Inductees

(1938-1987)

Born and raised in Peterborough, Jack Bailey became one of Canadian Country Music’s most memorable performers. His talent as both vocalist and writer formed the basis for a solid recording career. As well, Jack’s natural affinity for people made him a welcome guest on stage, in clubs and on television across Canada and many parts of the United States.

Always one to be there when help was needed; Jack gave generously of his time and talent to support a variety of local causes, most notably, the M.S. Society, Easter Seals Campaign and area hospitals.

His untimely death from a heart attack at age 49, places Jack Bailey in a category of ‘Done too soon’ with so much more he could have given. He performed in the area for 35 years.

For Al Poolman, creating works of art was a lifelong source of pleasure, and expression.  Beginning as fashion designer for such companies as Eaton’s, Simpsons and The Bay, Al went on to working as a set designer for CHEX-TV until he decided to pursue his love of art, full time.

He created over 2,000 paintings which grace private, and corporate collections around the world.  Locally, Al Poolman was a generous supporter of charitable causes through donations of his works of art.

An amazing life-accomplishment for an artist both self-taught, and colour-blind!

When discussing the talents of certain musicians, a phrase is often heard: “It’s in his blood.” That’s certainly very true of inductee William Wright.

Bill started on the drums at age ten and was soon performing in clubs long before he was old enough to partake of the ‘refreshments’ those clubs offered…

Bill’s first taste of the road came when he joined the band of ‘rock’n roll’ star Ray Smith, touring Canada and the U.S. He later played Las Vegas with Canadian pop legend, Bobby Curtola. Locally, Bill gained acclaim performing with such luminaries as Dino And The Capris, the Brian Browne Trio and Stu McCue & Wildwind.

In 1964, Bill opened Wright’s Music on George Street, which became a centre for Peterborough’s musical life. Bill taught many aspiring musicians, and his shop housed the local Academy of Music and the Musicians Union with which Bill was very active.

As performer, teacher, union supporter and businessman, there’s no doubt music remained a foundation, flowing through the veins of Bill Wright.

His nickname was ‘Mr. Soul!’ – and it could be argued the title not only reflected his lifelong admiration for James Brown, but also the guiding spirit that infused all of Buzz Thompson’s music.

There seems a proven path taken by those who’ve become part of Peterborough’s legendary Rock & Roll history. As a teen, Buzz joined a throng of unforgettable local groups, memory-evoking names such as The Gemtones, BJ & The Interns, Gary & The Goodtimes and Max Mouse & The Gorillas.

Then, in true Peterborough Rock & Roll fashion, Buzz did ‘post-graduate’ work as part of Ronnie Hawkins’ Hawks. Testament to Ronnie’s appreciation of Buzz’s artistry is the fact Buzz performed with The Hawks longer than any other musician. He also shared the stage with a remarkable array of talent, among them Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.

Buzz’s solo albumss reflect his infectious energy and enthusiasm while demonstrating a sensitivity and romantic spirit that stops even the most casual listener in his, or her tracks. For over 40 years, Buzz was a valued part of the Peterborough music scene. He made us get up and dance and sit down and check our souls.

The hallmark of a true musician.

The Peterborough Examiner’s Centennial Edition listed Buzz Thompson as one of ‘Performing Arts Top 100 of the Past 100 Years.’ At age 14, he was quoted as saying, “to entertain gives me the chance to let myself go,” and where his music has gone is straight to our hearts.

Buzz Thompson died in 2018.

The essence of a good community Samaritan lies in translating your love of community into action, and deed. Words are easy, actions aren’t always so. Kenn Grainger is a shining example of the best community Samaritanism. In spite of growing personal limitations, Kenn seemed to find the secret to a life of vitality by giving of himself, to making the lives of others better.

Over 50 years ago, Kenn began an ongoing involvement with the ‘Elmer The Safety Elephant’ program in area elementary schools. His affection for young people carried over into a longtime association with youth hockey and baseball and a 38-year relationship with the Peterborough Figure Skating Club.

