By Kevin Lavelle
Stewardship Officer
Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
On Tuesday, October 23, 2012, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations staff, friends and family of the late Patrick Wadey all met at the Forest Service Recreation Site re-named in his honour.
Patrick was a long time BC Forest Service employee who passed away in 2005. The weather was cool and blustery, but the hot chocolate and chicken burgers were cooking on the barbeque hosted by staff from the local Columbia Field Team of the BCTS Okanagan-Columbia Business Area. Resource Manager Kurt Huettmeyer made the dedication in front of 30 plus attendees who stood by the waterfront and reminisced with stories about days gone by involving Patrick.
Ken Gibson, Recreation Sites & Trails representative, uncovered a beautiful wooden plaque with a dedication to Patrick, that will eventually be mounted on a large boulder on the beach of the very picturesque recreation site that was upgraded several years ago and has been a user-pay site ever since.
Barb Wadey and her son Chris were in attendance and were photographed receiving the plaque from Huettmeyer. Many thanks go out to Chelsea Merko and the BCTS Columbia Field Team who organized and delivered the fabulous barbeque lunch to the hungry crowd.
The newly renamed rec site is 20 minutes north of town on Highway 23N.