REGINA - Residents of the Battlefords are remembering the civic contributions of former Battleford town councillor the Reverend Gordon Yarde.
Yarde passed away on Aug. 20 at the age of 85. The news of Yarde’s death was confirmed at town council on Aug. 21 by Mayor Ames Leslie. A memorial service was scheduled for this afternoon, Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. at St. George's Anglican Church.
Yarde was a longtime Battleford resident who served on town council for 26 years, serving three separate stints from 1985-91, 1994-2006, and 2012-2020. He was also very active in a number of community organizations including the Kiwanis Club and the Masonic Lodge, among others.
He was born in Barbados in 1938 and later moved to England to work in the transit system, but it was soon after that he decided to seek a career as a psychiatric nurse. After training and working in that role for years, Yarde moved to Canada in 1974 and in 1977 he moved to Battleford, and became a psychiatric nurse at Saskatchewan Hospital.
Outside of work, Yarde has competed in bodybuilding competitions over the years, returning to it in the 1990s when he was working with the young offenders program as a way to motivate them to get involved.
Yarde has also participated actively in singing, involved in several choirs including in his church.
A man of faith, Yarde was heavily involved in the Anglican Church and that led to a project late in life where he worked to become an Anglican minister. Reverend Yarde became ordained as a Deacon at the age of 77.
In an interview with the News-Optimist in 2014, Yarde said he found Battleford to be a welcoming community. As an immigrant himself to Canada, he urged other newcomers to get involved themselves.
He said in his years living in the Battlefords, "I've got involved in everything, I mean involved in everything."
"It has been one of my ways of doing things and one of the ways I tell other immigrants coming in. 'You get involved'."
Of his home Battleford, Yarde said, "I am a part of Battleford. I don't think of myself as a West Indian or whatever. I am a part of Battleford."
Memorial donations in memory of Gordon Yarde can be directed to St. George’s Anglican Church in Battleford.