Increasing vision difficulties spurred Kenn to involvement with the CNIB and the Kiwanis Club. Of course there’s his ongoing volunteer work with United Way, Hospital Foundation, YMCA, Kinsmen Club and K-40 Club. In recognition of his community service, Kenn was presented with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and an Ontario Ministry of Education award. Both awards recognized his work with school children.

Although legally blind, Kenn raised money and scratched a few activities from his bucket list at the same time by doing an assisted jump from a plane, and water skiing.

When it comes to love of one’s community, Kenn Grainger has certainly ‘talked the good talk.’ But unlike so many others, he has backed those words with a lifetime of action.

If experience, performance and repetition are keys to musical accomplishment, then Vera Keating must have been very close to ‘master’ status. Vera was a well-known, and beloved fiddle player in the Peterborough area. With her unique brand of traditional music, she entertained audiences for nearly 80 years. Her talent was validated by many fiddle contests she won, including events at the Peterborough Exhibition, and the Bobcaygeon Fair. Along with husband, Jack, Vera entertained at all local fairs and venues in the Peterborough area, too numerous to mention.

Throughout her career, she enjoyed warm kinship with her audiences and gave generously of her time, and talent in aid of many worthy causes. At one time, she performed several times a month with the Peterborough and Otonabee Oldtime Fiddlers, entertaining at local hospitals and retirement residences.

If longevity is the hallmark of success, then Vera Keating was indeed, a true success.

Vera Keating passed away in 2012, in her 99th year.

It’s the contention of many that a community is a living, organic entity. An individual is born into, or adopts a community; takes from the community, and gives back to the community.

In the case of Gillian Wilson, the balance is definitely tipped towards the ‘giving back’. For over 35 years, she’s been a vital member of Peterborough Theatre Guild as an actress, for which she received the Best Actress Award from the Eastern Ontario Drama League as production manager and director. She’s also directed four fundraisers for Showplace Peterborough.

As well, Gillian is an active member of The Art School of Peterborough and has directed two productions of Beyond The Fringe, to raise funds for the school.

Her tireless efforts in theatre, and on the boards confirm a belief that a community without a vital performance component is a community lacking in spirit, and vitality. Thanks to the creative dedication of individuals like Gillian Wilson, the performance component in Peterborough is very much alive, vital and growing.

To the casual observer, sport is a form of exercise, competition, and entertainment. The primary object is to win but, for those feeling an affinity for athletic pursuits, the word ‘winning’ can take on a wide spectrum of meaning. For Paul Brown, sport is a way of touching the soul.

For close to 50 years, Paul Brown has been deeply involved in the discipline of Judo. He’s a 4th degree black belt and has spent countless hours teaching Judo to young people in the Peterborough area. Significantly, that teaching experience ran parallel to a longtime relationship with the Kawartha-Haliburton Foster Parents Association. With his wife Linda, Paul has been a foster parent for more than 25 years and has used sports to enhance the lives of young people. Through sports, he’s instilled in them the sense of accomplishment, dignity and self-worth; qualities essential to molding a vital human being. In recognition of his efforts, Paul received numerous honours, including and Ontario Volunteer Service Award and Certificate of Merit from the Government of Canada.

In 2004, Paul was inducted into the Peterborough & District Sports Hall of Fame. The recognition is appreciated. But the true rewards, for Paul Brown, are the meaningful lives that blossom because of his teaching; each human being has worth and can do amazing things.

Every now and then, we’re lucky to meet someone who is bigger than life; someone who exudes unbridled confidence and has the moxy to tell it like it is, damn the consequences. Combine that with a distinctly authoritative voice that demands our attention and, well, you have David John Badham.

John’s 60-year broadcasting career began in Weyburn, Saskatchewan where his booming baritone voice fell upon the ears of the province’s most popular radio station in Regina. He was hired as CKCK’s morning news anchor and became the iconic voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

After 10 years at CKCK, 1969 saw John summoned to Toronto to call games for the Toronto Argonauts. He did so for three Toronto radio stations before heading west to call games for the BC Lions and then returned east to do the same for the Ottawa Roughriders. Come 1988, John was seconded to Peterborough where he began a new adventure as morning news anchor for Power Broadcasting. What was to be a short-term job with KRUZ Radio and The WOLF turned into a 28-year tenure that built upon and solidified John’s legacy as a leading broadcaster, not just locally but across the country.

