The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Graham Craig graduated as a Doctor of Optometry in 1952. He worked in Winnipeg for six years in a partnership before deciding to go out on his own. With great thought he pondered where he would like to set up his lifelong practice and, simply because he loved this type of area, he brought his new wife of only two weeks and their meager belongings to Flin Flon in 1956. His plan was to live here his whole life because as a child he have moved a lot. He wanted to be able to make friends and enjoy his new home. Because he was just starting out in his practice, Graham had to use up almost all their savings to buy equipment and since they had no place to live, they started off living in a hotel. One day out of the blue, a knock came to their hotel room door. A man identified himself as Mr. Burkett (who happened to own Burkett's Drugstore) and asked Graham how he and Grace were doing. "Pride being what it is," responded Graham, "Oh we are doing just fine!" Mr. Burkett responded, "Don't (kid) me lad, if you were doing so great, why are you living in a hotel?" See 'People' P.# Con't from P.# Burtkett told Graham that he had a suite above his store and wanted Graham and Grace to move in until they could get themselves established. Graham said he was just astounded. "He gave me the keys and we had to go through his store to get to the suite. We could have stolen everything he had in the store! He didn't know us from Adam!" was Graham's astonished reply. "We stayed there for about five weeks. Those five weeks were the breaking point for us," he related. "Later when I tried to pay Mr. Burkett back, the only payment was a request to do the same for someone else some day." "We soon found out what kind of people there are in Flin Flon. We moved to Bellevue, and about a year later our son was born and wouldn't you know it but he was colicky! The only way we could get him to sleep was to take him for a car ride. I knew every back lane and street in this town," he laughingly said. Again there came a knock at their door. This time it was a couple from down the street. They just said, "Get your things and get out of here! There is a room booked for you two for the weekend at the Royal Hotel, We will look after your son!" "Again, that is the way people in Flin Flon are," Graham smiling replied. Graham practiced his career as an optometrist for 32 years in Flin Flon. During that time he and his wife Grace raised three children, one son and two daughters. Graham was a member of the Flin Flon Glee Club which he joined in 1959. He fondly recalls Dorothy Liss, Joyce Bongfeldt, Murray McDonald and Richard Lyons Ð just to name a few. Some of his favorite productions were Music Man. Brigadoon and Kiss Me Kate. He added that he didn't always sing in the productions, sometimes he would work the sets backstage or do scenery. Graham is presently a member of the Flin Flon Community Choir and stated that the only real difference between the two (the Glee Club and the Community Choir) is that this choir does more sacred music, where in past years the many churches each had their own choirs and would do that type of music in their own churches. He also stated that, "There is a similarity in the choirs in that the conductors want to produce a high caliber of performance." Graham spent nine years on the Flin Flon School Board and was a member and president of the Kinsmen for 15 years. He is still a member of the Rotary Club, which he joined about 22 years ago, and has been president of the club as well Ð a club in which he received the Paul Harris Fellow Award. Graham was mayor of Flin Flon for two terms from 1992 through 1998. He is a member in the Masonic Lodge, Order of Eastern Star and Shriners as well as a member of the Flin Flon/The Pas Pipe Band. He is chair of the Flinty Project and is on the Ross Lake Development Committee. Graham and his wife Grace have no plans for leaving this "fabulous place" called Flin Flon. They have a lovely home, a cottage at the lake and they also enjoy their three grandchildren. "What more could you ask?" said Graham. Thanks for sharing with us Graham! This story renews in many of us, why we still live in Flin FlonÉ it's the people!
