Memories & Musings
June, 2021

Kathy Donnison

By Leona Keraiff

For 15 years if you wanted to book our hall for any reason you called Kathy Donnison to make the arrangements. Without an answering machine or a computer, without call display or call return, she kept track of the hall’s and the community’s comings and goings with a white board calendar on her fridge, pen & paper! Eventually, she placed all her notes, papers and calendars in an accordion style file. The one you see in the photo is her last and barely stays together as it has been so well used. Kathy regularly attended monthly Board meetings to report on the previous month’s activities and rentals. She had a record of dates, times, renters, bookings, fees collected and the condition of the hall afterward. She made two copies, giving one to Gina Medhurst (longtime treasurer and now President) and kept one for herself. She also washed the tea towels and tablecloths, occasionally cleaned the hall, baked cookies for meetings and provided a luncheon at AGMs! She was also the keeper of the keys of course. How on earth will we replace her now that she has decided to retire?

When I asked Kathy for her favourite hall memories her immediate response was “Medieval Events”. When she and her family arrived in 1990 they brought with them their dedication to the “Society of Creative Anachronism”. They hosted feasts, tournaments (yes, hand to hand combat with bamboo rattan swords and shields), community medieval suppers and at least one Valentine’s Feast.. Local participants  were joined by folks from Saskatchewan, the USA and the West Coast. Because Kathy and her family; Joe, Liz and Andrew learned that there was a gold boulder at the bottom of Kootenay Lake, they named this area ”Shire of Lochdor” meaning “Lake of Gold”. Participants made their armour and clothing. “Lords & Ladies” came to feasts in their fancy attire. (check our FB page @crawfordbayhall for photos of these amazing outfits).

Kathy also really appreciated and enjoyed our 100th Kootenay Lake Fall Fair. “It was amazing” she exclaimed, “a great, great day”. Kathy contributed an incredible 56 entries that year: baking, preserves, wine, canning and sewing to name a few. She was honoured to win the Grand Aggregate Award. She and partner Joe Bechal also won the costume contest wearing garments Kathy sewed herself. Her 1912 silk dress and hat were recreated from a book in authentic style staying up until 2:30 am on the eve of the fair, to perfectly match the photo.

There were some “high maintenance” renters as Kathy described them. One family in particular from Saskatchewan were particularly challenging as they required 6 trips by Kathy to “show” the hall to various family members, caterers, the wedding planner and the band as well as reassurances that the septic system would not fail and that the tank did NOT need to be emptied before the wedding!!  Living in close proximity to the hall meant every time someone blew a fuse Kathy had to go and “reset’ it. If there were water troubles she and John Edwards both had to respond. “Trouble shooter” was her second title after “booking agent”.

Her favourite renters were a young couple from Calgary who held their wedding reception in our lovely old building after a ceremony on the beach which included live butterflies! Kathy and her daughter Liz catered the celebration which continued the “butterfly” theme along with plenty of white tulle, pink flowers and pink cupcakes.  “However, I made two green ones for the groom” Kathy told me. The next day Kathy found an arrangement of flowers with butterflies and a thank you card for her & Liz. 

Kathy attended many silent auctions in the hall. Taking home a late 1800’s framed embroidered silk scene on one occasion was a highlight. She also enjoyed the annual Blacksmith meetings/workshops that she and Liz catered every May. The annual Christmas Pot lucks, community fundraisers, (in particular the one for Larry Ehrler’s kidney) and a famous “dessert” event stand out for Kathy.  I needed more details about the dessert night of course. “It was a fundraiser for the new roof over the stage. Desserts were on trolleys and Liz was belly dancing to keep folks entertained.” Kathy stated. Ray Whitta saw Liz and exclaimed “isn’t this the part when you do this?” while tucking $5 into her hip belt. By the end of the evening Liz had $20 and donated it all to the new roof.

Kathy’s last tale was about “Freckles” the ginger cat who attended meetings and funerals at the hall. “He seemed to know who to visit and who to support” she shared with me. “He even took his place on a chair between myself and a burly RCMP member at the Y2K meeting.”

In closing, I learned the secret to getting Garry Jackman to a meeting in the hall; his favourite “slice”,  Kathy’s almond raspberry bars!

P.S. If you have memories of the Crawford Bay Community Hall that you wish to share please email me: lkeraiff@cbhall.ca.  All “Memories & Musings” will be collected along with photos and placed in a “Book of Memories” to be displayed in the new hall entryway.