MINTO – Bob Emmerson has been recognized by the Town of Minto as Senior of the Year for his outstanding contributions, after the age of 65, that strengthened and protected communities.
On June 17, Emmerson was surprised with the award during a council meeting.
“Bob Emmerson has been a member of the Palmerston Lions [Club] for 55 years,” Mayor Dave Turton stated as he presented the award.
“He served as president in 1975 to 76 and went on to serve five terms as secretary [and] three terms as treasurer of the club.”
Additionally, he was the inaugural chair of the Palmerston Lions Heritage Park and served as such for over 20 years.
“Bob was also a founding treasurer of Palmerston minor hockey in 1995 and has been involved with the Palmerston hospital foundation and gala for many years,” Turton explained.
Emmerson came to town in 1970 to be an accountant for Palmerston and District Hospital. He later became CEO and had a big hand in keeping the hospital from closing.
“[It’s] well deserved,” councillor Ron Elliott said. “That isn’t half of what we could have wrote on things that you’ve done in your life in Palmerston.
“You’ve been quite an amazing citizen and for the things you’ve done, I thank you.”
Deputy mayor Jean Anderson stated Emmerson was “instrumental in the negotiations we’ve had to undertake to manoeuvre the health care system.”
“It’s been a tricky business for a long time protecting our little hospital, but we are still there,” said Anderson.
“He deserves a big round of applause for that because without the (Palmerston) hospital this wouldn’t be the same community that it is.”
Turton told Emmerson, “It’s likely past due, an honour like this, but we’d like to thank you for all the hard work that you’ve done.”
After the awards Emmerson shared details of the big day with the Advertiser in an interview.
“I’m not used to surprises of that magnitude,” he said.
“I’m just very proud and I thank the Town of Minto and the council for providing me with this honour.”
Emmerson has been involved in a great deal of projects and fundraisers as a Lion. One he’s particularly proud of is the Christmas baskets the club creates for those in need during the holidays.
He reminisced about his time at the local hospital and the pride he felt in his work and in the people who helped him along the way.
“Three days after I took over as CEO I got a call from the Ministry [of Health] saying that we were on the list to close,” Emmerson explained.
“We worked through it and convinced them that it was a valuable hospital to the area and that it did a lot of good.”
When he called his mother to share the good news he was CEO of the hospital, she stated she was glad he was his own boss. To that he replied, “Now I’ve got 10,000 bosses.”
Emmerson said he saw the public as his boss and strived to serve them well.
“It is their hospital; I didn’t run it as my hospital I ran it as theirs and I’m proud of that,” he said. “It is immense to have the respect of the people that you worked with or for and I feel I have that and this award cements that feeling.”
Dave Wilson, who has been a Lion for 39 years, said he has worked closely with Emmerson as project manager to build what the Heritage Park is today.
“Bob’s a very generous person [and] good to work with,” Wilson said. “He knows what he wants but will listen to other suggestions.”
He added it was great to work with such a dedicated person.
“It was a well-deserved award for Bob. He deserves to get recognized for the work he has done,” Wilson said.
