Helen Burk has been a familiar figure throughout Haliburton County for her life-long active involvement in sports as a player, a coach, and an organizer.
Helen was only a toddler in the late forties when she started skating on the frozen rivers and ponds around her Lochlin home.
Her love of sporting activities grew along with her. She played all of the sports in high school.
When she left school, Helen was instrumental in establishing and growing the Haliburton County Ladies Softball league. She was also involved with hockey, fastball, lob ball, curling, squash, and golf. With endless energy, Helen established leagues, recruited players, sought out sponsors and purchased equipment.
Helen set agendas for practices, games and tournaments for the Lochlin boys’ fastball team, the Ladies Softball League, and the Kinmount Orioles mixed lob ball team.
She made key contributions to the Haliburton and Minden Curling Clubs, and the Haliburton Squash Club during her long-term involvement in those organizations.
Wherever sport was played in the Highlands between the late 1950’s through to the early 2000’s Helen was always in the mix.
Recognized as a community-minded citizen, Helen Burk has been an active member of the Lochlin United Church, a caretaker/ treasurer of the Ingoldsby Pioneer Cemetery and a board member of the Lochlin Community Centre. She earned the Snowden Municipality Certificate of Merit for her exemplary service.
Hundreds of Haliburton County residents know Helen Burk as a builder of sports culture in the community. Her initiative and program development for organized sport benefitted people of all ages and skill levels.
