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Abbotsford curler celebrates 90th birthday with win

Don McMillan hits the big 9-0, picks up an 8-6 victory in Senior Mixed League
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Abbotsford’s Don McMillan directs traffic at the Abbotsford Curling Club. The popular club member recently turned 90. (Photo by: Rob Turner)

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” Albert Einstein

Well, if that is true, nonagenarian Don McMillan of the Abbotsford Curling Club must be the smartest person in curling.

Don reached the esteemed age of 90 on Dec. 16, 2021 and marked his birthday by skipping his team to an 8-6 victory in the Senior Mixed League and then partaking of a well-deserved celebratory cake with his colleagues.

Born Dec. 16, 1931, in Kindersley, Sask., Don moved to British Columbia in 1934, driving to B.C. with his mother and sister in a Model A Ford to join his father on Vancouver Island. He started curling in 1954 at the Victoria Curling Club and had been a regular competitor for 67 years. He still curls three times a week, and though he is now a stick curler, he regularly defeats opponents two-thirds his age.

Don, though always competitive, is a pleasure to curl against. When asked why he still curls, he answered, “besides the game, I enjoy the people. Competition lifts you up and keeps you going.”

You lift us up, Don!!

- Article submitted by Jim Shaw

RELATED: B.C. curler helps Canada win at World Wheelchair championships

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Abbotsford’s Don McMillan has been involved in the sport of curling for close to 70 years. (Photo by: Rob Turner)


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