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And That's The Scoop: Ian and Penny Fox are great rural ambassadors
Richard Froese
for Smoky River Express
When communities welcome new residents, it often takes a lot of prodding and pleading to get them active in the life of their new hometown.
But not for Ian and Penny Fox who are truly role models for all of us – if you have deep roots in the area or been here just a few years.
Before they moved out of the Smoky River region last week after nine years of dedicated life and service, Penny and Ian were widely lauded and thanked for helping make this a better community and region.
If more communities had more people like Ian and Penny Fox who have big hearts to make life better, wouldn’t life be so much better.
Ian served as regional fire chief and director of protective services from May 2002 to December 2009, and has recently started work with Alberta Emergency Management Agency as a field officer in northeast Alberta and required to live in that quarter of the province.
While he was kept busy to protect local residents, Penny served as executive director of Smoky River Family and Community Support Services for the past seven years and was active in over one dozens committees or programs in her profession or as a caring and committed resident.
Together, they touched and impacted the lives of probably every resident in the region as they served over the last nine years.
With their experiences of working and living in other small rural communities, Penny and Ian brought so much to this region that has sparked a renewed vision, optimism and life for the region and its communities.
For a region where a high majority of residents have not lived elsewhere and life has been much the same old, same old, it is refreshing when residents replant themselves in another region to generate and offer ideas that inspire us to open our eyes and hearts by focusing on ways to grow and progress.
For those of us who carry on with our lives here, each of us has learned a lot from Penny and Ian that can help us build and grow for the future.
Bloom where you are planted.
That’s what Penny and Ian Fox did in the Smoky River region and they will do it in their new hometown in St. Paul.
As they have been transplanted and nourished and fertilized us in this region, we must continue to build on what they and others have also helped to build.
When each of us contributes with our passions, strengths, experiences, and skills, with in whatever community we live, with an optimistic heart and attitude, the lives of those around us are enriched for a better quality of life and future for everyone.
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