Close to fifty people attended the unveiling of a plaque in front of the Seaforth BIA office on the main street of Seaforth in honour of former Huron East Economic Development Officer, the late Jan Hawley.
Jan passed away unexpectedly on March 16, 2021 at the age of 68.
BIA Secretary Maureen Agar says she attended several BIA conferences with Jan and says her impact far exceeded Huron East or Huron County. Agar says everywhere they went people approached Hawley to ask how she did some of things she did.
“Jan was the type that she'd get an idea and do it and she loved other people using it because that was the whole idea. And then they'd phone and say 'Well how did you do it Jan?' and she would send them reams and reams of instructions. So they would do it and she says well there's no sense in re-inventing the wheel. If something's successful, let's do it," Agar shared.
Agar adds, Jan was just as quick to use someone else's idea that had worked and was equally quick to give them credit for the idea. One of her most successful projects was the Win This Space competition, but she readily admitted it wasn't her idea.
“So actually the first one was done in Uxbridge and she contacted a lady in Uxbridge, because we were at an OBIA conference, and we went to a seminar about it and they sent a lot of stuff to her, and she put hours and hours of work into it, and it did take a lot of time but it was so successful," added Agar.
The Win This Space program has since gone to other Huron County communities and across Ontario. Agar says Jan Hawley was the kind of person you wanted to be around because she seemed to spark everything.
