Month: July 2014

A resident of Morrisburg for the past 47 years, Stella Smith passed away at the Winchester District Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, July 8, 2014, following a brief illness. She was 87.

Stella was born in Belleville, on October 14, 1926, to John and Margaret Gallivan (nee Belcour). She was raised on a farm near Stirling, Ontario. Stella was the oldest of four children, and attended Eggleton Public School.

After grade school, Stella had to forego high school in order to help with work on the family farm and with her younger siblings.

In 1944, Stella married Ralph Smith, a stationary engineer and farmer. Together they raised five children.

Stella and Ralph began their marriage living on a farm near Holloway, Ontario. They moved to a farm near Spencerville, in the early 1950’s when Ralph started working at the Dupont plant in Maitland. In 1959, Stella and Ralph moved again to another farm near Shanley.

Stella shared the chores associated with farm life and raising children.

In the early 1960’s, Stella started working at Caldwell Linen Mill in Iroquois, and she remained an employee there until 1967, when she and Ralph sold the farm and moved to Morrisburg. Soon afterwards, Stella began working as a waitress at Romeo’s Restaurant. Approximately five years later she began babysitting children from her home, which she did full-time for about eight years.

During retirement Stella supplemented her income by baking pies for the Morrisburg Legion.

Stella was raised with horses and maintained a strong love for them throughout her life. She also liked dogs and cats, and was an avid Blue Jays fan. She rarely missed a game.

Stella enjoyed travelling and camping, and she and Ralph had a camping trailer for many years. They also took several bus tours within Canada and the United States. Stella felt fortunate to have travelled to the places she had been.

Stella’s greatest love was children. Nothing gave her more joy than holding a baby, or rocking with a toddler.

Stella was a kind and giving person. She will be missed by her family and her many friends within the community and church.

Stella is survived by her children Goldie Britton of Morrisburg and Steven Smith of Dorchester, her grandchildren Jim Smith, David Britton, Kevin Britton, Darryl Britton, Elizabeth Reynolds, Wayne Smith Jr., Jeff Smith, Kristy Smith and nine great-grandchildren. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband Ralph, her sons Garry, Wayne and Robert, her sisters Marion Clarke and Betty Johnston and her brother Vince Gallivan.

Friends called at the Marsden and McLaughlin Funeral Home, Williamsburg, on Thursday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral service was held at Knox Presbyterian Church, Morrisburg, on Friday, July 11th at 11a.m., with Rev. Feras Chamas officiating.

Interment followed at Roselawn Memorial Gardens, Maitland. Pallbearers were Jeff Smith, Jim Gallivan, Darryl Britton and David Britton.

Donations to Winchester Hospital or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be gratefully acknowledged by the family. Online condolences may be made at marsdenmclaughlin.com.

Let’s Make a $pla$h

The bank account for the Splashpad to be installed at the South Dundas Children’s Playground in Morrisburg is growing steadily, and we are slowly working our way towards the end of the summer when the organizing committee would like to see the project underway and completed.

With $116,000 now in the bank, thanks to steady fundraising over the last few years and the generosity of a lot of local businesses, clubs and organizations, the committee is now hoping to get the entire community active in coming up with the remaining money needed for the $200,000 project.

The organizing committee has submitted numerous proposals for grant money, and are hopeful, but you know what they say: You can’t always count on the other guy, sometimes you just got to get out there and do it yourself.

So really the committee is now looking for the South Dundas community, young and old, big and little, in school and out of school, to make a splash with a few fundraisers of your own. You are limited only by your own imagination…and for those of us who are limited on imagination like me, well then the cheque book comes in pretty handy.

For those of you, however, with lots of imagination there are all sorts of events to be considered like bake sales, or yard sales, or a great big huge community party and barbecue like a Block Party or in this case a Park Party, right down there at the playground…with facepainting and balloon popping games of chance…perhaps a cake walk…bake sales…family ‘goofy’ pictures, (we supply the frame, the costumes, the photographer, and you supply the family…a community wide silent auction or some crazy auctions for a free snowblow, or hairdo, or manicure, or garden weeding, a car wash or dinner with a local celeb…and eats and foods with every restaurant and food service in the community on site with their specialties…the list goes on and on.

It’s all up to you the community. You did it before and the proof is in the children’s park…at the playground and the nearby beautifully landscaped gardens…so if you did it once, you can do it again…Together we can all make a pretty big $pal$h. Don’t you think?

Seaway Kickers win big in Nepean

The Seaway Kickers U13M team claimed a 5-0 shutout victory when they visited the Nepean City Storm M2 team at Trend Arlington East field in Nepean, July 10.

