INNISFAIL - When Bob Wardle talked to young swimmers from the Innisfail Dolphins on Aug. 28 his story was filled with inspiration.
Almost 70 years earlier he became a hero for his miraculous rescue of a 20-month-old toddler. On this night at the Royal Canadian Legion he was passing on not only his story but a legacy that each and every one of the young could seize. That legacy is the Bates Wardle Award, established to recognize one youth from Innisfail and another in Cochrane who make extraordinary volunteer contributions to help others. Most importantly, the award recognizes the important community roles lifeguards play.
"The establishment of this award will ensure a continuous flow of lifeguards in Alberta," Wardle told the young swimmers from the club, who were celebrating the end of a successful season.
This year's winner of the second annual Bates Wardle Award is Katherine Gabert, 17, a recent graduate from Innisfail High School. She is set to go to Lethbridge College and Lethbridge Univerisity to become a nurse. Gabert is also a lifeguard. With her award she also receives $750, which will be used for additional lifeguard training.
"I kind of can't really believe it. It is a really big honour for me because a lot of really good people went into making this award, whether it is Frankie Bates or Gavin Bates or Bob Wardle. They are all really spectacular people," she said, adding she attended last year's inagural award presentation to Innisfail student Zike Maree. "I got to see his (Bob Wardle) medal and he showed it around class. It was quite the story to hear."
That medal passed around by Wardle, who now resides in Cochrane, was the first-ever Mountbatten Medal, now awarded annually, and only to a citizen from a Commonwealth nation, for the most gallant rescue or attempt undertaken in the previous calendar year.
Wardle earned the award as a 15-year-old after saving the life of Frankie Bates, then just a 20-month-old toddler who had fallen into a 13-foot cistern in the southeastern Alberta village of Tilley.
With a rope wrapped around his chest Wardle, a recently certified lifeguard in Brooks, was lowered into the cistern's cold blackness. It took three attempts to find the child, who had been underwater for about 15 minutes. But she lived, and Wardle was hailed as a hero. In later years he and Frankie became close friends. He even attended Frankie's marriage to Gavin.
"I think lifesaving skills are the most essential skills we can learn and they are a way to give back to people," said Gabert. "Even it it's just first aid, knowing those kind of lifesaving skills will really help you to help others."
The evening for the second annual award was especially gratifying for the many members of the Bates family who attended. Without Wardle's heroism and lifeguard skills on that hot summer morning in Tilley on Aug. 10, 1951, there would not have been any family gathering.
But Frankie did live on to have an extra 65 years of extraordinary living, which included award-winning volunteer work for the Innisfail community. Her survival meant meeting and marrying Gavin, currently a member of Innisfail town council. The couple raised three boys — Stephen, MIchael and Mark. From their three sons they would have seven grandchildren. That adds up to 11 people saved.
Frankie passed away two years ago and the family wanted to make sure her entire story would never be forgotten, and that it would help others. The Bates Wardle Award was the inspiring answer.
"We were a hockey family but as we looked for a way to recognize Frankie’s life, we looked within her life," said Gavin in his introduction to the Dolphins. "In grade school Frankie was an avid recreational swimmer and went on to achieve her bronze medallion lifeguard certification while attending university, perhaps inspired by her own rescue."
