunch at every meeting for 20 of those years. The dollar that each member paid every month for her abundant and delicious lunch was money well spent, and that fundraising project of Alvina's enriched our coffers by more than $2,000.
She poured her generous spirit and her boundless energy into every job she undertook. She cleaned the Beatty House many times, scrubbing the floors on her knees, because that is "the only way to get those floors really clean". She donated and peeled huge canner-sized pots full of potatoes and carrots for the UFA dinners we provided almost every fall. She sewed countless patchwork potholders on her treadle machine and gave many to be sold at our yard sales. Our annual quilt raffles were successful due to her efforts. She kept track of every ticket and every penny, and she sold more tickets than the rest of the members put together. In one recent year she sold 800 of the 1,200 tickets available.
Several years ago Alvina donated a little spruce tree to the park at the Beatty House. It stands as a fitting memorial to this wonderful little lady who so graciously and ably embodied the spirit of volunteerism.
Florence Stemo,
Rimbey