ELK POINT – The presentation of curling trophies at the end of the season is a long tradition in Elk Point, and just how long that tradition has been in place was pointed out last week when a curler from the 1950s chose to share his trophy with today’s curling enthusiasts.
A very special curling trophy from close to 70 years ago is now making its home in the four-sheet Elk Point Curling Club that in 1961 replaced the original 1941 two-sheet version where it was presented in 1957 to the winners of the Elk Point Clinic Draw.
The trophy is one of a set of four sweaters knitted by Erma Yewchin, whose late husband Peter was the Elk Point Curling Club’s draw master at the time, and was presented by pioneer physician Dr. F. G. Miller to the winning rink made up of Tom Melnyk, Gus Hellquist, Bill Keller and Stanley Ruzycki.
Melnyk, now the only surviving member of that team, recently asked Ray Hellquist, son of his long-ago rink-mate, for his assistance in turning the well-preserved sweater into a keepsake for the club, and Hellquist was happy to do just that, building a handcrafted frame, tracking down photos from the past to go along with the sweater, and taking the frame to Cold Lake to get the glass front put in place.
Melnyk made the presentation last Wednesday to curling club representative Joanne Warawa, with the sweater’s creator and Heritage Lodge resident Erma Yewchin, now 97, nearby to admire her long ago project.
