Unexpected treasures have been given to two Red Deer locations.
Born at Panbrun, Sask., in 1914, Elsie Robinson has started clearing out her personal possessions so she can move into a seniors residence.
Among them, Robinson wanted to find new homes for two collections of scrapbooks — one for the Old Court House and the other for the Golden Circle.
Robinson recently donated both collections to the operators of the respective properties.
The Golden Circle collection dates back to 1977, when Robinson was preparing to retire. She started work in 1964 as the first full-time employee of the newly-established Red Deer and District Savings and Credit Union.
With her retirement pending, Robinson started putting together a collection that would become an extensive archive of the Golden Circle’s development over the ensuing years.
“I was just interested in seeing something new for the seniors,” said Robinson, who had attended regularly up until her second husband, Stan Robinson, fell ill.
She filled two hefty scrapbooks with newspaper clippings, mainly from the Red Deer Advocate.
The Golden Circle collection starts with a photo of the newly-opened building and finishes off with a square-dancing article published in the Healthy Seniors section on Feb. 24 of this year.
The Old Court House collection dates back far earlier, to 1954, when Robinson took a job in the sheriff’s office. Later on, her eldest son, John Easton, took a job in the same office and eventually became deputy sheriff.
Neither John nor his brother, Robert Easton, were interested in taking any of the scrapbooks, said Robinson.
The Golden Circle, on the other hand, was delighted with the gift.
Executive director Andrew Dale said Robinson’s scrapbooks provide a complete history of the Golden Circle. The square dancing group has kept its own scrapbooks, but Robinson’s collection covers all of the activities, including all of Agnes Donnelly’s columns about goings on at the centre.
Ron Bower, chairman of the Golden Circle’s board, said he didn’t think there was much going on at the Golden Circle until he started to become more involved.
“What’s interesting about these books, when you start going through them, you see a lot of the same people,” said Bower.
“What a gift. We’re just thrilled with it.”
Contact Brenda Kossowan at bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com