Opening day celebrations for Palliser Regional Schools included the induction of five new members to the school district’s Wall of Fame.

Among those honoured was Iron Springs’ own Leonard Haney. He was recognized for outstanding achievement in the area of agriculture but as Joe Watson, who offered up his introduction, said he could have easily have been honoured for community service or business.
Born into a pioneer farm family, Haney not only made is mark on the field of agricultural but has also demonstrated his commitment to education, serving as a school board trustee and on the University of Lethbridge Board of Governors.
“He is a man who values education.”
Watson said his commitment to agriculture and community have gained him a number of honours over the years including Alberta’s Agricultural Hall of Fame, the Olds College Hall of Fame and the Order of Alberta.
“He is a bona fide member of the Order of Canada, not bad for an old farm boy from Iron Springs.”
Haney was on hand to accept his induction into Palliser’s Wall of Fame and his daughter Barb offered his thanks to the crowd of teachers, administration and support staff gathered last Friday in Vulcan.
“It’s a great honour,” she said.
She added it is an honour that could be shared with her mother, Velva who kept track of their four children and kept everything running at home so their dad could do what he did.
Coalhurst High School graduate Michael Jorgensen was also honoured during the opening day for staff. As an award-winning writer, producer, director and cinematographer he was inducted for outstanding achievement in documentary filmmaking.
Former teacher and friend Diane Pommen introduced Jorgensen noting his career started in television news which led him to working with large networks including CNN and CBC before he became an independent producer. His two-hour film “Battle of the X-Planes” won an Emmy for Best Long Form Documentary in 2004. His Emmy is one of more than 80 regional, national and international awards he has earned for his work.
“I grew up in a small town, in a small community just like you,” Jorgensen told Friday’s crowd.
The fact that he hails from a small town is something he sees as having been to his advantage throughout his career. He said because he grew up in a small town he can go to places like NASA and the Pentagon and tell their stories.
For Jorgensen it was not the book learning that was the most important thing he learned in school, “the calibre of your character” is what he learned was vital in any career path.
While he might have thought of himself as the “poster kid for average” Jorgensen said he always received encouragement from his teachers at Coalhurst High School.
“It wasn’t one teacher who encouraged me to follow my passion, it was six.”
He said he has been working on a documentary about Einstein, focused on the man of science’s thoughts on life rather than his scientific achievements.
“Only a life lived for others is worthwhile,” he said quoting Einstein and noting it sums up how he feels about what teachers do every day in their classrooms.
Coaldale’s own Tex Wiebe was also part of the induction ceremony, added to the Wall of Fame for his outstanding achievement in the Fine Arts.
He delighted the audience when he accepted his plaque and noted he feels more at home with a paintbrush in his hand than a microphone.
“I don’t speak well on an empty stomach so thanks a lot,” he said making his acceptance speech the shortest of the morning.
His son Kevin and granddaughter Jami provided his introduction noting his artistic talents were apparent very early in his education and actually got him in trouble when he was caught drawing on the inside of the school’s outhouse in Grade 1.
Jami said her grandfather’s principal at the time didn’t share quite the same appreciation for art as Tex.
“Punishment was a trip to the office where he received ‘the strap’.”
While he struggled academically, not learning until later in life that he had dyslexia, his artistic talent would lead him to capture his passion for Western Canada in his paintings.
His work can now be found in galleries across Western Canada and in art collections around the world. His sweeping prairie landscapes and facets of small-town Alberta are often the subjects of his paintings.
Well known Christian author Janette Oke, who attended Champion School, was also inducted into the Wall of Fame along with former major league baseball pitcher Chris Reitsma who graduated from Calgary Christian School.
Oke has written more than 75 books and her worldwide sales have surpassed 27 million copies. She has won numerous literary awards and has even seen one of her books, Love Comes Softly, made into both a musical and a made-for-television movie.
Reitsma was the first-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1996 and went on to play for the Cincinnati Reds, the Atlanta Braves before ending his 10 year major league career with the Seattle Mariners. He was also a member of the 2008 Canadian Olympic baseball team and he currently coaches baseball at the National Sports Academy.