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Ham dinner brings in regulars, families and strangers to Legion

The dining room was quiet, but not the quiet that comes from an empty room, but of people enjoying good food.

That quiet sound of people enjoying their meal is one of the best sounds in the world to cook Georges Guy, a volunteer chef and veteran who cooks at the Legion.

On Easter Sunday, April 5, the Guy and volunteers prepared a traditional ham supper with a baked ham and scalloped potatoes, and people came in from all over to enjoy it, he said.

We had a group of ladies call to make sure there was room, and they drove all the way in,” he said.

Guy was an engineer and paratrooper in the Canadian military before mustering out, and then worked as a cook in oilfield camps. When he retired about half-a-year ago, he ended up retiring to Stettler, as it's where his partner, Arlene Litvak, was raised and had family.

Not long into retirement, though, he found himself in the kitchen at the Legion, helping out.

I work more than I used to before retiring,” he said with a laugh.

Guy started helping at one of the Legions in Calgary, where he lived when he wasn't up north working in camps. During breakup, he'd head back to the city and cook at the Legion. He said it's just something he loves to do.

Nothing makes him happier than seeing people come in and enjoy the food, and on Sunday, Guy's dinner not only drew in a lot of the regulars, but brought in the some-timers, families and people who'd never been there before. And the numbers were where he had hoped they would be, too.

The news of good cooking at the Legion is getting around, too, Guy said. The Friday fish'n'chips night, which starts at 6 p.m. and coincides with meat draws, is bringing in a good number of people, he said. The Saturday draw, which starts at 5 p.m., is also bringing people in to enjoy hotdogs prepared especially for the Legion by a butcher.

Guy hopes to be able to do more in the future, too, because cooking's his joy.