Jayne Turvey’s passion project has received provincial recognition.
The Orillia Public Library staffer’s Remembrance Day interactive exhibit initiative was honoured this week in Toronto with the Angus Mowat Award of Excellence.
The prestigious award recognizes the library’s and Turvey’s dedication to ensuring all Orillians are better informed about the soldiers from the area who fought and, sometimes died, in global conflicts.
“To be recognized for this is so special,” Turvey said during an interview Saturday at the library where she works as its community services coordinator.
Orillia was up against close to a dozen other medium-sized libraries for the Ontario Public Library Service Awards, which are presented annually to identify and promote creative public library service ideas.
“A lot of work has gone into this, but it’s not just myself who has worked on it. It means a lot to me that so many people are also being recognized.”
For the past five years the library has partnered with local collectors and museums to host the interactive exhibit that features artifacts, biographical portraits, and costumed interpreters.
The exhibit gives students from elementary through high school the chance to learn about the individual contributions citizens of Orillia, surrounding townships and the members of the Indigenous community made in the past wars and military conflicts from World War I onward..
“We want to make sure the kids know about this stuff,” said Turvey, who’s originally from Toronto, but has called Orillia home for 28 years and worked at the library for 17 years.
But while the project has grown in scope since its inception, it actually traces its roots to 2014 when the city unveiled plans for a Doors Open event with participants asked to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Great War’s start.
“That event was huge,” Turvey recalled. “We had 1,500 people come through. It was such a hit that I was asked if I could put it back together again for Remembrance Day and invite local schools.”
During its most recent incarnation, the event attracted hundreds of residents, cubs and scout troupes as well as more than 700 students from schools within walking distance to the library.
Turvey hopes the award recognition will encourage other schools that aren’t within walking distance to mark it on their calendars and make plans to attend this year.
In 2018, the library’s halls and corridors featured 100 posters with each one chronicling the life and story of an Orillia soldier.
But besides the library, the most recent interactive exhibit also took in parts of the downtown and even included 32 banners hanging along a stretch of Mississaga Street; bearing images of 16 veterans from Royal Canadian Legion Branch 34 and 16 from the local Army, Navy and Air Force.
“The kids get so much out of this,” Turvey said. “This past year, we had about eight people dressed up and had trench games. But it’s not just me, there are a lot of people who come on board to support this.”
For the coming year, Turvey expects the exhibit will focus on the anniversaries of D-Day and the liberation of Holland.
“That’s going to be huge,” she said. “Orillia has such a rich history.”
Turvey’s research and devotion into learning more about Orillia’s war efforts has uncovered bits of the city’s once forgotten history such as a championship hockey team and the vaudeville group the Dumbells, which was led by Orillia native and soldier Merton Plunkett.
“The soldiers just ate it up,” Turvey said of the group that entertained troupes during World War 1. “Bob Hope would later use some of their material.”
For her part, Turvey has a a very personal connection to the country’s war efforts; her father, Jack Poolton, served with the Royal Regiment of Canada (Toronto) during World War II.
“My father was a World War II prisoner-of-war. He was captured in the Dieppe raid in 1942 and spent three years as a prisoner-of-war. He weighed 82 pounds when he was liberated. That’s where my passion comes from.”
While she and her father recounted his experiences in a book published nearly 20 years ago, titled Destined To Survive: A Dieppe Veteran’s Story, Turvey’s desire to delve into the history of the Canadian war effort and those who served continues to build.
She is also busy these days working on another book: Dieppe Blue Beach: Every Man Remembered.
For families, the experience of learning more about their loved ones can be cathartic, said Turvey, who noted some veterans returned home and suffered the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder in silence.
“My excitement about writing this is that it will help more soldiers be remembered,” she said. “I’m about three-quarters of the way through this project.”