With morning show co-host Mike Melnik, John talked Peterborough. He challenged local politicians, calling them to task for their decisions and their waffling. He was controversial; he spoke his mind and listeners shook their heads in agreement or disbelief, and often both. Urged more than once to stand for election, John declined, saying he could do more Peterborough as a commentator. That he indeed did, morning after morning, hosting his own show on Extra 90.5 FM right up until his passing in late 2016.

Over his six decades behind a microphone, John covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games events, world and Canadian curling championships, and a Super Bowl. Along the way, he interviewed iconic sports figures such as Gordie Howe, Pele, Wilt Chamberlain and Muhammad Ali. When hockey great Bobby Hull signed his then unprecedented $1 million contract to play for the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association, John was there, the only reporter on hand.

Several honours have come John’s way, most recently a Career Achievement Award from Sports Media Canada for his outstanding contribution to Canadian sports. Voted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, seven years earlier saw John receive the Foster Hewitt Award as Best Canadian Sportscaster.

Deeply devoted to his family, John and Dorothy were blessed with four children, 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Clearly, despite his many travels across this country, Peterborough was home for John.

photo courtesy Clifford Skarstedt, Peterborough Examiner

His commitment to community causes spanned more than six decades, making Gord Holnbeck one of Peterborough’s truly outstanding humanitarians. He served on City Council for several years while still finding time to volunteer time, and care to the betterment of others.

In 1980, Gord Holnbeck spearheaded the founding of the Peterborough County-City Disaster Trust Fund, providing essential lodging, logistical and financial support to thousands of Peterborough and area residents at a time of dire need.

Mr. Holnbeck passed away in 2012 at the age of 97.

There’s a story familiar to Canadians, that of a young leaving Newfoundland to seek a better life in Ontario and beyond. Some abandon their roots. Special ones fight to keep the essence of their small, tight-knit birth places in their souls. Reg Benoit came to Ontario to build a future in music, but he never forgot the intrinsic value of individual human beings he learned about in Stephenville.

Typical of many musicians, Reg created a steady, if unspectacular career. He did well enough to garner acclaim, although not enough to quit his day job.

Then, in 1998, Reg’s world came to an abrupt halt. A serious spinal cord injury sustained at his day job forced him to pursue music fulltime and fine-tune his passion for life, and people. The unexpected tragedy became a new direction in service to others through music, and a deeper understanding of how life will work out. He’s performed tirelessly entertaining seniors, the sick, and in aid of notable lists of fundraising projects, large and small, public and personal. His music benefited St. John’s Children’s Hospital and Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. He devoted time and energy to native groups and, when Canada’s last surviving Father of Confederation, Joey Smallwood, ran into financial difficulties writing his History of Newfoundland, Reg was there to help.

Along the way, Reg became a pastor in order to touch people in the darker corners where even music cannot reach. Reg Benoit is a symbol of those for whom music is not a road to riches, but a challenging path to the hearts of people.

There seems a point in an entertainer’s life when the call of home and community overtakes the lure of the road. People who create a life, and roots, become more important than heading out on the road to a new town, a new audience.

Make no mistake, Del Haddlesey still loves his music but benefiting others now occupies the driver’s seat in his life.

Many will remember Del Haddlesey from the ‘salad days’ of Peterborough music in ’60’s and ’70’s. Whether at Brock Ballroom, Queens Hotel, Marmora or Madoc Hotels, Del captivated audiences over many years of Saturday nights. In the 1970’s, he went on the road to share stages with the likes of Waylon Jennings and Chubby Checker. As time went by, and life imposed its dictates, Del returned to his Peterborough roots.

Switching gears, Del concentrated on making a difference on behalf of people who needed him in the Kawarthas. His date-book soon filled with events in aid of a veritable ‘who’s who’ of community endeavours. With his group, ‘Father Time,’ he worked in aid of local food banks, area Legions, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Cancer Society, many family benefits and an impressive list of community projects.

