Lawrence Kluthe

 

(By David McWilliam, on the occasion of the presentation of the Honorary Membership to Lawrence Kluthe)

In 1995, I was on the Practice Review Board and we were wondering how we were going to replace Marvin Moore as our public member. Mr. Moore had been a great help to the Practice Review Board and we were sad to see him go at the time. We interviewed two people and we put one name forward to Council. We put the right name forward.

Lawrence Kluthe came to the Practice Review Board in 1995 and his term as public member ends this weekend. Prior to Lawrence's appointment, he served as vice chair of the Metis Settlements Appeal Tribunal, vice chair of the Board at Alberta Municipal Affairs, Chairman of the Edmonton Regional Planning Committee (where I understand that he and Past President Ken Allred had a few animated discussions). He was a member of Council at the MD of Sturgeon #90 from 1965 to 1980 and today, he is once again a member of that same Council but now as Mayor of Sturgeon County.

I had the good fortune to work with Lawrence when I was Chairman of the Practice Review Board. Lawrence did not always say a lot at the meetings. Every now and then when the meetings got tedious, we were not quite sure if Lawrence was listening or falling asleep. When you were just about sure that he had fallen asleep, Lawrence, in that deep bass voice of his, would speak up and say, in just a few words, what the rest of us on the Board were trying to explain.

Lawrence is truly the public's representative on the Practice Review Board and has been for eight years. When the Board would get caught up in detailed argument about some matter, Lawrence would remind us what we were there trying to do and explain what it was that the public expected of a body like ours. We soon got back on track.

I have the utmost respect for Lawrence. I believe that anyone who served on the Board during Lawrence's tenure has respect for him also. Today, we thank Lawrence for his eight years of service as a public member on the Practice Review Board and Council has decided to honour him in the best way it knows how.

Mr. Kluthe addressed the audience as follows:
Certainly, this is an unexpected honour for me to receive this award. It has been an interesting journey for me, working with the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association on the Practice Review Board. All the people that I worked with always had the public interest first and foremost in everything they did. I certainly respect all of those people that I worked with over the years.

The importance of the survey profession to the public is probably not as well understood as it should be. Next to health, the question of boundaries is probably the second most important thing to most citizens. We are all territorial animals. It was never brought more to light for me than when I acquired a lake lot and found out that the smaller the parcel, the more important the boundaries are. It is a real tribute to the land surveyors of Alberta and of the nation that they have tried to make sure that the boundaries were, in fact, well documented.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have served as a public member on the Practice Review Board and I am sure my successor will also attempt to be of assistance to the profession.