John Slater (File photo)
Former Town of Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells said he strongly supports a proposal to name the walkway from Highway 97 to the Osoyoos Golf Course in memory of former mayor and MLA John Slater.
Wells said he would “gladly” be part of any local committee or group that would push to have this town’s pioneers and community leaders recognized and honoured.
“I would like to see a volunteer committee formed in this town that would look at honouring this town’s pioneers and trail blazers,” said Wells, who has lived in Osoyoos most of his life. “I certainly wouldn’t say no to voicing my opinion and helping out if such a committee were to be formed.
“We haven’t done enough in this town, in my humble opinion, of honouring the people who have made significant contributions to making our beautiful little town the great place we all know it has become.”
In September, longtime resident George Mahovlic wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Osoyoos Times stating his support to have the walkway heading to the golf course named in honour of Slater, who died suddenly in May of 2015.
“John Slater served as an alderman for four terms in the Town of Osoyoos and twice as our mayor,” wrote Mahovlic. “He put in more terms on the Osoyoos town council than any other mayor in this town’s history.
“He was a hardworking man as he ran his greenhouse business, while raising a young family with one sick child. He truly worked hard night and day for the love of this town.”
Slater was instrumental in getting the Northwest Sewer Project completed, construction of the Pioneer Walkway and getting the funding to build the walkway from the highway to the golf course, he wrote.
Wells said he read Mahovlic’s letter with great interest and supports the idea of naming the walkway in Slater’s honour.
“John loved this town and he did a lot for this town,” said Wells. “John was directly involved in a lot of things that we’ve all come to appreciate in this town. He was a longtime councillor before becoming our mayor … and he became the longest-serving mayor in the town’s history.
“He also became our MLA and always had Osoyoos in mind during his term in office as our MLA. What he did for our town should be recognized.”
Wells reiterated that the time has come to honour and remember those who gave so much to make Osoyoos a wonderful place to live.
“There are many who have served on council through the years who deserve recognition, but there are many others who have contributed so much,” he said. “Council has a lot on its plate and I really don’t think it’s their responsibility to recognize these people, but what we need is members of the community to come together to ensure our pioneers and community leaders and business leaders are recognized. It has to come from community input.”
Wells said he and Slater were “political allies” who had a great deal of respect for each other.
“John and I sat together on council and it was mostly a very positive relationship, but we weren’t exactly close friends,” he said. “I was never in his house and I don’t remember him being in my house.
“But I had a great deal of respect for him and no one could ever doubt the passion he had for Osoyoos.”
Jane Slater, who was married to Slater for 23 years, said her former husband deserves to be recognized for his leadership in this community and naming the walkway in his honour would be a wonderful gesture her family would be thrilled with.
“I can tell you that the favourite thing John enjoyed in Osoyoos was walking up the hill towards the golf course,” she said. “He was a very busy man, but he always made sure he didn’t have any appointments so he could play his Tuesday afternoon round of golf.”
Her former husband would be smiling brightly if the walkway bore his name, she said.
“Absolutely John deserves to be recognized for everything he did for this community,” she said. “He did so much for this town … I don’t think any single person did more than he did for Osoyoos. He had such a passion for this town and our town wouldn’t be the wonderful place it is today without John.”
Not only did he contribute to the community through public service as mayor and MLA, but he positively influenced the lives of many young people as a longtime coach in baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey, she said.
Too many people remember Slater during the last months of his life when he quit the Liberal party after party leaders failed to endorse him leading into the 2014 provincial election, she said.
“I would like to think people should be remembered for all the good things they’ve done in their lives,” she said. “John did a lot of wonderful things for this town … I don’t think anyone would argue with that.”
Current Mayor Sue McKortoff said Mahovlic did call her to talk about his idea to name the walkway to honour Slater.
“I told George that we have a couple of issues that are much higher priority, but I will take a look at it,” she said.
McKortoff said she would welcome any group or committee members looking to honour the town’s pioneers and leaders and ask them to make a presentation to council.
“We have tons of things going on in this community right now, but if a group of people were interested in putting together something like this, I think it would be a good idea.
“Having someone like Stu involved would also be great because he’s lived his whole life in Osoyoos and would be able to contribute a great deal.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
