OBSERVER NEWS |
Community mourns Elmira mother of two
» Husband charged with first-degree murder
BY: VANESSA MOSS
As friends and family gathered to remember Valerie Ferguson this week, her impact on those who knew her came to light.
The 44-year-old mother of two – K.J., 6, and Annastasia “Tasha,” 8 – was actively involved with her church and with her children’s activities, including swimming at the Elmira pool.
“She’s one of those parents that would just lift our spirits and had the nicest things to say about everybody,” said Adrienne Schmidt, pool supervisor.
“She was very passionate about keeping her kids active and she was very … almost like she was part of our little family. She just made a difference in all of our instructors’ lives.”
Ferguson was found dead in her home on Nightingale Crescent Apr. 3 after police responded to a 911 call to check on the wellbeing of a resident just after 3 p.m.
Originally treated as a sudden death, a post- mortem revealed Ferguson died as a result of strangulation.
Her husband, Kenneth Michael Ferguson, 41, was arrested Sunday morning in Elmira and charged with first-degree murder later that night.
Valerie, more commonly “Val,” moved to Elmira from out west about four years ago, said pastor Dan Allen of Woodside Bible Fellowship.
Since then, she had been a regular and welcome presence at the church who helped out whenever she could.
“She was a very devoted mother and always kind of like ‘life is an adventure,’” he said, adding that she took part in the children’s ministry and church ladies’ group.
“With our children here in the church, [she] just had a gift for children, a heart for children, so she would always be helping out in Sunday school or making cards, something for the kids.
“Nobody saw this coming.”
Equally shocked by Ferguson’s death was Katie Trimble, who instructed K.J. at the pool. On the last day of lessons in December, K.J. and his mom brought Trimble flowers and a card and took her picture as a memory.
“She made sure that her kids got the best experience possible.”
On Wednesday, Trimble looked up old evaluations Ferguson had taken time to write about her and remembered how much they had meant at the time.
“She used actual caring words like ‘love and passionate,’ so she definitely treated everybody amazing.
“Anybody that you talk to or anything just says, “oh, I ran into her on the street and she was really nice. Her neighbours say she always stopped by and said hello. … I don’t think anybody who knew her had a [bad] relationship with her.”
The instructor also recalled special moments Ferguson shared with her children. Like the time K.J. grew his hair long to look like his mother’s brown, curly locks.
“We’d look over at him when we were swimming and he’d have to shake his head to get the water out of his eyes and she [Ferguson] would mock him and shake her head right back at him. So, the two of them would shake their heads at each other across the pool and he ended up keeping his hair for weeks. I bugged him every week, but he insisted on keeping his hair long and curly.”
Both Trimble and Schmidt said the entire pool staff is already feeling Ferguson’s absence.
“To find happiness when you see somebody and you see happiness, I think that’s true: it’s genuine happiness, it was real,” Schmidt said.
“She was the most kindhearted, positive person that we knew.”
At this time the family wishes to have its privacy respected, but family friend Rob Smyth said, “the children and family are doing extremely well in spite of the circumstances due to their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
A memorial service for Valerie Ferguson took place Friday at Woodside Bible Fellowship in Elmira and a trust fund has been set up for the children at the Bank of Montreal: transit number 33055; account number 8632493.
Kenneth Ferguson is set to appear in Kitchener Provincial Court via video on Apr. 16.
Sweet fun in the sun at syrup fest
» This year’s festival draws record crowds and lineups, leaving organizers searching for more supplies
BY: VANESSA MOSS
The lineups might have been long, but the weather was fine at this year’s Elmira Maple Syrup Festival that saw a record attendance of over 70,000 people line the streets Apr. 5.
“People in general didn’t really mind that they couldn’t go anywhere fast because they were just enjoying the sun and the spring weather,” said Lavern Brubacher, 2008 festival committee chair.
“It was a good year.”
Past-chair Doug McLean added that he is convinced there was a record number of visitors this year since people were parked east of the cemetery on Church Street and down many of the side streets in town.
“It was a huge event,” he said.
Popular venues like the pancake tent and sugar bushes forced organizers to come up with new ways of lining people up, Brubacher said.
A last-minute search for more pancake mix was also needed since the 820 kilos (12,000 pancakes) were used up by midday.
Brubacher attributed that location’s volume of people in part to the historic Waterloo Central Railway (WCR) that whisked large groups into town all day.
Next year, the festival committee might have to increase its supplies since hundreds of visitors were turned away once the extra mix was gone.
“We have to in some way apologize to the public. … We weren’t able to deliver the service that we would expect to deliver at the pancake tent.”
Other than those issues, the event ran smoothly, Brubacher said, with fabulous feedback and revenues pouring in.
Although exact figures were not yet available at press time, he said this year’s profits were slightly higher than last year.
“I think it was very successful,” McLean said.
The vendors were handing out food as quick as they could make it, the ponies and other farm animals kept the kids entertained and the craft and antique shows provided a bit of a breather from the craziness of Arthur Street.
And, on top of everything, the sap was flowing, the fires were lit and producers were making syrup as the tours came through.
The festival could not have fallen on a better day, McLean said.
“Everybody seemed to be having a really good time.”
Communal effort prevents worst
of flooding
BY:MARC MIQUEL HELSEN
The melting snows caused more alarm than actual destruction at one Linwood home where family members, firefighters and members of the Wellesley public works department converged Apr. 1 to stop the flowing waters from creeping into the basement.
It was about 2:30 p.m. when township fire chief Dave Geil received a call for help from an Ament Line resident. Firefighters arrived on scene and immediately started sandbagging as a first line of defense.
For about 45 minutes, some 12 firefighters and staff members bagged the area to prevent water from seeping into the basement. Filling and placing sandbags provided by Jones Feed Mill, the two departments were able to secure the house from the rising waters.
“We had fire trucks – we had everything under the sun here,” said resident Lillian Moore.
While the Linwood area is not a typical danger zone when it comes to flooding, this year’s massive snows made for a particularly precarious problem.
“With all the melting … I guess [the water] just couldn’t run away fast enough so, it crawled up to the back of his deck there and another six inches and probably would have got water in the house,” said Geil.
Flooding conditions at the Linwood home were likely caused by water building up around the house before entering the Linwood Drain. It appeared that this was caused simply by the sheer volume of water finding its way to this location as all catch basins and culvert pipes where operating at full capacity, public works director Will McLaughlin explained.
Unfortunately for the residents, Mark and Lillian Moore, some water did in fact seep in on Apr. 8 but without the sandbags it would likely have been much more.
“We had to move everything. We have a large basement, it looks like a bowling alley – it was quite a dramatic thing,” said Lillian Moore.
But with some help from family members, the residents were able to remove valuables from the basement and set up fans to dry the excess water. Now, they’re just hoping for some dry weather.