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.
Lisa Smale always did what she could for her late son, Shayne Pearson. Now she wants to do the same for other students who have ambition to play sports with the Shayne Pearson Memorial Bursary. "It will be very nice to offer somebody that, at least their tuition and their books are paid," she says. "They have an opportunity to go to school, because now it's so necessary for a kid to have an education, they have to have something, trade school, whatever. Some parents just can't do it all." There is still much work to be done, including dealing with legalities, but Smale is hoping to give a different student every year $1,500. That actual total has yet to be finalized. "When my son's father (Mel Pearson) died, we were a struggling single income family," she explains. "We decided to, sold our bigger home, our more comfortable home and downsized everything and it was really a struggle. One income for a child to play hockey and do all the sports he wanted to do. "I thought in retrospect, me looking back and thought it would be nice to give somebody else that opportunity to go to school and maybe have an opportunity that we may not have had, had I not taken a second job and done those kinds of things," she continued. Currently, money is being fundraised from a Darlene Babcock print of Mel and Shayne playing hockey, as well as the efforts of hockey players, Hapnot students, and some local businesses with jar donations. The Norman Northstars, the team Shayne played for, is also helping. During the upcoming Mel Pearson Memorial Tournament, hats with Shayne's and Mel's names will be sold with the money going to the bursary. That tournament is taking place on Dec. 2. "I was always going to do something anyway," says Smale in her home, "but just seems like the community wants to get behind it and help. Thank God, it's great."
