Each year Society members are chosen by the President to receive the “President’s Award”.
The President’s Award was originally proposed by then President Peter Arabchuk when he presented awards to Bill Richards and Martin Osis for contributions to the Mycological Society. Since then both Martin and Bill have been awarded with Honorary Life memberships.
In 2008 the Board redefined the President’s Award and proposed two criteria:
- that the award should go to a non-Board member for extraordinary contributions and effort on behalf of the Society, and
- that it was purely the President’s prerogative to make the choice.
2018 Special Mention — Rosemarie O’Bertos
Candice marked Rosemarie’s last year as President and her contribution to the club by giving her a lovely quilt. Rose has been a member of the club for nine years. Six of those years she was president of the club when no one else would step up. For those that are not aware Rose is the person responsible for our lovely dinners as it is up to her to plan them. This is no small feat when you have to get a venue, menu, seating assignments, make note of allergies, …
She is the person who ensures things get done by setting up agendas and meetings. She keeps us moving forward and will no doubt continue to do so.
Prior to being the president she was the membership coordinator. This is also a non trivial job keeping track of all the members and mailouts as this was done (at the time)by snail-mail. We know we will miss her but lucky for us she is still on the board as past president. Thanks for all your years of service Rose.
2018 Winner — Ryan Armishaw
With this being her last year as President, Rosemarie opted to invite Ryan and Kartini Armishaw to the President’s Dinner in lieu of the traditional picture or plaque. Ryan spent inordinate amounts of time in prior years creating our current website and even now continues to assist us in maintaining it. His continual support (along with the tireless hours Barb Shworak has put in) have been critical in keeping the AMS website up and running! (Sorry Ryan, as you did not get a plaque I did not get a picture, Barb). Ryan and Kartini Armishaw both enjoyed the dinner immensely.
2017 Winner — Mike Schulz
The President’s Award is usually presented at the President’s Dinner early in the year. As this year’s recipient Mike Schultz did not attend the Dinner, he was given his award during the 2018 dinner. Mike is the man behind the microscope at our Great Alberta Forays. In 2017 he held a class in microscopy that the attendees are still talking about today. Mike has been doing a survey of mushrooms from across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba which he kindly gave us a talk on at the 2018 Annual General Meeting. If you attend a Great Alberta Foray you will always see Mike there behind the microscope. Please be sure to stop by his table to say “Hi“ and thank him for the great work he does for the club.
2016 Winner — Ken Dies
Ken Dies has been the regional coordinator for the Peace River region for years. I am sure all the people in his region appreciate the effort he has put in to scheduling forays. What most people do not realize about Ken is the amount of time he spends correcting and updating names in our mushroom database. In preparation for a government survey Ken had to go though all our names in the database going back at least ten years. This was not a trivial amount of data. Ken is a frequent contributor to our newsletter and forum and we all enjoy the articles he writes. His work with mushrooms has earned him the much coveted Red Vest. We are sorry it took so long to recognize him on the website, thanks for all your help Ken!
2015 Winner — Bill and Janice Moore
The President’s Award is usually presented at the President’s Dinner early in the year. As this year’s recipients Bill and Janice Moore did not attend the Dinner, they were given their well-deserved award during the Summer Solstice pot-luck dinner at Moose Hill Hall in June. (Look for the antlers in above photo.) Bill and Janice are the couple who always, always step up to offer and will do any-thing asked of them to help things move along smoothly. They arrive early, and leave after all the work is done. But most importantly, they take full advantage of their AMS membership — if you, too, attend many AMS throughout the year, you will always see Bill and Janice there!
2014 Winner — Rick Watts
The 2014 President’s Award went to Rick Watts. Rick, while not a member of the board, has tirelessly thrown himself into each event in any way that he can, especially in the area of photography, where he has gone above and beyond to create a photo library. This will be critical in completing our fungal database.
2013 Winner — Hans and Inge Weissenborn
The 2013 President’s Award went to Hans and Inge Weissenborn. We were all very pleased, and not a bit surprised, to see Hans and Inge Weissenborn receive this award. This couple has tirelessly participated in many years of forays, meetings, EXPOS, and pretty well every event the AMS has held over the years, acting as enthusiastic ambassadors for the AMS. Rosemarie presented the Weissenborns with a framed photo that came from our 2012 Photo Contest. Congratulations Hans and Inge!
2012 Winner — Chad and Thea Moss
The 2012 President’s Award went to Chad and Thea Moss. Chad had volunteered to be our Culinary Chair and performed stellar duties serving in that role with Thea by his side. At every foray Chad attended, the stove and pans came out and members had an opportunity to taste some of the mushrooms that were found. Special Kudos for organizing and preparing the gourmet meal at our annual Solstice celebration at Moose Hill Hall. At Bow Valley Parks Day, Chad & Thea prepared tasting samples of the provincial mushroom where it was generally decided that the “Red Top» was the tastiest of all the provincial emblems. This was followed by an incredible selection of mushroom treats serve in our “Wild Mushroom Café” at the annual Expo at the Garden. And finally Chad with assistants presented a first class presentation on getting the most of the mushroom flavours at the “Great Alberta Mushroom Foray” in Hinton.
2011 Winner — Geri Kolacz
In 2011, Geri Kolacz served as our Newsletter Editor and layout artist since 2004. In spite of being too busy to attend most club functions she continued to work at producing our newsletter. Thanks to Geri for making our newsletter one of the best in North America. Geri received a framed print of the inky caps, photographed by Thea Moss
2010 Winner — Alan Fleming
In 2010, again, after serving many years on the Board as Membership Coordinator, Alan Fleming continued to work on behalf of the Society as Webmaster, but moreso the President’s Award went to him for all the expertise he lent to the Alberta Mushroom Database project. Alan worked on writing much of the code as well as inputting and troubleshooting the system.
2009 Winner — Pieter van der Schoot
In 2009, the Award went to Pieter van der Schoot. Pieter had taken a year off from Board duties but continued to lead groups on walks, host forays on his property, supply the majority of the moss and mushrooms for the Expo and promoted the Society through all his woodlot and forestry contacts. As many of us know, anyone who goes on a foray with Pieter had better be in good shape!
2008 Winner — George and Anne Litvin
In 2008 President Martin Osis awarded George and Anne Litvin a framed print of the Photo Contest winner. George and Anne have been long time members who participated and volunteered their time attending most events and making a contribution at each one of them. From the Annual Exposition through the “Great Alberta Mushroom Foray” George and Anne are always there lending a helping hand.
2007 Winner — Judy Lasinski and Michael Burnett
In 2007 Dr. Markus Thormann awarded an engraved glass statue to Judy Lasinski and Michael Burnett for their contributions. Judy and Michael had worked diligently for several years organizing the first mushroom meals and tastings at the “City of Champignons” Mushroom Exposition at the Devonian Botanic Garden, turning it into one of our first fund raising events. Not only did they contribute time and effort but many, many mushrooms at no cost to the Society. Michael’s “mushroom wontons” are still fondly remembered.