Dorothy Spiller honoured at retirement tea after 28 years as Daysland news correspondent

Dorothy Spiller, Daysland correspondent for The Community Press for 28 years, officially retired from writing the Daysland News earlier in the year, and was recognized Thursday by the Community Press for her contribution to her community.

At a tea held at Providence Place, residents and family were on hand to share in the celebration.

Spiller says she fell into the role of writing the Daysland News quite naturally, as her mother, Margaret Berry, had also written the news in her day, as had her aunt, Pearl Berry, who wrote the Hughenden news for a time.

Dorothy followed June Serediak, picking up the pen for Daysland in 1986 until 2013.

“Stewart Candlish just stopped me on the street one day and said I should write it, so I just started sending it in to The Community Press,” Spiller says.

Spiller has always been involved with her community, she worked with 4-H for close to 30 years with the 4-H clothing and garden club, as well as with other community organizations.

In November 1984, she received an Alberta Achievement Award in the Service Category, and has that award, signed by Premier Peter Lougheed, framed, although is perhaps too modest to hang it up in her living room.

She’s also served more recently on the Providence Place Resident’s Council.

Community Press publisher Eric Anderson presented Dorothy with a momento to celebrate her retirement after 28 years, and a special cake bearing her image was shared among friends and family.

Spiller is considering a new column for Providence Place news, she says, but maybe not on a weekly basis, more an as-things-happen one.

Leslie Cholowsky
Editor