A former Lacombe mayor and dedicated community booster and volunteer has died.
Charles “Charlie” George Budd passed away on March 28 at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre. He was 94.
Budd served on Lacombe town council for 16 years, including four stints as mayor. He served two terms on council before being elected mayor for the first time in 1983. He was defeated in the next election but returned in the 1990s to serve three consecutive terms.
Budd was mayor when Lacombe was twinned with the Japanese city of Rikubetsu in 1986 to foster cultural understanding and exchange. Budd would make seven trips to Japan as part of that relationship that continues to this day.
Budd was born on April 4, 1929 on a farm in Manitoba. The family of eight children later moved to Saskatchewan.
When Charlie headed out on his own he ended up in Vulcan, where he met his wife Freda. The two married in 1952 and had three children and would later be foster parents to three other children. Freda passed away in 2015.
The Budds moved to Brooks and then Lacombe, where he ran a bulk fuel plant and gas station. The couple moved into their Lacombe home in 1971 and never moved.
Charlie retired from the fuel business after nearly 20 years and then later joined Lacombe County as a purchasing agent. He retired for good at age 65.
Budd was well known in the community and was active in his church, Rotary Club and Kozy Korner. He was an enthusiastic outdoorsman, hunting, fishing and camping in his spare time. He was also a pilot and longtime member of the Lacombe Flying Club, rode a motorcycle, was a singer and musician and curler, golfer and tennis player.
A funeral service was held for Budd at Wilson’s Funeral Chapel on Wednesday. There he was remembered as an avid story teller and a dedicated community volunteer and loving family man.