Gordie Howe birthplace commemorated with plaque

There’s the Gordie Howe statue at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

The Circle Drive South bridge bears his name. There’s the Gordie Howe Sports Complex and the Gordie Howe Kinsmen Arena.

And now, a plaque rests at the birthplace of Gordie Howe in the R.M. of Corman Park.

For decades, the exact location of the Howe homestead near Floral, Sask. was unknown.

Administrator Adam Tittemore with the rural municipality said it took some digging to zero in on it.

Corey Howe (left) poses with his wife Davis (centre) and Gordie Howe’s sister Helen Cummine (right) next to the plaque on June 10, 2019 (650 Keenan Sorokan/650 CKOM)

“We had someone in our office that went through some old history books and was able to determine where the old Howe homestead was,” he said.  “The interesting part was contacting the current landowners who had no idea this was the case, so it was a good surprise for them to find out that they own and live on the land where Gordie Howe was born.”

Reed Willinson bought the land, located a few miles east of Highway 11, and said he has to pinch himself realizing he lives just metres away from where Mr. Hockey was born.

“I kind of need to process this,” he said. “And that we have a rock and a monument that I can see from my backyard saying that this was Gordie Howe’s birthplace. You can ask any Canadian who Gordie Howe was and I don’t think there’d be anybody that doesn’t know who he was.”

A map detailing the plaque’s location.

Getting used to all the vehicles driving by will take some time, however.

“As long as they don’t start taking siding off my house thinking Gordie grew up where I am, I’m good,” he said of the expected increase in traffic flow now that the plaque is on display.

Helen Cummine, 85, was the lone Howe sibling that made the journey to the plaque unveiling. She remembers a very different person than the one that fans cheered on for decades.

“I never ever seen (Howe) lose his temper. He was a good guy, fair,” she said. “I’ll cherish him ’til the day I die.”

Talks took place over two years to get the quarter acre section of land set aside for a plaque. All of that culminated in a small ceremony that included over a dozen visiting Howe family members from Alberta, and beyond.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Justin Blackwell.