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CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Western Maine Rabbit Person of 2006

Leon Douglas

Western Maine R.B.A. has been very fortunate over the past year to have many active members in our club. For rabbit person of the 2006 we chose a member who dedicated much of his time over the past several years to our club: Leon Douglas.

Leon is no stranger to animals, having grown up on a farm that was powered by draft horses. His parents encouraged him and his siblings in all of their agricultural pursuits. For Leon it was rabbits. At the age of 10 he started out with as pair of French Lops and a Pair of New Zealand Whites from a friend of his parents. He started raising rabbits for meat with his father’s help and encouragement. Soon after that he started showing his French Lops and he learned a lot.

As the years went by Leon had a lot of other interests and gradually the rabbit raising faded into the background. Later on he got married, had children, and he and his wife got a home of their own. In the mid-90’s Leon was working a lot of hours and his wife Tamera encouraged him to find a hobby that might keep him at home more. Leon remembered how much fun he had as a boy raising rabbits and realized that this was a hobby that could also put meat on the table. It didn’t take much more thought. Leon knew this was what he wanted to do.

A few years later (in 2001) Leon met Perley Emery who encouraged him to join Western Maine R.B.A. At first he had thought rabbit clubs were only for people showing, but soon realized that Western Maine members were a diverse group with many rabbit-related interests, not just showing only.

Ever since then Leon has worked very hard for our club. In 2003 he became club secretary, putting out a wonderful newsletter, distributing it by email to those who can receive it this way, thus saving the club a lot in postage. Leon also makes up all of the show catalogs for each of the club’s shows. He has compiled a list of folks who can receive these by email also, thus saving the club even more. In 2003 he became MSRBA director from our club.
Leon is one of the first to volunteer to help with anything the club needs. Besides being the club secretary, Leon is on the equipment committee, the fund-raising committee, and he heads up the by-law committee, who has been putting in many hours updating our by-laws. I can only imagine the numerous hours Leon puts in at home working on club business.

Leon became the superintendent of the Oxford Fair Barn in 2005. Last fall he made some major improvements to the display by putting in an office and painting the barn interior. He went to local merchants and got much of the material donated. Leon also spent several weekends traveling to Commonground fair to help build the rabbit display barn there.

Leon has come up with so many fabulous ideas to help promote the club. The show tokens are his idea, along with the punch cards. Many of our fund raising ideas came from him, and he has put in the time to make them work.

This little document hardly seems to say enough about a man who is always there for us, always at meetings, always willing to help at shows and at fair displays. This man helps in ways he doesn’t even realize, by bringing level-headedness into discussions at out meetings, by showing how to compromise when necessary, by pointing out ways issues can be resolved with all parties winning, by just being a man who models kindness, fairness, sensibility, and a work ethic we all admire.
Leon continues on this year to work hard for Western Maine, taking on the job of Show superintendent along with his other duties.

Western Maine R.B.A. is very fortunate to have Leon Douglas as a member and this is why we have chosen him for Rabbit Person Of 2006.

And Maine State Rabbit Breeders Has Agreed. Leon Douglas was voted open Rabbit Person of the year at the Maine State annual meeting and Banquet.