Arnold Collins

July 3, I was in Pilot Mound for the memorial service and celebration of the life of Arnold Collins.

Arnold lived his whole life in Pilot Mound where he and his wife Eileen and their extended family have made major contributions over many, many years. Arnold was a very talented musician. He almost played the violin on the professional concert tour. He did play a saxaphone with a group which visited many parts of Manitoba.

Among the many stories I heard was the following:
For many years Arnold owned and operated the grocery store in Pilot Mound. Late Saturday afternoon, at the end of the week, Arnold would pick up the remaining fresh fruit and vegetables and distribute them to people in the community who were not well off. One day, when he was playing with his fellow musicians, I believe it was in Winnipeg, a young man came up and asked if Arnold Collins was there. The young man had come to thank Arnold for his kindness, and to say that he did not know how their family would have survived if it had not been for Arnold and his help.

I first got to know Arnold and Eileen well when Arnold was working, with others in his community, on an effort to get a flax processing plant built near Pilot Mount at Rock Lake. There is quite a bit of flax grown in the area, and rather than export the raw grain, Arnold wanted to build a local processing industry. In spite of a tremendous amount of work, sadly the effort was not successful. In the years since, when I have been involved in helping others to develop food processing industries in communities around Manitoba, I think about Arnold's efforts, and how important such industries can be to communities like Pilot Mound. "Remember Rock Lake" has become to me a reminder of how important it is to do everything possible for communities like Pilot Mount.