Some people are ‘just memorable’. Sometimes they are famous athletes or entertainers – celebrities for some reason or other and you remember .

And sometimes they are “just folks” – but memorable none the less. One such couple is Bill and Terry Howie. I don’t think there is a person who has ever met them who would not call them memorable OR who would not say, their world was a better place because they met Bill and Terry.

The DEKALB SuperSpiel honoured Bill and Terry Howie Monday evening at their volunteer’s windup at the end of the 14th annual bonspiel. At the age of 93 & 91 respectively, this magnificent couple had made the difficult move away from Morris and into assisted living in Niverville. To all their friends, I can report that the move has been very good for them. They are stress free and completely happy in their new surroundings.

But Bill admits he misses the Morris Curling Club, and the other community functions, where he was famous for his 50-50 selling efforts.

“All right, you lucky people, I’m here to sell you your 50-50 ticket,” he’d call as he entered the room and he made you feel like you were doing him a personal favour by buying his tickets.

It is impossible to estimate accurately how much money he raised for community projects $2 and $5 at a time (or half that as half of it went back to the winners).In almost 50 years, it is a fair guess that it is well over $100,000 and could more likely approach a quarter of a million.

And as much as he made buyers feel like it was their privilege to buy those darn tickets from him, he made those of us who had the privilege of working on his committees feel like it was a privilege to be there and we wanted to ‘sell, sell, sell’ just to deserve to be there.

He started his community work in Morris when he moved there in 1974 and whether it was the Curling Club, the Stampede, the Lions Club, the Legion or one of many other community projects – he was always first in line to help as a business leader in his early years in Morris and as a volunteer right from the start.

Bill was the one front and centre but Terry was a key part of the team. Almost as out-going as Bill, it was often her role to take a bit of a back seat to keep Bill focused and in the later years to keep him from over-doing too much in his enthusiasm.

Communities are built on the backs of people like these!!!

The DEKALB SuperSpiel functions with the time and energy of over 100 volunteers every year working on about 20 different committees. Each year, one or two volunteer committee chair reach the end of their run and they are acknowledged publicly at the volunteer windup.

Their names go on a plaque which hangs permanently in the Morris Curling Club. This year’s additions to the plaque, the 37th and 38th names on it, with the deep appreciation of not just the Morris Curling Club but the entire Morris community, included Bill & Terry Howie. It was great to have them both in the room to hear the applause of the their friends and admirers.