Where are they now? Catching up with individuals
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, April 5, 2017
By Rick Sparling
The Neepawa Press
Alvin Cameron - 1956-1957 West Park School Junior Red Wings: Alvin Cameron (aka Suzie) left school to work as a farm hand for Ed Sage for a year and then went on to work for Bill Tinkler, at Neepawa Lumber.
It was located where the Round House was and Chicken Corall now sits. After a year at the lumber yard, Alvin went into Winnipeg to take a painting and decorating course at Red River College and upon graduation, went back to Neepawa to do some painting/decorating for Eric Pettit. He stayed there for 2 1/2 years, until 1966. He then took a major career change and joined the Armed Forces in 1967 and was stationed in Portage la Prairie for a year and then onto Shearwater, Nova Scotia until 1991. In 1992, he went to the military base in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, retired from the military in 1993 and became a farm hand for the Gray brothers, Bob and Harry. Alvin continues to work there and has surpassed his 20th year with the farm, just 15 kilometers northwest of Moose Jaw at Brownlee, Saskatchewan.
David Speiss - 1961-1962 West Park School Senior Bruins: David Speiss left NACI in 1971 to attend Red River College, where he graduated as both a Registered X-ray Technologist and a Cardiology technician in 1974. Dave trained in rural hospitals such as St. Claude and in Selkirk, where he met and married Anna Anderson. They had a daughter, Krista, in 1973 and have a grand child, Kyanna (7 years old). He settled into the Neepawa District Memorial Hospital in 1975 and besides working there, he and his wife operated the Neepawa Florist shop, Speiss Ceramics and the Park Lake Picture Framing Gallery (because of Anna's artistic talents) over the years, until his retirement in 2009. David has played hockey over the years and played for the No Stars, a travelling team that went to tournaments in places such as Minnedosa, Brandon and Winnipeg and he played from 1975 until 2008. The team won the Canadian Old Timer's Hockey Association Nationals in Winnipeg in 1992. He now likes to travel and to get some golfing in as a member of the beautiful Neepawa Golf & Country Club, as well as doing some fishing at his place on Lake Manitoba. Anna and Dave were married for 39 years and she passed in 2012. They loved to travel and Lake Havasu became a favourite to which Dave still travels. If you have been in the waiting room in the diagnostic department at the Neepawa Hospital, you may remember seeing some of Dave's nature photos there-- another one of his hobbies.
Ken Guinn - 1964-1965 West Park School Champions Junior Warriors: Ken Guinn left school to start work as a mechanic, first for Angus McDougall and he continued as a mechanic in Brandon, Calgary and Vancouver before he began a 30+ year career in the trucking industry. Ken worked at the Neepawa Truck Service under Archie McArthur, who had just bought out Percy Murray. He also worked for other trucking firms, such as Gardwine and Bison Transfer and during his off and slow times, often worked at Guinn's Marble Works. Ken retired due to medical reasons in 2014 in Neepawa. He enjoys tinkering with anything mechanical.