Dedication to community through time, talent, energy and selflessness is the hallmark of an exceptional human spirit. That’s Del Haddlesey.

For Gene Canning, it seems art is more than intriguingly executed images on canvas. Indeed, he skillfully nurtures the dormant creativity within each student almost as an extension of himself. His ability to do so, has enhanced Gene’s artistic acceptance as an artist worldwide.

One of his paintings currently hangs in the Rideau Hall exhibit among Canada’s permanent art collection.
Expanding his compulsion to share the appreciation of art utilizing modern communicative tools, Gene Canning created and hosted ‘Journeys of an Artist,’ a weekly national PBS Network television program that aired from 2003 through 2008.

Sharing his talent on a more individual level, he teaches art at a Children’s Summer Camp, a senior’s group as well as an advanced plain art course each fall.

Mr. Canning has been especially supportive of those with special needs, assisting them to develop their artistic abilities. So great has been his influence, and his teaching skills, that a good many of his students have gone on to enjoy a tremendous measure of success in the world of art.

Gene Canning’s artistic accomplishments have earned him global recognition which has made his career the subject of TV documentaries, high profile interviews and studies. He is, at present engaged in an art project retracing the trails of Tom Thompson to commemorate the famous Canadian’s Centenary (1917).

It can be stated with considerable pride, that Gene Canning’s artistic pursuits will continue to spotlight the Peterborough area as his home and workplace for many years to come.

• Photo courtesy of Mike Lacey, Metroland

Glen Walker was hit with the theatre bug in Brantford in 1967 and, to the immense benefit of the Peterborough Theatre Guild since 1970, a cure was never found.

During his close to 50 years with the multi-awarded theatre company housed on Rogers Street in East City, Glen has served in virtually every capacity, including the holding of positions on the Executive, and the Play Selection Committee.

As the theatre’s property manager, Glen was involved in several building improvement initiatives such as the installation of a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system and a new metal roof, as well as the addition of a wheelchair-accessible washroom.

Both onstage and behind the scenes, Glen’s love of, and commitment to community theatre has been abundantly clear. Along with his direct involvement in several productions as both actor and director, he has served offstage as a sound designer, and makeup artist.

Accolades for Glen’s talents have come in the form of a trio of Eastern Ontario Drama League Awards (EODL) – Best Sound Design (1981), Best Actor (1985) and Best Cameo (1989). Glen has also been recognized by the Province of Ontario for 30-plus years of volunteer service, and has received two Civic Awards for Cultural Achievement from the City of Peterborough.

Already the recipient of an award for Outstanding Service from the Peterborough Theatre Guild, Glen was recently made a Lifetime Member of the community theatre group.

Doreen Landry, aged 90 upon her induction into the Pathway of Fame, was an active Peterboronian since her youth.

She volunteered at Peterborough’s hospital, now called the Peterborough Regional Health Centre, for 52 years. There, she was active in the hospital gift shop for 20 years, was president of the hospital auxiliary, and led the Baby Bootie Brigade, which provided booties for babies born in the hospital. Doreen was an active volunteer with St. John’s Anglican Church, the Progress Wives Club in the 1970’s and the Quota Club in the 1980’s and 1990’s. She balanced a working career, motherhood and outstanding work as a community volunteer, serving as a role model to her family, and others.

Doreen was pre-deceased by her husband Doug Landry, himself a Pathway of Fame inductee

Audrey Caryi resonated throughout Lang Pioneer Village, to which she devoted her artistic talents, for an incredible 34 years.

An honours graduate of Toronto’s Art College in 1969, she began her long tenure with the historic village in 1983. Audrey’s career as Museum Specialist and Exhibit Artist has enhanced the life of the Village, and its displays, to a degree rarely equaled elsewhere. Audrey Caryi’s drawings give life to the many artifacts displayed throughout the Village. She developed conceptual drawings for a number of reproduction buildings that were added to the Museum grounds over the years. Her work also engaged her in the design and staging of numerous exhibits.

It is safe to say that Audrey Caryi’s life, and that of Lang Pioneer Village were almost one and the same. However, while she did devote talent to the many areas of the Village, she also did a variety of work as a freelance artist. This included calligraphy work for the Campbellford Memorial Hospital, and also updating names and illustrating pages in the Book of Remembrance for the City of Peterborough.

