OLDS — Colleagues are remembering former Olds & District Chamber of Commerce (ODCC) executive director Barb Babiak fondly as a hard-working, meticulously organized woman who always avoided the spotlight.
Babiak passed away on Jan. 21 in Olds.
She was born in Carlyle Sask. In 1948.
Babiak and Steve, her husband of 53 years, moved to Calgary, then to Olds in 1980 where they lived from then on.
She became executive director of the ODCC basically ever since it was resurrected in the 1990s and remained in that role for 21 years, retiring in 2016.
Doug Rieberger served as vice-president of the ODCC for about three years and as president for another three years, from 2010 to 2016.
“Barb was tremendously organized. She was invaluable to the chamber when I was president, just with the experience and that she had; the knowledge," he said.
He was amazed and impressed with Babiak’s efficiency and organizational ability.
“There were numerous times where she would get a few volunteers to come in and the volunteers would come in to do stuff and there wasn’t a lot to do because she would have most of it organized and just about done, type of thing. She was a tremendous asset that way,” he said.
Rieberger said Babiak always had a good handle on what was going on in the business community and the community as a whole.
“If I had to ask her anything about what was going on about chamber stuff, but even just in general around town when it came to the businesses and that, she knew about it," he said.
“And that was one of the things that I found to be a very good asset. She was that involved within the community that she knew what was going on.”
Murray Elliott has chaired the chamber’s Business Awards committee for many years and worked closely with Babiak. He echoed Rieberger’s comments.
“She was a dynamo. Extremely organized,” Elliott said.
“(She) made the chamber board look good. Did all the work. She was just amazing at her job and I know she worked way beyond her pay; worked a lot of extra hours and evenings to make the chamber look good and make the community look good.”
Both Rieberger and Elliott said Babiak never wanted any public recognition for all she did for the chamber.
“She felt that her role was to do whatever needed to be done to forward the chamber mission. But she didn’t want to be given credit for it because that was her job,” Rieberger said.
“(She) never wanted the limelight,” Elliott said. "I remember calling her up to thank her for all her hard work and giving her a bottle of wine and she gave me grief, saying ‘don’t do that. I don’t want the recognition.
“That’s just who she was. She just liked being behind the scenes, propping people up.”
Babiak could be relied upon to ensure chamber business ran smoothly, Elliott said.
"She was the chamber for the board," he said. "Even though she was behind the scenes, she was the heart of the chamber, no doubt about it.
“We always knew where we stood with her. She knew the proper protocols, how to run a meeting. She was just a great person.”
Although the chamber was a huge part of Babiak’s life – to the point where she did her work for it out of her home, it wasn’t her total life.
She loved spending time with her friends and all her family, including her grandchildren.
Babiak leaves behind her husband Steve; son Aaron Babiak (Christine); daughter Amy McMahon (Brody); as well as four grandchildren: Kylie and Carter Babiak and Reid and Raina McMahon.
