Being named the Senior of the Year for Champlain Township came as a “pleasant surprise” to Samme Putzel.
“I didn’t recognize the person they were describing,” Putzel said, smiling, during a Monday morning interview at the Creating Centre de Créativité in Vankleek Hill.
Mayor Normand Riopel took pleasure in announcing Putzel’s nomination as Senior of the Year for Champlain Township during the June 26 council session. The provincial government launched the senior of the year awards program so that each municipality in Ontario could highlight and honour older citizens of their community for their achivements and contributions to the well-being of their home towns.
“I have the honour,” said Mayor Riopel, “of recognizing someone whose leadership, dedication, and creativity have had a lasting impact on our community.”
The mayor described Putzel as “a multi-talented person”, exploring her creative talents through writing with her Emily Blossom Mysteries series, “bringing small-town charm and wisdom to the page”, her artwork that “reflects her own deep bond with nature”, and community projects like the East Ontario Lands Trust “that reflects her deep-rooted commitment to environmental preservation.”
Mayor Riopel noted that Putzel founded the Creating Centre de Créativité to help foster and support local arts and culture, and continues through Excellent Events to maintain the community festival legacy of her partner, Phil Arber.
“Your efforts have strengthened our community in so many ways,” said Mayor Riopel.
What it means
“It is a very special honour,” noted Putzel, regarding her nomination as Champlain Township’s Senior of the Year for 2025, “because we all share common values. It’s wonderful to live in a community where we have a vision to live in a place where we can be safe, celebrating the good things in life like local arts, culture, creativity, and delicious food.”
Putzel describes her involvement in the community through art, festival activities, and special projects like the Creating Centre de Créativité and the East Ontario Lands Trust as “a way of life” that has evolved for her over the years.
“When I was younger, I thought I could save the world,” she said, smiling. “I got discouraged pretty quickly. As I got older, though, I could find new meaning to my life, and that mean is to help create a place where we can be safe and creative and harmonious.”
Being part of the community, Putzel indicated, means being involved in the community, in any number of ways.
“I believe very strongly that everyone has something to give to the community,”she said. “When it comes to saving the world, you do what you can do, in whatever form that is. You always have the choice to follow your dreams.”
Following her dreams has led Putzel into writing three mystery novels featuring her heroine, Emily Blossom, dealing with murder and intrigue in and around her little village of Emerald Hill. Putzel’s dreams have also resulted in a variety of art pieces, including drawing and sculpting, like the vibrant imagery of “The Horse Jumps Over the Moon”.
“Creativity, to me, is one of the most fundamental things,” said Putzel. “It’s about expressing yourself.”
Which is why she founded the Creating Centre de Créativité in the heart of Vankleek Hill. Since 2018, the renovated building has provided space for local artists to work, a place for musicians to perform, a home for a variety of community groups and activities, including a writers circle and a regular gathering of Dungeons & Dragons fans who pursue adventure through role-playing as warriors, wizards, dwarves and elves.
Being Senior of the Year, as far as Putzel is concerned, just means her own adventures in creativity and community involvement continue on.
“I am old enough to know that age does not figure into the equation,” she noted. “I will always be young at heart.”