Audrey was an enthusiastic community supporter of Warkworth and area cultural Boards and festivals, and was one of 17 original artists who started the Colborne Artists Cooperative in Colborne, Ontario. Her accomplishments are far too many to list here, but there is no doubt that no one was more dedicated to ensuring that activities at Lang Pioneer Village were historically accurate and true to the Museum’s vision, mission and mandate.

Tragically and all too soon, Audrey passed away as the result of a horse riding accident in April, 2017.

Joe Corrigan, the Museum’s Manager says it so well, “we are all the richer for having had Audrey Caryi as part of our lives.”

A fixture on Peterborough’s Country Music scene, George McIlmoyle delighted audiences for more than 40 years. With his ‘Good and Country’ band, he performed on radio, television, in clubs and at gatherings throughout the Peterborough area.

Always willing to lend a hand to those in need, George was an avid and appreciated performer who contributed to countless local causes. George McIlmoyle personified the best in the tradition of giving to others through music.

The richness of cultural life in Peterborough and the Kawarthas is due, in no small part, to the contribution of First Nations people who live, and create here.

A lifelong resident of Curve Lake, Norman Knott’s artistry, whether in acrylics, oil or watercolours, gained him a reputation around the world. Drawing on a closeness to nature and his Ojibway heritage, Norman developed a powerful and unique style of painting by interweaving contemporary realism with traditional Ojibway symbolism.

The works of Norman Knott can be enjoyed in galleries across North America and Europe, and grace private collections of notables ranging from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, to Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Johnny Cash.

By looking back we can, most times, see the direction our future is taking. Such is a gift few can claim to share as has Jean Murray Cole with her enthralling compositions.

Our community is certainly richer for her penning nine books, including three Peterborough township histories, plus a host of papers that fill her dossier to date. Jean Murray Cole is an acknowledged expert on the Strickland family; Samuel Strickland, Catherine Parr Traill, Susanna Moodie, and their siblings who remained in England. The Stricklands mean much to the area because they wrote and recorded their experiences in its raw, evolving youthful years.

Jean Murray Cole holds an honours degree from Trent University, the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship, and the F.H. Dobbin award for her book, ‘Sir Sandford Fleming: His Early Diaries.’ Many of her manuscripts and research papers have been donated to Trent University Archives.

Two individuals, dedicated to one historic cause…

Both gentlemen founded the restoration committee for Christ Church in Lakefield.  Their efforts saved the church as a viable heritage building in Lakefield village.  Christ Church is the product of Colonel Sam Strickland (brother of Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie) and his fundraising in England.  Christ Church, as the first church in the County (excluding the Town of Peterborough) is believed to have been built without a mortgage.  In any event, Bill Twist and Garnet Graham saw preserving the church a a priority of utmost importance, not just to the village but to the entire county – and they took up the challenge to make it so.  The foresight and endeavour to, not only, save Christ Church, but to see it morph into a genuine Village Museum remains an ongoing gift to the country in which we live.

If anyone’s to be truly born with “printer’s ink” in their veins, such could be said of Peterborough’s own Ed Arnold.

Over 35 years, Ed worked his way through almost every position in Peterborough Examiner newsrooms from photography, dark-room, reporter, to city editor and managing editor. In the latter position, Ed Arnold is believed to be the longest reigning such executive of a daily newspaper in Canada.

He authored nine books, including a national best seller on minor hockey. Knowledge of his hometown spurred him to found “Kids In Need,” a registered charity helping children within Peterborough and County.

Recipients benefiting from Ed Arnold’s knowledge and cooperation can be found in a wide range of endeavours, such as the Gainey Foundation, as well as other authors’ access to archival material and electronic media.

When most people walk by old Peterborough buildings, they simply see old brick, wood and shingles. When Martha Kidd passes an old Peterborough building, she sees life and history. She sees the men who built the structure, the individuals and families who inhabited the building over decades, who worked and played, laughed and cried, lived and died there to mold Peterborough into what it is today.

