By Kate Winquist
kate@yoursouthwest.com

When I’m having trouble coming up with one particular topic to write about, I often will think of something that’s happened during my week that has touched me in some way. This particular week I’ve had many things happen that have made me stop to take notice.

The title of my commentary this week comes from Dillon Burroughs. It resonated with me as I thought of the relationships that I have made since I moved back to west central Saskatchewan last summer and since taking over The Oyen Echo at the beginning of this year.

Herman Schwenk who hails from Coronation, has been writing his Prairie View column for many years. He has been a regular voice in several papers across east central Alberta, including The Oyen Echo. At not quite 90 years of age, Herman still writes as well as he probably did two decades ago.

Herman sent me a welcoming email at the beginning of January along with his usual column. It was the first time that I had read any of his work. “Wow, this old codger is pretty good,” I thought to myself, meaning no disrespect whatsoever. I could tell by looking at his photo that he was a man of character, maybe a bit eccentric.

In the month that I have known Herman, we have spoken on the phone a couple of times. Like a good reporter does, he wanted to let his publisher know that his column might be a bit late because he was having some issues with his computer. Our conversations were never long, but in some way I almost felt like I was talking to a father figure. After all, my own father would have been 88 this year, so pretty close to Herman’s age.

Herman had told me that he had some medical issues to attend to and that he would not have a column for the week of February 1. I put together a small “get well soon” advertisment to let Herman know that I was thinking of him and also to let our readers know that I hadn’t pulled his column.

On February 3, I received an email from Herman:

“Hi Kate,
I emailed you a week or two ago and informed you that I was diagnosed with cancer. It has been confirmed that it is terminal. Attached is my final column that will inform your readers why there will be no more columns from me. So thanks and good bye.”

Oyen Echo readers will be reading Herman’s final words in this week’s issue, which brought a tear to my eye.

“I am not feeling sorry for myself. I have been around now for almost 90 years. Over the years I have been involved with many organizations and I think I made a difference,” Herman wrote.

I have no doubt that you have made a difference in a lot of people’s lives, Herman.
You are in my thoughts and prayers as you courageously battle this awful disease and thank you for your contributions to this paper over the years. Your thought provoking opinions and ideas will be missed.

On the front page of last week’s papers, we featured an adorable capture of Kevin and Sydney Hardin’s triplet daughters meeting Circle 7 Ranch’s new born triplet calves.

As soon as I saw the photo, I knew that I wanted to share it with our readers, even though Shaunavon is a bit out of our newspapers’ jurisdiction.

My husband worked with Sydney at Nutrien Ag Solutions in Shaunavon, so I felt that I could successfully convince her to let me use the picture. As I suspected, it wasn’t a problem at all. What I didn’t expect was the unbelievable response that the photo has gotten from our print, Facebook and webpages!

That picture has had a whopping 76,000 reach (as of Friday, February 5) across all of our media platforms.

I even received a message from a viewer northwest of Edmonton in the Waskatenau area. Connie and her husband are farmers and have been for quite some time. She wanted to send Circle 7 Ranch a congratulations card as she thought it was something to be very proud of. Little did Connie know that the Circle 7 Ranch had it happen AGAIN! Approximately a week later, they had another cow give birth to a set of triplets! They say that only happens in about 1 in 100,000 births. Absolutely amazing!

I guess the point that I am trying to make this week is that sometimes I think we get tunnel vision and we only see the things that are directly in front of us.

The beauty of being an independant publisher is that even though I may be based in an office on Main Street in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, I can still cover meaningful stories that can resonate with our Alberta neighbours, whether from Oyen, Coronation, Buffalo or across the South Saskatchewan River with our friends at Leader, Maple Creek, Gull Lake and Shaunavon.

My location may have changed, but the thought process remains the same.

“God’s love for others does not stop at the border; neither should ours.”

I wish you all a wonderful week ahead.