Her friend and fellow Armstrong co-Citizen of the Year in 2013, Ruth Bosomworth, would have been happy for Rea Smith.
Smith was awarded a Governor General’s Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers at Monday’s Armstrong council meeting.
Unfortunately, Bosomworth died four days earlier, Dec. 15, at the age of 103 years.
The pair were Armstrong’s Citizens of the Year during the city’s centennial birthday in 2013.
“Ruth would have been so excited for me,” said Smith, a retired elementary school teacher.
“We had become very close.”
In a letter to Smith from the office of Gov.-Gen. David Johnston, the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers recognizes those individuals, “in the support they provide to their communities at the grassroots level, and the positive impact they have on the lives of others.”
Smith was nominated for her longtime work with Communities in Bloom.
“But, really, there isn’t a committee in town she doesn’t sit on,” said Mayor Chris Pieper, who presented Smith with her medal.
It was a busy night for presentations for the mayor.
Pieper also awarded the city’s Recognition of Excellence award to Armstrong’s Laurie Williams, who was honoured for her work with the Huntington Society of Canada’s Okanagan chapter.
Williams was recently awarded the society’s national award of merit for volunteers.