‘It is a different place without her’
Long-time rowing volunteer Carole Price (left), who died Monday, is shown sharing a laugh with Gini Rigby. Photo by Renate Hodges.
Organizers and volunteers at this year’s 136th Royal Canadian Henley Regatta will go about their duties this week with a heavy heart.
Long-time volunteer Carole Price died on Monday leaving many to mourn her passing.
“It’s a huge loss for all of us that volunteer here (Henley) and knew her. It is a different place without her,” said Bruce Macdonald, a friend and the past president of the Canadian Henley Rowing Corporation.
Price served as secretary on the corporation’s board for more than 20 years and also organized the admissions at the grandstand for the Henley regatta and the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association championships.
“She was one of the best example of volunteerism that I have ever met,” Macdonald said. “She did an enormous amount of work for us in large part because she loved the concept of volunteering and she really enjoyed the contact with the athletes, the coaches, the spectators coming to the grandstand and, in addition to that, the other people she volunteered with.”
Price, who also volunteered at major curling and golf events in St. Catharines, had an infectious personality.
“It was hard not to become a really good friend of Carole’s if you spent any time with her at all,” he said. “She was just such a wonderful person.”
There was much to like about Price, who started volunteering at regattas in the 1980s with the Henley Island Helpers.
“She was really enthusiastic about the organization that she volunteered for and she had incredible energy,” Macdonald said. “She did all kinds of work for us and I didn’t even realize the extent of the work she was doing for the other volunteer organizations.
“She has a really nice demeanour, she was really friendly and pleasant person and a tremendously loyal, not just to the organization, but to all of her friends and fellow volunteers in organization.”
Price will be remembered by many, not just in Niagara.
“I remember a couple of occasions where, after the event, we got letters from athletes around North America telling us how much they enjoyed the experience in St. Catharines, but also, in particular, how pleasant she was at the entrance,” Macdonald said.
Volunteering was a labour of love for Price.
“(I love) meeting all the people from various parts of the country and from the States, talking to them, and I have a wonderful bunch of volunteers that gladly volunteer for me,” Price said in a 2014 interview with The Standard.
The retired Bell employee loved giving back to the community after she retired.
“They need volunteers. I’m finished being paid,” she said. “I think it keeps your mind sharper. You get to meet a lot more people than what you get to see on TV.
“It’s rewarding to me.”
Visitation will be held at the George Date Funeral Home on Thursday and Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the funeral home followed by a reception at the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club.
