Gail Deegan always has two things going for her – a well stocked kitchen and a perfect view of the Trans-Canada Highway from her third floor condo.
She put both to good use by going above and beyond to help drivers of halted rigs during last June’s flood.
“She could see the backup of halted rigs building as the creek breeched its banks last year. Realizing the drivers were grounded and unable to leave their loads, Gail sprung into action, hand-delivering sandwiches, water, coffee and granola bars to the stranded truckers,” Canmore Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) member Elaine Smith said. “After making the first delivery on foot, she was assisted by a marooned visitor with a driving pass to complete two full days of sandwich runs.”
“One Australian guy asked me if this (flooding) happens often,” Deegan said of one of the days of delivering food. “I told him ‘you’re here for awhile.’ But they were so thankful for the refreshments.
“In my house, the fridge is always full. And whenever I go on a road trip, I pack sandwiches. You never know when you’ll have an emergency.” She agrees with the statement, “this is one of those jobs grandmothers are really good at.”
Deegan and five representatives of Volker Stevin Highways and Contracting road crews were honoured by the CHLA for outstanding acts of kindness and hard work during and after the flood on Thursday (Jan. 30) at Volker Stevin.
CHLA president Scott Stevens presented the “flood heroes” pins to the six attendees, and had 250 pins made to recognize not only their own exceptional employees, but both individuals and groups in the community for their service during the community’s difficult time.
“We wanted to recognize, not only our own employees who helped put us back in business, but particular individuals like Gail, who rose to the occasion with selfless acts of kindness and connection,” said Stevens in presenting the Canmore senior with her pin.
The CHLA also highlighted frontline groups like Parks, RCMP and road crews who went beyond just completing the call of duty to put in countless hours of overtime restoring normal highway flows,” said Smith towards the community recognition.
“I’m with the bridge division, so as soon as the flood hit we were all sent out to rebuild bridges on the Trans-Canada, and our crews worked hard to get the bridges functioning again,” crew member Andrew Morrison said after the ceremony. “We had guys from Aldersyde and a bunch of us were called to help ... we were out scoping all the bridges to make sure everything was OK during the flood.”
Accepting Volker Stevin pins on behalf of crew members were: Bob Laycock, superintendent of roads, whose crew was responsible for asphalt paving; Andrew Morrison, bridge foreman, whose crew did necessary bridge repairs at Cougar Creek and the TCH; Stan Dyck, roads foreman, whose crew did the grade work to rebuild the road; Cliff Takahashi, area superintendent, who organized and scheduled everyone and Dave Clark, area foreman, who was responsible for Canmore area highway maintenance.
