It may be the Queen’s Jubilee year, but Lanark County residents were the ones getting honoured last week.
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medals were handed out at the Perth Civitan Club hall on Friday, Nov. 16, by Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington MP Scott Reid and the riding’s MPP Randy Hillier.
Reid reminded the assembled that Her Majesty was, in British Commonwealth countries, considered to be “the font of all honour,” and was a model for all of her subjects, a model that those being honoured had clearly mirrored.
“She has passed up on the life of indulgence that has entrapped so many royal persons in the past,” said Reid.
Just as Reid saw Queen Elizabeth as an example, he noted that she too did not have to look too far for selflessness within her own family, in the guise of her father, King George VI, who, after seeing the heroism during the Blitz that rained down on London in the 1940s, created the George Cross. While the Victorian Cross recognizes military heroism, the George Cross recognizes “heroes who were non-combatants.”
The Jubilee Medal follows in that tradition.
Just as the wearing of a military uniform does not automatically confer bravery, “the absence of a uniform does not take away the ability for bravery,” said Reid. “The queen has demonstrated a different type of courage (with) the persistent patience (and) giving of one’s time. It is fitting that as many such people as possible should be honoured for following in her example.”
Hillier noted that about 44 people were being honoured from around Lanark County that day, and that both he and Reid had gone out into the community to seek advice and direction on who was worthy of the award. Hillier echoed Reid’s remarks that, just as the queen had done, those being honoured that day also offered “persistence and patience, the giving of one’s time, to ones who are their neighbours, friends and countrymen.”
List of Perth area winners
Andrew Clarke of Balderson served as an air navigator, navigation instructor, and navigation leader for 408 Squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He became the founding chair of the International Peace Academy Committee to train peacekeepers for the United Nations. He was asked to become Secretary of the World Association of Federalists.
Leslie Closs of Perth, during his 33-year career, served on three six-month peace missions: the United Nations emergency force II in Egypt, the United Nations disengagement observer force in the Golan Heights, and with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in the stabilization force headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia. He retired with the rank of chief warrant officer and has been invested as a member of the Order of Military Merit and awarded the Canadian decoration.
Eric Devlin of Perth is a former Perth town councilor, and was once the oldest-serving councilor in Ontario. He is active with the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Perth and is well known volunteer within the community, serving on the local police services board. He is a Canadian Forces veteran, having served in Korea, Japan, Europe and in the Indo-China conflict.
Marcel Giroux of Sharbot Lake served as a teacher for more than 31 years. He was instrumental in the creation of the Sharbot Lake Medical Centre and the Sharbot Lake municipal beach and park. He is also a board member of the Alzheimer’s Society of Kingston. He was part of the group which developed North Frontenac Community Services and has been chair of the amalgamated library boards of Kingston and the County of Frontenac.
Gary Hawley of Sharbot Lake has played the organ at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Sharbot Lake for the past 63 years. He has also dedicated 15 of those years to help with the church finances.
Mary Howes of Parham has held various positions with the Canadian Cancer Society for the past 39 years. She has also been a member of the Grandmothers by the Lake Association, and a member of the Parham Happy Travellers Senior Club for 29 years. She is currently president of the district for the Women’s Institute.
David Jacklin of Balderson has produced more than 135 different plays and musicals. He is also a founding member of the Perth Theatre Project, and found of Barn Door Productions. He also helped to build and finance the Studio Theatre in Perth.
Janice Jacklin of Balderson was a founding member of the Perth Theatre Project, and co-producer of Barn Door Productions. She is the founding artistic director of the Perth Community Choir, the founding director of the Perth Summer Theatre and a founding member of the Perth Performing Arts Committee.
Susan Mactaggart of Godfrey founded and current serves as the president of the Bob’s and Crow Lakes Foundation, a registered charity whose mission is to protect the environment through education and citizen-funded projects.
Jackie Seaton of Perth is the founder of the Empty Bowls Project. Through this charitable, artistic endeavor, he has raised more than $150,000 for local charities such as the Food for Thought program, the Perth and District Food Bank and YAK, through the sale of handcrafted bowls.
Doug Wiseman of Perth served as the MPP in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 until his retirement in 1990, including serving as a cabinet minister in the government of Bill Davis. Born in Smiths Falls, Wiseman has operated a number of local businesses over the years, and has served as a public school board chair and trustee of St. Paul’s United Church in Perth.
List of Smiths Falls area winners
Robert Chevier of Smiths Falls served in Korea from 1952 to 1953, in Germany from 1955 to 1958, and in Egypt from 1964 to 1965. He then had the opportunity to be the driver from Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, President John F. Kennedy, Prime Ministers John Diefenbaker, Lester B. Pearson, and Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and Sir Charles Lamb.
Francis Harvey of Smiths Falls served in the Canadian Army in various locations in Ontario, Saskatchewn and New Brunswick, as well as a year on Egypt with the United Nations peacekeeping unit during he Suez Canal crisis.
Douglas Kirkpatrick of Smiths Falls served in the Royal Canadian Artillery before becoming a teacher, and then a principal in Smiths Falls. He has been involved in Meals on Wheels, Lanark County Interval House, the United Church Young Heritage Leaders, and other organizations.
Jack Kirkland of Smiths Falls is a long-standing member of the community, both in his capacity as a lawyer, and as a volunteer with numerous community organizations. In 1988 he was appointed a specialist in civil and criminal litigations by the Law Society of Upper Canada.
Jack Rabb of Smiths Falls has served with the local Royal Canadian Legion since 1954, and is a past-president and zone council member. He served on the Settlers Week Committee and has been honoured as a past Citizen of the Year winner.
Ronald Stronski of Smiths Falls is known affectionately as the conscience of town council, have attended every council meeting for the last 30 years. He has his own observer seat at council. He is also a founder of the local recreational hall of fame.
Stan Suffel of Smiths Falls is an active member of the Lions Club and is a senator in the local JayCees. He also served as chair of the Smiths Falls Crime Stoppers committee. He was recently acknowledged by the town for his lifetime of volunteerism.
John Taylor of Smiths Falls is life-long volunteer and community leader whose activities include volunteering with his church and with the Eastern Ontario Railway Museum. Whenever asked to volunteer, he inevitably brings other volunteers with him.
Iris Taylor of Smiths Falls is a life-long volunteer and community leader whose activities include volunteering with her church and the Salvation Army’s Christmas kettle campaign. Whenever asked to volunteer, she inevitably brings other volunteers with her.
List of Carleton Place/Mississippi Mills area winners
Merle Bowes of Carleton Place has been an advocate for farming and the rural landowner community. He has been president of local farmers markets, local president of the National Farmers’ Union, represented Lanark County at Farm Markets Ontario, and has been influential in promoting sound environmental policies that respect rural landowners.
Mary Cook of Carleton Place is a local business owners who has been a life-long member of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, Canada. She was a well-known CBC broadcaster for more than 45 years, whose stories of growing up during the Great Depression are not featured in textbooks in Ontario elementary schools, as well as the pages of the EMC every week. She also started 12 branches of the Canadian Cancer Society in one year.
Sonya Oleinikow of Carleton Place served for 10 years in the Canadian Armed Forces as a military police officers, including overseas deployments. She is now a detective constable with Ontario Provincial Police with thirteen years of service. She is also a member of the Civitan Club.