Ex-servicewoman and community volunteer Mary Thompson was one of the first Maple Ridge residents to receive the Queen's Jubilee medal.

In honour of Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne, the jubilee medal was created to celebrate Canadian citizens.

Thompson received the Queen's Jubilee medal for her service in the Women's Royal Naval Services, the Wrens (WRNS).

Earlier this week, four other medals were also given out by Michael Sather, MLA for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows.

Thompson received her medal in a ceremony on Sept. 9 at the HMC Discovery at Stanley Park.

Thompson said it "lifted her spirit" when she heard she received it this summer.

At the ceremony on the ship in Stanley Park, Thompson said she was "overwhelmed" at receiving the medal.

Thompson joined the navy at the end of 1944 during the Second World War, when she was only 18 years old.

When she joined up she was first sent to Nova Scotia, working as a captain's writer, and later she was stationed in Ottawa.

After the war, she was involved with the Vancouver Veterans Association and the Vancouver Wren Association.

"I made such wonderful friends [in] the navy," Thompson said.

Thompson moved to Maple Ridge in 1989 with her husband and is a long-standing member of the legion.

At Monday's ceremony, Sather presented medals to four more local community members.

They were given to Maple Ridge Museum director Val Patenaude, Metis poet Gregory Scofield, former school trustee and Maple Ridge councillor Betty Levens, and former Maple Ridge councillor Bernice Gehring.

mrantanen@mrtimes.com