Tuesday afternoon of this past week saw the Douglas Campbell Lodge host an event with resident Les Green showcasing his Portage la Prairie historic buildings models. Residents gathered together to hear the creator describe his works and share some interesting facts about each project including personal historical tidbits about them all.
One of the Lodge staff members stood on hand to place each model on a cart and roll it around for all those present to look at more closely, while Green would describe them. A slide show was going on in the background of historical photos of Portage la Prairie.
"They had to pack me up and move me on inhere, and I can't bring all this stuff with me. So, James Kostuchuk talked to my daughter (Laurel Sargenson) and asked about my models and said they'd like to put them in the museum. That's the last I heard of them. So, we had them here today and they're going to take them back to the museum, and then they'll put them back in storage again."
Green shares the piece that has endured as his favourite.
"The purple house with the veranda around it - Arthur Meighen's house in Dufferin Avenue. Its because I grew up with a house with a veranda. That's where you played tag, and sat out and read the funny papers."
He notes one thing that he forgot to mention in his presentation about why he decided to take this project on to begin with,
"I was with married. And my wife was tired out after looking after me all day, and she would go to bed just after supper. What was I going to do? So I would go down to my workshop and I would work and build these these models. That seemed to be the answer to it. She's gone to bed and I had to do something. That's about the story of it."
Green notes he made them from cardboard cartons, that he glued, and notes it's great material for this kind of effort. You can bend and glue them in any form.
He says it was he first time he showcased his models and made this kind of presentation.
"They were all in the suite. They were all on top of the China cabinet and everything and they were just my display. But my smart-aleck daughter says, 'Oh, show off the old man.'"
Green's son, Chris Green, was on hand to enjoy the presentation and notes it was impressive.
"People are, obviously, very interested in what he's done and very excited about it. That's pretty cool, right? He obviously did a lot in his retirement and in ways that were meaningful to the community in terms of creating models, writing stories, and things like that. They gave people a sense of place and pride in their community. That's a real contribution, I think."
Chris adds he didn't see his father make any of the models, and hadn't known about them until he actually saw them.
"When he retired, he was so busy. He really wasn't calling his kids to come and see him. He was busy doing things and so involved in the community. We would just show up and see the models, and things like that. They're just mostly retirement projects. Maybe he did some before his retirement there. But but I'm thinking he did most of them after he had retired."
Chris says Les Green is an example of a good retirement, adding he basically has focused on getting involved in the community after retirement, and did that quite successfully.
"And I think that that shows here."
