Vedress overwhelmed to be named 2025 Citizen of the Year

Nora Vedress thought she would be having a meeting about year-end finances at the Calvary United Church on Tuesday afternoon.

After helping feed people at the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) Urban Services following the Salvation Army fire on Christmas Day, she went to her meeting. Shortly after, her friend Elder Liz Settee and others soon filled her office as she learned she is Prince Albert’s 2025 Citizen of the Year.

Vedress said she was completely surprised and did not expect to learn the news today.

“I was just shocked,” she said. “I didn’t know, like when you (Settee) came in, because I had just seen you, and then I thought, ‘oh, you must have come back up because mobile crisis couldn’t take the food, so maybe you came back to get sandwiches for outreach.’ Then people just started coming in.”

The person who got Vedress to the meeting was her nominator, Bob Hayes.

Vedress, who recently celebrated her 20th Anniversary as Minister at Calvary United, thought that it might have been an anniversary surprise.

“I didn’t know what it was for. I had no idea,” Vedress said.

On Tuesday, representatives from the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club and Prince Albert Daily Herald told Vedress she was Prince Albert’s 2025 Citizen of the Year. It was unexpected and she did not know what was happening until she was told.

“No, goodness, absolutely not. No way,” Vedress said. “You’re just doing what you do, so you don’t think of it as something that would get you this.”

Vedress said she cannot do all of the things that she does without the help of other people.

“I don’t do anything by myself. It’s always a whole group,” she explained.

Settee, who was also one of the people who wrote a letter in support for nominator Hayes, said that Vedress does not give herself enough credit.

“She says she doesn’t do anything by herself, but she sets such a good example for leading,” Settee explained. “People just want to follow. She doesn’t give herself credit for that.”

Vedress said that she just does what she does.

“I was having a conversation about love language, like what people do to show their love to people. For some people, it’s gift giving and there’s lots of different ways. I felt so bad because I’m like, well, I’m a terrible gift giver.”

Vedress thought about it further and came across the solution.

“I was just thinking, I guess I do stuff, right? Like service. There’s a calling to service to make things better for people if you can. Then it just has to be for that, just for trying to make people feel better than they did when they came in.”

Settee was one of several people who wrote letters supporting Vedress’ nomination. The list includes former Citizens of the Year Harris May (along with his wife Diane May), Marj Bodnnarchuk and Sonya Jahn.

The people in the office included Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier, who also wrote a letter in support of Vedress’ nomination.

“There was a lot of people,” Vedress said. “I was like, I don’t think my office has ever been this full.”

Vedress has been part of events such as Plates of Hope, which she served as volunteer emcee, Heart of the Youth Powwow, Chaplin of the Prince Albert Police Service and co-chair of the

Police Service Women’s Commission, the Prince Albert Pride Parade among countless events and organizations.

She said that there are many other people who could also be considered.

“There’s so many people who would be way more deserving,” she said. “I do a lot of stuff. I’m around a lot, and I try to get involved in stuff, and I like being busy.

“If you ask my co-workers …. it’s hard for me not to get involved.”

Settee said that the selfless spirit shows her impact.

“There are so many people who do deserve Citizen of the Year, yes, but you’ve been here for 20 years and you think about the impact you’ve had on people over the course of those 20 years,” Settee told her. “(It’s) just the small moments even that might have turned their life around and made it better, or that smile. She’s my earth angel. I think she’s just an earth angel, period.”

“I’ll tell you right now, she’s the only one that could probably get me to go to a church,” Settee added.

“That’s hilarious,” Vedress said.

During her acceptance speech, Vedress said that she was originally only coming to Prince Albert for three years but the community has grown on her.

“I was told once when you come to PA, you either leave right away or you stay forever,” she said. “There’s a beauty to this community that I don’t know that people from outside of it see all the time. It’s an overgrown town. It feels like a small town, even though it’s a city. There’s definitely communities in pockets and all over it.”

She said that can be seen in how people come up to her when she is at places because everyone knows each other.

“There’s a beauty to this community where we want to make things better and we work together and we can overcome some differences, even when we don’t necessarily agree on a lot of different stuff,” she explained. “We can see what the need is.”

Vedress gave an example from Tuesday where she helped The Salvation Army ministry after the fire and people from Calvary helped out over lunch.

“We’re there to support what they’re called to do in a time of need,” she explained. “I have seen the Salvation Army do that for us in the past in another situation where they backed us up…. Even though you’re different, we can still come together.”

Another example she gave was having Settee come to Calvary to give a smudge. There was a long conversation about whether something like that would be accepted in the church or not.

“Then one of my older folks who I thought would maybe not be terribly comfortable or understanding or open-minded, came up to me and was like, ‘Oh, it’s communion,’” Vedress said.

“It was like the understanding that something can feel the same even though it’s different. I think that’s a beauty that PA has, that we can do stuff together even though we’re different,” she explained.

She said that was an example of the spirit of Prince Albert.

“Then when you call for help, like, we just get so much. People are so generous.”

Vedress said that she is blessed to have incredible people in her life and feels supported. She gave the example of the lunch on Tuesday at Urban Services and how it would not be a problem to get together.

“I guess that’s where I’m feeling bad, because I’m like,’ I don’t actually do that much. Right?’ Where it’s more like, you put out an ask, and then all these people come and that’s the power of that community. That’s not just this faith community, but beyond it. There are just so many like that, that if I asked for help I know they would come right away,” Vedress said.

She said she does not undervalue that because she knows if there is an emergency other people will be there for her. Vedress said that is the beauty of humanity that when someone is in need people come running.

“We often get caught up in not doing that well too often, the negativity and the divisiveness that is rampant in the world right now, and I hate it. So any time we can counter that message of division and highlight how we can come together from different places. If I can be a part of that I’m down with for sure,” Vedress said.

Plans are under way for a Citizen of the Year Banquet for Vedress at a future date.

michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca