Legion recognizes one of their own

When Cheryl Truax attended the award ceremony at the Legion following Remembrance Day activities, she didn’t expect to be onthe receiving end of one of the awards.

She was given the Meritorious Service Medal in recognition for her work both with the Legion, and the community at large. Thisis the highest award given out by the Legion in Canada.

“I was totally shocked,” she said. “I’m still shocked.”

Truax has been involved with work in the community since the late 1950s. She has done many things since then, including beinga Sunday school teacher, a youth group chaperone, brownie leader, bingo kitchen supervisor, poppy campaign chairman, andshe is a branch executive member of the Legion.

Normally, the president of the Legion gives out the award. Because Cheryl’s husband Harvey is branch president, Legion memberKen Williams gave out the award instead.

“I wasn’t supposed to know about this, but they had to get the information from somebody,” joked Harvey Truax.

Nominations for the medal have to be sent in four or five months in advance. The nominations have to be approved in the WestKootenay zone, which are then sent of to the BC-Yukon Command branch, and then the Dominion branch.

Dominion then checks up on the nomination to see if the person nominated has done everything they say they’ve done. If it’sapproved, the award is sent back down the line to the branch.

“You can pick any member that you think has done a really good job in the Legion,” said Williams. “Cheryl has been doing workfor the Legion and volunteer work with the community and seniors for so many years.”

Williams said the Legion wouldn’t be what it is without her. Truax on the other hand, doesn’t really want a big fuss made overher.

“I love doing what I’m doing, and I just feel I don’t need to be recognized for it.”