The recipient of the Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award is reflecting on the road that got her here, including the lessons she said she learned during the love revolution.
Recipient of the Lottie M. Austin Lifetime Achievement Award Dr. Bev Muendel-Atherstone told mylethbridgenow.com receiving the award is a lovely but overwhelming surprise. She explains when following your passion you don’t expect to receive an award for work that comes from the heart.
“I think that really there are many women who deserve this honor because there are many, many women in Southern Alberta who are working for the betterment of society,” Muendel-Atherstonen said. “I feel that all the women that are being honoured today really deserve great praise.”
Impact of Growing up in the 1960s
During both her acceptance speech and discussion, Muendel-Atherstone talked about the impact of growing up in California in the 1960’s. She talked about those years being a time of hope and change that played a significant role in her life including the end of the Vietnam War to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, which she says could have been a sign of things to come.
“I always think that it’s, that we have to constantly be on our guard and working towards democracy and calling out that which works against our society. Germaine Greer said women in their 60s are in the most wonderful position in North America because to have arrived at that age, which is no longer a great age, but to have arrived there in a wealthy society and then to be retiring and not have any constraints on you allows us to say things that we couldn’t have said when we were younger and we were trying to build up careers.”
She says since she retired 15 years ago she has been able to speak out and say things many others have not been able to because there is “no one pulling my strings.”
The next generation
The power of collaboration and working together is something she hopes is shared with the next generation because she believes it is what creates the fabric of society.
“To see these incredible young women who are able to rise against great odds, that gives me great encouragement and that we must work together and embrace diversity and embrace the goodness in each of us. To create a better society.”
The same night Muendel-Atherstone was honoured for the lifetime of work she has done, a young woman who has stood out in that next generation was also honoured for the journey she had just started. Anna Campmans was the 2025 recipient of The Young Woman of Promise Award, being recognized for her volunteer work in the Lethbridge community. Campmans says her time spent volunteering at the Chinook Sexual Assault Centre, serving as Student Council President of her school and working with the younger members of her 4-H Club has taught her lessons that she is grateful for.
“It’s so important to see the world through other people’s perspective, I think and I wouldn’t be able to do that without working closely with other people from other walks of life,” Campmans said. “There’s people going through struggles that I’ve never experienced, and it’s so special to me to be able to understand that and also help them through what they’re going through, even if it’s just preparing a meal. I really enjoy just being someone that people can count on.”
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