A Verdant Valley Couple has been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies.
This award is presented to people who have over a lifetime supported rural agricultural communities. Ron and Helen Leonhardt certainly qualify for the award.
“Mr. and Mrs. Ron and Helen Leonhardt have been tremendous contributors to the Verdant Valley Agricultural Society, and have been great team players in the broader community over the course of many years,” stated a submission from the Verdant Valley Ag Society, which nominated them for the award.
“They have farmed and lived in the Verdant Valley District for dozens of years and they have been supportive of the community association since it was the Home and School Association and when the school closed in the 1980’s it took two years to determine if it was going to be a community association or an Ag society,” explains Lyle Rowe, Verdant Valley Ag Society President. “It was about 1989 when locals decided they would pursue the provincial Ag society Designation. They have been there all along.
Helen said they were honoured and humbled by the nomination.
‘We didn’t know anything about it and what they were up to with this,” she said.
“It was an honour, you feel pretty humbled too because there are so many people who do so much good in the world and you think we haven’t done anything that special.”
Ron was the first President of the society and has been involved in the maintenance of the property for 35 years, serving as the Maintenance Chair the entire time.
Ron was the President of Unifarm (which became the Wild Rose Agricultural Producers; now re-named as the Alberta Federation of Agriculture) – an advocacy group whose aims were to lobby for producers’ interests. He served as a Vice-President for 4 years, and President for 2 years. He was also appointed to the Senior Grains Transportation Committee and was the representative for Western Farmers in Ottawa.
Helen has served as secretary of the Ag Society for two decades and has overseen rental of the hall for 12 years. Both have served on a number of committees including new building development and have participated in virtually every event the hall has staged during their service.
Outside the Ag Society, they are heavily involved in the community. Helen served a term as the President of the Alberta - British Columbia Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, and served as a 4-H Leader in the community for 20 years, leading the Verdant Valley Snippettes, a youth sewing club.
Both have been heavily involved in the Canadian Badlands Passion Play since its inception serving on the board as well as on the ground as a volunteer. They are also both heavily involved with Grace Lutheran church
“They have done a great job, so it is an opportunity to travel to Edmonton and accept an award,” said Rowe. “There are some spectacular achievements they both had.”
The award will be presented at the Alberta Association of Ag Society Convention this week in Edmonton.
