Ron Butlin proved the power of the volunteer. Butlin, who died Wednesday at the age of 89, was the man who almost single-handedly organized the Victoria Day and Christmas parades that delighted thousands of people every year.
At an age when most people are enjoying retirement, Butlin took on the job of running the parades and continued doing it for another 21 years. Despite health problems and promises to himself to slow down, he kept going right through the Island Farms Victoria Day Parade in May of this year.
Butlin came from Alberta, where he had been an entrepreneur, owner of the Calgary Spurs hockey team and president of the Western Hockey League. Then-premier Bill Bennett recruited him to organize the sa国际传媒 Summer and Winter Games. That experience singled him out when a parade organizer was needed.
Gathering the entries, finding sponsors and making sure the parade ran without a hitch was a task that would daunt most people, and Butlin did it with nothing more high-tech than a phone and a fax machine.
Butlin, who also organized the sa国际传媒 Christmas Lights Contest, embodied the spirit of the community volunteer. He could easily have passed off his responsibilities to others as he got older, but quitting was not in his nature.
Like many volunteers who make our city a better place, he never doubted that it was worth the effort. The smiles of thousands of children are proof he was right.
For the kids鈥� sake, we must find someone to fill Butlin鈥檚 shoes. It won鈥檛 be easy, because they are so big.
