Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
Longtime volunteer and community champion Don Fuhrman died suddenly last week and the community now has a big hole to fill within the local volunteer base.
Fuhrman, who was only 66-years-old at the time of his death on Jan. 18, spent the majority of his adult life volunteering his time to community projects and organizations. He not only volunteered with several local organizations, he helped to lead those organizations.
Don Fuhrman, who dedicated his life to volunteering with several organizations, died last week. He will be missed.
The dedicated volunteer was raised in the Netherhill area, where he continued to live on a farm with his wife. As of Jan. 18, Fuhrman was vice-president for the Kindersley and District Health and Wellness Foundation (KDHWF), secretary for the Kindersley Elks Lodge, and past president of the Kindersley Legion.
According to a colleague, Fuhrman’s involvement in the health care community goes back more than 30 years. He held a wide range of executive positions over his time with the Kindersley Elks, and he has been huge for the Legion.
David Burke, the sergeant-at-arms for the Kindersley Legion, said Fuhrman had just finished a stint of six years as president of the Legion branch. He served three consecutive two-year terms as president, and he had only passed the torch to a new president the day before he died.
The Kindersley Legion held a meeting on Jan. 17 to elect a new executive. Burke said the torch has been passed on to Patrick Brick, the new president of the branch, and Fuhrman was to remain on the branch’s executive board as past president.
Burke said if he had to describe his close friend and colleague in as few words as possible, he would use the words “truly dedicated.” He said Fuhrman was dedicated to his position, dedicated to the organization and “if there was something that needed to be done and he couldn’t find anybody to do it, he did it.”
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He noted that Fuhrman did a lot for his community and the Legion, but one of the former president’s greatest contributions was to the renovation project at the Legion Hall. Burke said the hall renovation project would not have been possible without the contributions Fuhrman had made.
When members were discussing whether they should renovate the hall, Burke said he told members he believed the building had surpassed its useful life and it should just be torn down. The members held a vote and decided to renovate the hall.
Even though Burke suggested the building was too old to save, Fuhrman asked him to serve as chairperson of the hall renovation committee because the president believed he could do it. Burke worked hand in hand with the president.
Fuhrman led the charge on fundraising for the renovation project. Burke said the committee only set out to replace the roof, but the community kept making donations and the renovation project evolved to include work on several parts of the building. Fuhrman’s efforts made further upgrades possible.
The sergeant-at-arms said Fuhrman was always open to new ideas, or even old ideas that had not been considered for a while. Another quality he said he appreciated about him is that he was very organized, so he kept detailed notes and records. Burke said he enjoyed every minute of his time working with his friend and the Legion, along with the entire community, will miss his contributions.
Gary Hamilton, treasurer for the Kindersley Elks, said he has been a member of the Elks for 52 years, and he believes Fuhrman had been a member for about the past 30 of those years. He recognized that he had a close bond with the long-time Elks member.
According to Hamilton, Fuhrman held positions including exalted ruler, president and vice-president of the Kindersley Elks and he also served at the district level. The Kindersley Elks used to run a catering business to raise money for the lodge, and the former secretary served as the captain of a catering committee.
As captain of a catering committee, the person would take care of all aspects of the catering business for a month at a time. Hamilton said the Elks do a specific ceremony to bring in new members and Fuhrman had memorized the ceremony, so he and Fuhrman helped other lodges with the task.
Hamilton said the Kindersley lodge is hosting a provincial convention in 2018, and he and the lodge secretary were discussing the details of future meetings the day before he died. He noted that his colleague would be missed.
“He has been involved for a lot of years in causes that he certainly believed in,” Hamilton said, adding he could not say enough nice things about Fuhrman. “You believe in a community, and so you do everything you can to keep the thing alive.”
Vivian Kalmer, the administrator for the KDHWF, said the foundation was incepted in 1992 and Fuhrman had been involved since the start. Kalmer and Ken McBride, the current president of the foundation, have also been involved since 1992. She noted that Fuhrman has been involved in health care since before the foundation was established.
She said the foundation’s longtime vice president served as chairperson of a group that helped to provide a mobility bus service in the 1980s. The administrator noted that Fuhrman was just a great guy, who was very dedicated and involved with respect to the foundation.
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