A 102-year-old Black Diamond woman is getting the ultimate recognition for her efforts to help build her community over most of her lifetime.
A 102-year-old Black Diamond woman is getting the ultimate recognition for her efforts to help build her community over most of her lifetime.
A recreation area and green space to the south of the Oilfields Regional Arena will be named Erma Joy Brown Park in honour of long-time Black Diamond resident Erma Brown.
“I'm delighted,” said Brown. “I've lived here for 88 years and I've been part of the system a good part of my life.”
The town left it up to residents to select the name for the park in an online survey.
A total of 523 votes were cast for Erma Joy Brown Park, Diamond's Edge Park and Blakeman Memorial Park, with Brown's name receiving 52.6 per cent of the votes.
Brown moved to Black Diamond with her family when she was 15 years old in 1929.
Her family spent the first winter living in a tent.
The next spring, her father built a house that's just one block from the bungalow Brown lives in today.
“I've lived through Black Diamond becoming a boom town to becoming the town that we are today,” she said. “I was in the town from the time it was a village until it became a town and I worked with the councillors and mayors. Back then they were volunteers and they didn't get paid. A great part of this town has been built by volunteers.”
In addition to working as the Town's secretary treasurer for 20 years, Brown served on numerous committees and assisted with various projects that helped make her a community an even better place to live.
She was involved with the Community Association, Griffiths Senior Centre, municipal library and War Workers, and played a significant role in building the High Country Lodge and Glen Mead Lodge at the Oilfields General Hospital.
In 1976, Brown received the Centennial Medal for Citizen of the Year.
“I've been on most of the boards that they've had over the years,” she said. “I worked with all of these organizations to get the lodge and the high school and all of the things we got. It takes you years sometimes to do something. It's very satisfying.”
In addition to her volunteer work, Brown helped bring the iconic diamond monument located in front of the municipal building to the community after seeing an advertisement for the sale of a large metal diamond in the Calgary Herald.
Black Diamond Town council initially discussed giving the recreation area south of the Oilfields Regional Arena a name earlier this year and created a committee to narrow down the list of proposed park names to come from the community.
The Town received 74 suggestions earlier this spring, many of which were identical, which resulted in a final tally of 28 unique names.
The Erma Joy Brown Park currently consists of a skateboard park and the Legacy Outdoor Fitness Park. Construction will soon begin on a pump track and the expansion of a walking trail this summer, which will feature a bridge to join the pathways at the Bob Lochhead Memorial Campground and Willow Ridge.
The Town has been hosting more community events in this space, including last year's Canada Day celebrations. It will be home to Black Diamond's Canada's 150th anniversary celebrations this summer.
Shelley Broadley, planning and economic development assistant, said a naming ceremony will be held at the Erma Joy Brown Park this summer. A date has not yet been set, she said.
