At the Innisfil Historical Society’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday, member Donna Wice displayed a banner and pennant, donated to the Society by Bonnie Abrams.
The banner, which dates from 1945, reads: “Welcome Home Daddy.”
Abrams wrote to explain, “This banner was held by (my husband) Vern and his brother Ron when their dad Walter Abrams returned from the war. The family met Walter at Union Station in Toronto. The banner was purchased for the kids to hold, to welcome Dad home. Vern was six years old when his dad returned...”
Walter Abrams, who is included in the book Innisfil Veterans – Their lives and Memories, served in the Ontario Regiment, Tank division, during World War II.
“Bonnie Abrams got in touch with me,” said Wice. “She couldn’t picture any other place for this, than it coming home to Innisfil.”
The donation will be part of the Society’s Doors Open Innisfil display, in 2020, which will reflect the history of the municipality through the decades. “Our 1940s theme is the war years,” said Wice, encouraging other residents to share memorabilia for the display, and the Town’s bicentennial celebration.
The AGM took place at the Churchill Community Centre. Members not only enjoyed a catered luncheon, they elected a new executive for 2020, and enjoyed entertainment provided by the Sandy Cove Glee Club – singers who took the meeting on a stroll down memory lane with their music.
Special guest was Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin, who stopped by for lunch, and to congratulate the Innisfil Historical Society on its work in the community, its past publications, and its new Review, now in the works, celebrating Innisfil’s Bicentennial in 2020.
Congratulations to the new executive: President Mark Hall, VP Brian Pratt, Past President William Kell, Treasurer Merv Wice, Secretary Marion Harris, Newsletter – Siske Pratt, Documents Centre – Donna Wice, Mailing – Marj Mossman, Communications – Lloyd Leonard, Social Committee – Kathy Hall, and Directors Anita Werda, Ross Leonard, Bruce Somers, Eleanor Beatty and Hank Abspoel.
To donate memorabilia, contact Wice at [email protected]. For more information on the Innisfil 2020 Review, click here.
