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STRONGFIELD — A man who devoted more than four decades of his life to leading his rural community has been honoured by the people he served so faithfully.
The late George Bristow, who passed away in Saskatoon in July of 2024 at the age of 81, spent the lion’s share of his life in the small, tight-knit community of Strongfield, where his roots ran deep. Alongside his wife Mavis, he raised three children — Donald, Alana and Cam — and worked tirelessly as a farmer while also dedicating himself to public service.
George’s commitment to his hometown was unwavering. He served as mayor of Strongfield for an astounding 40 years, becoming a central figure in the life of the village.
As an avid supporter of all things Strongfield, Bristow was known as a mayor who pulled people together to get things done, always looking ahead to positive outcomes for the rural community.
It was those qualities, along with his strong character and longstanding dedication, that inspired the Village of Strongfield to honour him after his passing. After conversations with his son Cam, council decided to rename the community hall the George Bristow Memorial Hall.
In response, the Bristow family recently made a generous donation to the village to assist with the operation and maintenance of the hall. The contribution will be kept in a separate account as council determines the best way to allocate the funds to ensure the facility remains a vital gathering place for the community George helped to grow.
The decision moved George’s widow, Mavis.
"Well, I knew that George loved that community," she said. "He loved that village, and he did everything to promote it. So it makes me feel very special. It makes me feel special that they would do that to honour him."
Mavis recalled that George’s devotion to Strongfield ran deep from an early age. He was the last student to graduate from Grade 12 at the Strongfield school before finding himself on the local village council. From there, his energy and passion became infectious, helping others see the potential Strongfield could have.
"He was determined to make the village look nice and to promote it," she said. "He did promote it with his involvement with SUMA and with everything he did. If there was something coming up, a celebration of some kind, he got people to work in the village and make it look nice with the flowers and trimming the trees and everything like that. He promoted the village for celebrations and also the rink and the hall. He wanted people to know that there was a hall there that was nice and he felt it was very important to keep it up. Often, he'd go into the café at coffee time and people would be sitting around and he'd say, 'Come on, we've got to go into the hall and we've got to fix the floor' or 'we've got to fix this or that because there's something important to happen at the hall.' And it was the same with the rink. He phoned all over to get rinks to curl in local curling. He would be very proud of having a good group of curlers."
George’s decades of service also gave him an inside knowledge of how to smooth out processes and help Strongfield during times of need. Mavis noted that his promises to community members sometimes even came with a reward of baked goods, giving the whole picture a kind of 1950s Mayberry feel.
"He was mayor for over 40 years, and then with being mayor, he was also vice-president of villages for the province of Saskatchewan," Mavis explained. "So he found out about grants and things that were available to make the village a better place. In fact, he was responsible for getting the streets oiled in town when he found out there was a grant available. Bob Norrish and myself were in wheelchairs, so he found out that it would be better to oil the streets in the village rather than put in sidewalks, and so he had all the streets oiled. If there was a crew working on the highway, he would go out and talk to them about repairing the roads in town, and he would promise them that his wife would make them pie if they would come in and oil the streets in Strongfield. I loved that!"
Bristow was also known as a people person — someone who could sit down with a stranger over a cup of coffee and make a fast friend in minutes. Through his role as mayor, he constantly demonstrated his love for the community and its people.
Mavis said the family is incredibly proud of the legacy George left behind, and she sees the naming of the community hall as a fitting tribute.
"I'm just so very proud," she said. "He just loved people and he was also proud of us, but we were proud of him. I think the village was proud of him, too. They used to give him a bad time jokingly when he would drag them off to fix this or that. But there was always that camaraderie. They would tease him and laugh, but he didn't have any trouble rounding up a good group of people to cut grass or trim trees, or work at the cemetery. He never had trouble getting people to do things for him. We were so proud of him for being able to do that in the community."