Active in many phases of local history, Martha served as president of Peterborough Historical Society and vice-chair and research director with Peterborough Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee.

A book she co-authored with Louis Taylor, (Historical Sketches of Peterborough,) and a myriad of newspaper articles and columns are a continuing source of fascination, bringing to life so many aspects of Peterborough history. Her writing also enriches any city walking tour.

Few have contributed more to our appreciation of local history and architectural heritage than Martha Ann Kidd.

Martha Ann Kidd passed away in 2012. Image credit: MyKawartha.com

To hear Rob Phillips play the piano is to immediately sense that both, are part of the other!

He began classical studies at the age of 7. However it is safe to say, now decades later, that Rob was born to play, sing and write music. Introduction to boogie-woogie mates Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson and Albert Simmons set a tone for his musical pedigree, and articulates his jazz interpretation even now.

Peterborough and district is fortunate that Rob has so completely involved himself in playing with, and contributing to the sound of bands and individuals here at home. His dedication to playing piano and organ, singing, writing and arranging jazz, blues, rock and pop music – as well as being an accomplished classical pianist – has highlighted the local music scene for decades.

Rob Phillips is engrossed in the musical life of the community – from taking part in Musicfest, to serving as a director of Trent Radio, as well as fashioning and organizing countless benefit concerts.

Although he teaches classical piano and preps jazz students for post-secondary jazz studies at McGill and Humber Colleges, it is his commitment to the hometown music scene that makes Rob such an asset to this community. It’s his professionalism and musical excellence that shines as a respected ambassador for Peterborough wherever he travels, with his work.

What Bill Mullan lacked in formal training, he more than made up for in enthusiasm, and devotion to music.

That same devotion characterized his commitment to sports and humanitarian causes.  Bill’s fiddle music made him a fixture at the Peterborough Farmers Market, and various local events.  Overcoming serious physical adversity, he actively participated in many sports. One could say, Bill Mullan was Peterborough’s most famous one-legged goaltender.

Over the years, Bill served as an avid supporter of many causes, including Cancer Research, ParticipAction, and old timers hockey.

Details of Joseph Scriven’s life are somewhat limited, but what is known makes a remarkable story.

He was born in Ireland to a family of comfortable means and educated at Trinity College, Dublin.  On the eve of his wedding, his fiancée accidentally drowned.  It was a shock from which he’d never recover.

Emigrating to Port Hope area, Joseph taught school and developed a strong faith in Christ. Adhering to a strict life of piety, he gave all his possessions to the poor and became known as The Good Samaritan of Port Hope.  He died under mysterious circumstances in August, 1886.

His gifts to the poor of Port Hope were his possessions, but Joseph Scriven’s gift to the world were the many hymns he composed after embracing Christianity, the most notable being, ‘What A Friend We Have In Jesus,’ a song that’s been sung in every Christian church around the world for the past one hundred years.

Both John and Rosemary give selflessly to local, national and international volunteer activities. While high school teachers, they and their three sons joined CIDA projects in Jamaica and Tanzania and shared their experiences in local newspapers.

With strong local support, they founded Jamaica Self Help, an NGO, in 1981. Over 1,000 local adults and teens have enjoyed meaningful experiences as volunteers sharing an overseas vision and working for a better world. They’ve assisted in practical ways toward delivering relief to needy Jamaican communities. Similarly, they’ve educated Canadians about Jamaica and its needs.

Their efforts have been duly honoured. John received WUSC’s Lewis Perinbaum Prize in 1992, and the YMCA Peace Price in 2004. Rosemary receieved the YWCA’s Woman of the Year in 1985, and attended the UN Conference on Women in 1995.

The Ganley’s have been invigorated by grassroots support of young people and others. We are all beneficiaries of their work.

John Ganley passed away in 2013. Rosemary continues their work.

• Photo courtesy of Red Pashmina Inc.

Cal Coons – writer, director and producer for network television, has worked in the Canadian film and television industry since the 1980’s. He is perhaps best known as the executive producer since 2011 for ‘The Listener,’ for CTV and FOX and since 2009 for ‘Murdoch Mysteries,’ the popular CITY-TV series now a top draw for CBC. Both shows are in current production, and he has written episodes for both series.

