Just a Gal from Glidden: Kind Words – The Best Act To Leave A Powerful Impact

BY KATE WINQUIST
kate@yoursouthwest.com

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” — Mother Teresa

I have put in some pretty long hours this week, and I might have been feeling a bit sorry for myself. After all, I missed my deadline last week and had to drive to Wainwright and pick the newspapers up on Tuesday morning. Throw the Thanksgiving long weekend in there, and it made for an unusually short week - not what I needed when I was putting together a 28-page agriculture edition.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the office until about 1:00 am, so getting up in the morning to get back at it again wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do, especially when we’ve been hit with a cold spell. My nice warm blanket was beckoning me to stay.

My alarm went off at 6:30 am Friday. As I usually do, I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep for another 9 minutes. The alarm went off again, and I deployed the snooze function. This went on for not quite an hour when I finally decided it was time to get up.

I went to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee and proceeded to sit down and look at my Facebook to see what was new on my newsfeed - that’s when I got the news.

Veronica Longmuir had lost her courageous battle with cancer. She was 70 years old. Tears immediately weld up in my eyes. I hadn’t known Veronica for that long, even though she said she knew my parents and that she lived around the Dankin area. She of course ran Veronica’s Sewing Supplies for the past 41 years.

When I started The Voice back in July, Veronica was one of the first people to stop at the office and welcome me to Kindersley. She was so excited about the newspaper. I remember her telling me that she would go up and down Main Street promoting it, and I believe she did! Veronica hung up a poster in her store window to help encourage subscriptions. I know she sent more than a few people my way that signed up.

Even though Veronica was not well, she always kept a brave face. She stopped at another time; I believe it was back in early August, and I could tell that she wasn’t having a particularly good day. She wanted to tell me to keep up the good work and that I was in her prayers.

One evening when I was at my condo with my daughter, the phone rang. It was Veronica. She just wanted to chat while she was waiting for her husband to come in from the field. She said she was keeping all of her newspapers because she thought they were full of interesting articles and couldn’t think of throwing them out. We must have talked for about 15-20 minutes. That was the last time we spoke.

I would like to dedicate this particular issue of The Voice to Veronica and her family. If ever I start to feel sorry for myself, I will think of Veronica and her kind words, encouraging me to carry on and go with my passion, just like she did with her sewing supply shop. I may not have known her for long, but she positively has impacted my life. Rest in peace, sweet lady.

Veronica Longmuir

July 4, 1950 - October 14, 2020