Marie Mathers holds her Citizen of the Year award alongside President of the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club Jean-Marc Belliveau. (Jaryn Vecchio/paNOW staff)

By paNOW Staff

Citizen of the year

Mathers honoured as 2021 Citizen of the Year

Mar 26, 2023 | 4:00 PM

During a ceremony at the Royal Canadian Legion Lounge on Saturday, the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club and Prince Albert Daily Herald recognized and honoured Marie Mathers as the 2021 Citizen of the Year.

The 88-year-old has spent decades giving back to the community and is a veteran of the Second World War. The announcement was first made back in November of 2022, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the news was postponed along with the ceremony until now.

When she first heard that she won Citizen of the Year she was surprised, and now a few months later, she said the reality of the award still hasn’t sunk in.

“I had a bit of a cry (when I found out),” she said. “It’s just too much for me.”

“Sometimes I really get to think of how long I’ve been somewhere or how long I’ve given because it goes so well that I don’t even notice the time.”

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She also said she’s not used to all the attention she’s been getting from everyone talking about her.

“I’m usually the one that speaks. I’ve enjoyed it though,” she said laughing.

Back in October, Mathers had the opportunity to pin a poppy on one of her former scouts, Ramsay Bellisle. At the ceremony yesterday, she took some time to talk about him and all that he meant to her.

“Ramsay was a very special boy to me,” she said. “I had him as a scout, and then he went to Croatia and he came back to help me as a leader. I’ve had his brothers but it was not the same, he was always so special to me.”

In an interview with paNOW back in November, she mentioned the first person she was going to break the news to was her son, Robert. Mathers believed her son wouldn’t be able to make the ceremony, but to her surprise, Robert was there watching his mother be honoured with a once-in-a-lifetime award.

“He has been a very good son,” she said trying to hold back tears. “I was very pleased that he was able to come. He finished working in Saskatoon at 7 a.m., did his paperwork, and came back home and had a couple hour sleep.”

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @princealbertnow