Seaway got on the scoreboard first at the six minute mark, with a goal by forward Aaron Tibben in the bottom left corner of Nepean’s net, 1-0 Seaway. Five minutes later at the 11 minute mark, forward Dryden Buter made it 2-0 Seaway.

Nepean made several drives into Seaway’s end before half-time but were thwarted by the defensive efforts of Keiran Geurkink, Gabe Baker, Sean Nicolaassen and Adam Tibben. 2-0 Seaway at half-time.

Aaron Tibben netted his second goal of the evening at the 41 minute mark, 3-0 Seaway. At the 66 minute mark, Gabe Baker, playing as a forward, scored his first goal of the year, making it 4-0 Seaway.

Midfielder Daniel Swerdfeger scored his fourth goal of the year at the 70th and final minute of the game, final score, Seaway Kickers 5, Nepean City Storm 0.

Goalkeeper Kendrew Byers picks up his second clean-sheet of the season.

The team moves up to seventh in league standings with a record of four wins, five losses, no ties.

The team returns to Nepean July 17 to play the Nepean HotSpurs at Confederation High School, 6:30 p.m. kick-off.

Strader family on top at Cedar Glen

A very solid six under par 64 landed the golfers representing the Lyell Strader family the Memorial Day tournament silverware at the Cedar Glen Golf Course here on Saturday.

The annual tournament is played in memory of the local families who are forever appreciated for their contributions to the Cedar Glen Golf course and the Williamsburg community.

They include the late Cliff and Agnes Casselman upon whose farm the original nine-hole Cedar Glen course was built, the late Stuart and Ethel Saddlemire whose farmland is home to the Glen’s expanded back nine holes, the late Lyell Strader who was the Glen’s first member and Dr. M.W. Locke who played a big role in the history of Williamsburg.

The tournament is open to all Cedar Glen members, all family members of those being honoured and all area golfers. This year, all but one team played in the mixed scramble format and they were Brandon and Vince Cousineau and Bryden and Peter Van Kessel who posted an impressive 13 under par 59.

Winning by a slim one stroke in the mixed scramble format category with their 64 was the team of Lyle and Kim Schell and Mitch and Laurie Hutt. Laurie and Lyle are grandchildren of the late Lyle Strader.

The mixed championship was highly contested with three teams finishing tied for second place with five under par 65s.

They included the Sam Locke team, the Brian McNairn team and the Cheryl Low team.

Playing for the Locke team were Sam and Claire Locke and and daughter Jane Howe and Wayde Roles.

For the McNairn team were Brian and Bonnie McNairn and Shawn and Lila Lapier and playing for the Lowe team were Cheryl Lowe, John Phillips, Sherri Boyd and Michael Hunt.

The ladies long drive was struck by Lindsay Waddell, and Brandon Cousineau hit the longest ball for the men.

Cheryl Lowe produced the closest to the hole shot on the par three 15th hole and Sam Locke had the closest for the men on the par three 12th.

Tied with 66s were the teams of Garry McMillan and Shaler Hill and the Barry Casselman team was next with a 68.

“We are here today to remember some very special people in our club’s history and in the history of our community,” said Cedar Glen owner Dennis Casselman as he spoke of each of the families being honoured.

Mahlon Locke thanked Dennis and Kathy for doing “ a great job on this tournament year after year. We thank you for hosting the tournament every year and allowing us to have a beer and hoist one for the old days.”

Bruce Whitteker said he remembers how his grandfather and grandmother (Cliff and Agnes Casselman) used to refer to Dennis and Ronnie Casselman and Rex Whitteker as the “three mouseketeers”. “The course is in great shape. I know it is a lot of work, and I’m very proud to be a member of this club.”

His sentiments were echoed by Lyle Schell whose grandfather Lyell Strader was Cedar Glen’s first member and first paid member every year after that. “I am proud to be a member here, and I hold my glass proudly for all these people in their memory.”

Tubie continued, traditional race returns

Tubie race competitors got what they asked for at a meeting hosted by the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce Tubie Festival organizing committee, July 10, at the McIntosh Inn.

The meeting was held to help the new organizing committee gauge interest in the race.

“In the past, organizers would wait until the Friday night (of Tubie Weekend) to see how many competitors there would be,” said Kevin Casselman, who chaired the meeting. The new committee wasn’t comfortable with waiting until then, so they organized this preliminary meeting.

In addition to gauging interest, the meeting provided a forum for those planning to compete to share ideas, to ask questions, and to provide input.

Before the meeting started, Casselman told The Leader that if there was an appetite for change, the committee was willing to do what they could to facilitate the desired changes.

