Vignettes

I was born in Scotland. My family moved to England just before World War II broke out, and there we remained.

I met my husband (Sam Jacks) towards the end of the war, he was just completing six years serving with the Canadian Armed Forces. We were married and I became a Canadian citizen automatically.

We started married life in Toronto and within a short time he was asked to become Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of North Bay. It was here he died in 1975. We had three sons Barry, Bruce and Brian who were all excellent hockey players (no daughters).

For a long time Sam had seen a need for a sport for females, a team sport, on ice using skates. I must make one point clear, this was not part of his job, this was his own interest on his own time. It was approximately 1963 when he experimented with the basic rules on outdoor rinks, as it was unheard of to get ice time in any of the areans.

The equipment was a conglomeration of used figure skates, broken hockey sticks, deck tennis rings or any kind of rubber rings available. Pieces of coloured cloth were tied around the players arms to identify positions.

As time went by Sam had many little teams in West Ferris and surrounding areas playing on outdoor rinks and using boys skates. He never doubted for a moment that his game would flourish. He drove his friends crazy promoting it. Eventually his game was tried out in an arena further north, and by about 1965 Sam's basic rules were refined. As you all know, various changes have taken place over the years.

It was a proud moment for Sam when he personally presented the "Sam Jacks Trophy" to the winning Tween "A" champions in 1974 at the first West Ferris Ladies Recreation Ringette Tournament. This tournament has been held every year since and I or a member of my family have always presented the trophy to the winning Tween team. This is where the term "Ringette Ambassador" began to emerge for which I am very proud.

A very proud moment for my husband and I was when Sam received the Achievement Award from the province of Ontario in 1971. The award was presented by the Honourable John Robards, the premier of the province at the time. Sam has received many awards for various reasons, but I think his greatest reward was making people happy. He had a tremendous love for the poor and organized the whole city of North Bay to feed and clothe the needy at Christmas time. He also had access roads built to all the beaches (of which there are many in North Bay) so that the public could freely use the lakes for swimming and fishing. Sam was a peoples man and those who knew him valued his friendship.

As I stand in for him as your Ringette Ambassador, attending the World Championships, Canadian Ringette Championships, Provincial Championships, ringette camps (etc.), I feel a deep gratitude to all those volunteers, who, over the years have guided Sam's Ringette baby to the ripe old age of 31 years. How proud he would be. To all my ringette family, may God bless you now and always.