From 2001-2004, he wrote many episodes for Global’s ‘Blue Murder.’ He has written episodes for several other television series including ‘Remedy’ and ‘Republic of Doyle.’

Coons attended Buckhorn Public School, Lakefield District Secondary School, Niagara College and the Canadian Film Institute.

Cal is also the guitarist for the Peterborough music group ‘Pop Machine.’ He is on the Wall of Fame of the Lakefield high school, and has been nominated more than 25 times for the Gemini award.

Gary Stewart was a funeral director with Comstock Funeral Home until 1974, and subsequently since 2003 with Community Alternatives.

Stewart founded G. Stewart Travel Services, and directed the firm for nearly 30 years, when he sold it to Scott and Dana Stewart. The firm was connected to Carlson Wagonlit.

Stewart was an Otonabee Township councillor from 1981 through 1995, serving as Deputy Reeve, and Reeve. He served as the Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Peterborough, 1995-2003.

As MPP, he was particularly determined in working to secure the funding needed to assure the success of the new Peterborough Regional Hospital. Stewart has spent his entire life in Stewart Hall and Peterborough, and is well-known and connected with the community.

In varied and quiet ways, Gary Stewart has helped countless people, and innumerable causes in the community. As John Cunningham, of Community Alternatives has noted, “Gary is extremely personable, exudes trust and just has a way with people…”

• photo courtesy of Lance Anderson, MyKawartha and Peterborough This Week

There’s an old Celtic saying; the greatest sin is the unlived life. This individual’s life is a true mosaic of experiences, events, relationships and dedications to his belief. It could never be said Father Bernard Heffernan is guilty of an unlived life.

An ordained priest since the early ‘60’s, this son-of-Douro worked as labourer, plumber, truck driver and RCAF flight lieutenant. His parishes existed in quintessential small-town Ontario, but often his congregation was the world.

Father Heffernan was an innovator in the use of mass media to spread his message of faith. He penned, and produced the widely-distributed TV series ‘The Church’ as well as numerous radio programs and series. He’s written an influential and well-received book called ‘The Future Vision of the Christian Mass Media Mission.’

Whether interviewing celebrities such as Garth Brooks, spending time listening to prisoners in local jails, or seniors in nursing homes, he always held fast to the belief that each person is valued in God’s eyes. Regardless of his many accomplishments in mass media, for Father Bernard Heffernan, faith is passed on one soul at a time.

Father Heffernan went to be with the Lord in 2016, at age 81.

Sam Strickland was one of the earliest settlers in what is now Peterborough, arriving at the same time as the Peter Robinson settlers. He built the first house in the area on what is now Nicolls Oval, where visitors can read a plague bearing the following history…

“Sam Strickland was an orphan immigrant to Canada in 1825 sponsored by a family friend, Colonel Black of Darlington, Ontario. He purchased this property, now Nichols Oval, in 1829 and built his first house here. He worked for John Galt and The Canada Company in the Huron Tract.

“In 1830, he sold this property and purchased farm land in North Douro. Sam Strickland became a land commissioner, Justice of the Peace, teacher, author and family man.

“Two sisters, Catharine Parr Trail and Susanna Moodie followed him to the Lakefield area. His 1853 book, Twenty-seven years in Canada West, was a helpful guide for immigrants, mostly young and working poor hoping to succeed in Canada.

“Within its pages he described the three great ‘wants’ in Canada. “We need pastors, teachers and population.”

“Sam Strickland emphasized the development of community and the education of the young. Col. Strickland was an early advocate of assisted child emigration to Canada; by 1935 more than 900,000 young people came to Canada as “Home Children.”

The plaque was erected by The City of Peterborough, in partnership with The Fenner Foundation.

Sam Strickland was a leading citizen of the area and is recognized as the founder of Lakefield. He supported the construction of Lakefield’s first mill, its first passable road, and its bridge over the Otonabee River. He was a member of Council for Douro Township and of Peterborough County.

Samuel Strickland was a true pioneer, and a giant among men in every sense of the word.