After catering to thousands of funeral lunches, hosting hundreds of chicken suppers, visiting the sick and raising money for charity, the ladies of the Marwayne Royal Purple must now decide how to spend their share of a $1.25 million donation from a local farmer in his will.
Marwayne, Alta., bachelor Gordon Leslie left the money to the Elks and Royal Purple Fund for Children after a relative had been helped with money from the fund more than 20 years earlier.
Marian Tyner, secretary of the Marwayne Royal Purple for the past 15 years, said they have yet to finalize plans for the money. They want to set up some form of memorial fund for the farmer.
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The ladies have considered establishing a scholarship program, a reading program in the local schools, or even building much needed playground equipment at the local rodeo grounds where Leslie used to go.
“We’re still very much open to ideas of what to do,” said Tyner.
Marwayne Royal Purple has 20-22 active members, but the average age is close to 70. Last year the women catered 19 funeral lunches.
“If you need a lunch or catering, it’s the Marwayne Royal Purple that does it,” said Tyner.
It’s those ladies who visited Leslie’s sister, Jean, in hospital with rheumatoid arthritis, and it’s through the Royal Purple that financial assistance was arranged for Leslie’s family member years ago.
John Kennedy, co-ordinator of the charity program of the Elks and Royal Purple Fund for Children in Regina, said a “significant portion” of the money would go back to the Marwayne branch. The rest will likely go into the national charity’s personal assistance program to help other families in need.
Gordon’s cousin, Don Midgley, is the executor of the estate. Don’s wife, Brenda, said Gordon always believed he should repay the money given to the family from the assistance program.
“Gordon believed in repaying his debts,” said Brenda, of Cold Lake, Alta.
He believed leaving money to family members would cause hurt and problems. Leslie had no immediate family, but a large extended family.
He also gave five quarters of land to the Fish and Game Association with detailed instructions that the land should be used by people for cross country skiing, hiking, fishing and hunting, said Midgley.
While Leslie was a farmer, it wasn’t his chosen profession. In Grade 9 he was pulled from school by his father to become a farmer.
“If he had the opportunity to go on to university, I’m sure he’d be a much different man,” said Tyner of the man who lived a reclusive life.
He liked to visit, but didn’t go much beyond Marwayne or Lloydminster, she said.
“He was a lonely man.”
Midgley said Leslie lived like most people used to in the 1940s and 1950s, with few amenities. He only turned on his hot water tank once a week to wash his clothes and have a bath. It wasn’t that he was frugal, said Midgley. That’s just the way it used to be done and that was sufficient now.
Leslie went missing eight years ago. It’s believed he walked away into the country. His body was never found. After a person is declared missing and the body is not found, the family must wait seven years before he can be declared officially dead and the will probated.
Kennedy said the Elks and Royal Purple get a few bequests each year, but nothing like Leslie’s $1.25 million donation.
“It was quite a surprise to everyone involved.”
There are 300 Elks Lodges in Canada and 260 Royal Purple. The charity’s annual national budget is about $1 million a year, with 80 percent raised through donations from the local associations.
