(Cam Lee/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

Well wishes

Long-time museum curator celebrated with retirement tea

Apr 25, 2024 | 5:00 PM

A fond farewell to a Melfort fixture.

A farewell tea for Gailmarie Anderson was held at the Melfort and District Museum Apr. 25.

The long-time museum curator and cultural coordinator is retiring at the end of the month, and she told northeastNOW it was wonderful to see so many friends at the event in her honour.

“I’m going to miss them so much and I’m going to miss the museum and being here for everybody, but times change, it was ready for me to move on,” Anderson explained.

A group of well-wishers attended a tea in honour of Gailmarie Anderson Thursday. (Cam Lee/northeastNOW)

Special day

Elderly lovebirds tie the knot during ceremony in Rosthern

2h ago

Crime

RCMP Major Crimes charge Naicam man with second degree murder

15h ago

RED DRESS DAY

'More that needs to be done': P.A. to mark Red Dress Day with solemn ceremony

22h ago

Though her time in those positions is coming to an end, Anderson is staying around Melfort.

“I’ll still be a volunteer of course, and I’ll still be around, but then I’ll get to just do all of the fun stuff,” she chuckled.

Anderson was the museum curator for almost 20 years, and she said she has so many fond memories of her time there. Gailmarie said her favourite memories are those when people were coming into the museum for visits, school tours, work builds, and barbecues. She added she was always proud of the museum’s ability to move forward with a progressive Board of Directors. Anderson also praised Shelley Penner and her other assistant curators over the years for their dedication and hard work.

During her time as curator, the museum and its volunteers undertook a number of significant projects and builds, including the log building that is the Dr. Shadd office, the Indigenous Peoples Archaeology building, and moving in the Fairy Glen Co-op building. The 1912 caboose was also brought in from the Western Development Museum.

Anderson is proud of the progressive culture that was also promoted at the museum.

“We are part of the reconciliation journey here at the museum and we’ll continue to try to build relationships with our Indigenous neighbours and to understand where they’re coming from,” explained Anderson. “The museum preserves a history for past generations, but also for the present and the future.”

She said the museum offers several youth-oriented programs to show them the importance of history.

The importance of community is one that sticks with Anderson, and the museum.

“I always say we take the museum out into the community, and we bring the community into the museum,” said Anderson. “The important part of history is to tell their story; We’re all about storytelling.”

Anderson’s replacement, Brenda Mellon, will begin her job May 13.

–

Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @northeastNOW_SK