The main topic of conversation was the format of the upcoming 44th annual Tubie race.

Cole Veinotte suggested returning the race to its original format.

According to Veinotte, the sprint format brought in a few years ago, has been keeping Tubie traditionalists away. He suggested that some of those traditionalists are likely to return should the original race format be re-instated.

Other competitors at the meeting agreed to bringing back the traditional format, where paddlers race their Tubie crafts from Mariatown to the Morrisburg beach.

Veinotte suggested the format change could alleviate some of the congestion at the Morrisburg dock, on a very busy long weekend, that this year will also be hosting the Renegade Bass fishing tournament series.

Immediately following the meeting, the Tubie Festival committee went to work on securing the Arlor Haven Campsite launch venue for the race Sunday, August 3.

Monday morning, Casselman announced that they had successfully secured the Arlor Haven launch site for the 2014 Tubie race.

Organizers have about 7-8 teams planning to participate. “We’re happy with that number in early July,” said Casselman.

They continue to welcome more to build a craft to join in the Tubie fun.

As always, festivities kick off with a parade Saturday, August 2, and a dance that evening.

Organizers are planning to keep the traditional parade route in tact, even though a portion of it passes along an area of Lakeshore Drive which has been under construction. They believe the area will be paved in time for the parade.

Local talent – One Night Standards will play this year’s dance, which is planned for outdoors, at the Morrisburg waterfront however, there will be no big tent.

Tubie T-Shirts are designed and ordered.

The 2014 Tubie theme – It’s Going Tubie a Splash.

This is the first year the Tubie Festival is being handled by the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce, who took over the event after the Morrisburg and District Lions Club announced that they would no longer host it.

“This is not something that a chamber of commerce would normally do, but it’s so important to the community, we didn’t want to see it disappear,” said Carl McIntyre, South Dundas Chamber of Commerce president.

“Nowhere else in the world is there a Tubie Festival. South Dundas has Tubies and we won’t let that go,” said Geraldine Fitzsimmons of the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s going to make for a great weekend,” said Casselman.

Solon Whitteker

A resident of Cornwall for the past 30 years, Solon Whitteker passed away at the Cornwall General Hospital on Saturday, June 28, 2014. He was 79.

Solon was born in Matilda Township, on December 3, 1934, to his parents Mahlon and Alma Whitteker (nee Casselman).

Solon was a devoted family man who loved children. After his children grew up and moved away, he offered a playground in his backyard so he could watch the neighbourhood children play and laugh.

He loved watching John Wayne movies and listening to music, especially Stompin’ Tom Connors.

Solon is survived by his children Almon of R.R.#1 Iroquois, Lawrence “Tank” (Linda) of R.R.# 1 Iroquois, Lynn Bissonnette (Richard) of Calgary, Gloria Barnhart (William) of Cornwall, Steven of Cornwall and Heather Malyon (Greg) of Lancaster.

He was a dear brother to Betty Barkley of Winchester and Marion Barkley (Don) of Inkerman.

Solon will be fondly remembered by nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his son Robert, his grandson Jamie Bissonnette, his sister Marjorie Baker and his brothers Bill, Don, Sheldon and Harry. He is also survived by nieces and nephews.

Friends called at the Marsden and McLaughlin Funeral Home, Williamsburg, on Friday, July 4th from 10 a.m. until time of the Memorial service at 11 a.m. The service was conducted by Rev. Janet Evans.

Interment followed at Dundela Cemetery.

Donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be gratefully acknowledged by the family. Online condolences may be made at marsdenmclaughlin.com.

Chuck Munroe

A lifetime resident of the area, Charles “Chuck” Munroe passed away at the Ottawa Civic Hospital on Sunday, June 29, 2014. He was 50.

Chuck was born in Winchester, on September 9, 1963, to his parents Charles Munroe and June Hunter.

Chuck worked at Tim Horton’s for several years and loved to drink coffee. He also enjoyed visiting with his family and friends and snowmobiling.

Chuck is survived by his mother June Picard (nee Hunter) of Toyes Hill and his sons Ryan and Christopher of Morrisburg.

He will be lovingly remembered by his siblings Valerie Munroe (John Fawcett) of Winchester, Julie Padbury (Doug) of Winchester, Barry of Ottawa and Neil Picard (Angie) of Calgary. He is also survived by nieces and nephews.

Friends called at the Marsden and McLaughlin Funeral Home, Williamsburg, on Friday from 7-9 p.m.

A graveside interment service was held at Maple Ridge Cemetery, Chesterville, on Saturday, July 5th at 9 a.m. followed by a luncheon at Julie and Doug Padbury’s home in Winchester.

Donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be gratefully acknowledged by the family. Online condolences may be made at marsdenmclaughlin.com

Dale McMillan

Claire “Dale McMillan of Pleasant Valley Road, South Mountain, died on Monday, June 30, 2014 in Winchester District Memorial Hospital. Dale was 79.

Dale was born October 10, 1934, in Williamsburg Township. The son of Cecil and Annie McMillan was baptized at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Dunbar on November 8, 1934, during the pastorate of the Rev. Carl Cronmiller.

He received his education at local schools in the Dunbar area, and on May 8, 1959, he married Alice Anderson at St. Luke’s. Together they had four children Chris, Curtis, Lesley and Leah.

Dale worked at the Rohm and Haas factory in Morrisburg, for many years before retiring at the age of 58. He then found a new challenge to keep him busy, driving a school van for Brennan’s Bus Line for a few years.

After moving to South Mountain, he continued driving, this time for Rideau Auctions in Winchester. Dale spent his last years doing what he loved to do – driving – and got the bonus of making many friends along the way.

Dale was a generous man. He would do anything for his grandchildren. He was very easy-going, approachable and non-confrontational. Everybody loved him.

Dale was a big Ottawa Senators fan. He loved watching the birds at his many feeders and enjoyed good old country music.

His vehicles were his pride and joy. He really enjoyed cleaning and detailing them. He took pride in his work, and whatever he did was done with great care.

Dale is survived by his wife of 55 years, Alice Anderson, and his children Chris (Janice) of Winchester, Curtis (Cathy) of R.R.# 2 Chesterville, Lesley Francis (Mike) of R.R.# 1 South Mountain and Leah McMillan (Andrew VanDam) of R.R.# 2 Chesterville,.

He will be fondly remembered by his sisters Elva McIntyre of Kanata and Marjorie Munroe (Harold) of Carp, his grandchildren Amy, Josh, Shaun, Bradley, Tyler, Tanner, Taryn, Christian, Jordyn and his great-grandchildren Alexis, Peyton, Ivy and Gage.

He is also survived by nieces and nephews.

Donations to the Canadian Wildlife Fund or the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre would be gratefully acknowledged by the family.

Arrangements were entrusted to the Marsden and McLaughlin Funeral Home in Chesterville. Online condolences may be made at marsdenmclaughlin.com.

Perspectives with Rev. Firas Shammas

A teacher complained to Tim’s parents about their son (11 years old), saying that recently he became aggressive in his behaviour. He is hitting his friends, and even when playing group games he will be violent in all his actions. The teacher’s notice, however, did not take the parents by surprise; Tim did not shy off from his behaviour at home. His older sister has had some bruises on her arm lately.

Tim parents, teachers and the school’s social worker tried to talk to him about this issue, but things did not seem to be changing at all; on the contrary the snow ball was going downhill.

One day, his class teacher arranged to meet the family right after the school; she was to take the school bus with Tim home to see if anything could be done, but she was not very optimistic.

Once there she surprised his parents when she said, “I think I just learned what is wrong with Tim.”

On the way to their house the bus had to go through the downtown and pass by the central cinema house where they had a huge poster about the movie being played there. The movie was an action one and the poster showed a picture of a very good looking, topless actor where you could see every single muscle in his upper body.

“He really looked like everything an 11 year old boy wants to be. I saw Tim captivated by the poster as we passed by,” she said.

Apparently, Tim identified himself with the picture or with the person in that picture; in other words, he saw himself to be that actor and quickly acted as one.

This story is not only about an 11 year old boy, it is about everyone. The honest response to it is not if we go through the same experience; rather, it is what kind of images play an important role in one’s self-understanding or in understanding the world around you?

Before answering this question, we might want to remember a couple of things:

•It is a picture-culture we live in; pictures surround us all the time, and we don’t have control over the ones we get to see every new day.

•They are all taken in professional shooting sessions: from the best angel, using the best lighting, putting the right things in, taking the wrong things out and by expert hands.

So, we are surrounded with pictures that can’t be spontaneously found in everyday life.

The picture-culture we live in is really a fairy-like picture-culture; there is a tension between the images that surround us and the world we live in; there is a big distance between what you have on your tray and the giant hamburger you see in the ad.

Our eyes and minds are being trained, everyday, to connect and appreciate another kind of reality; a reality that has to do with the appearance more than the content, a reality where we are invited to identify with the eye-candies we see around.

This can be a major reason behind our frustrations and unreal expectations.

And it can explain why our self-understanding, models and aspirations have become unreal more than real.

In the Old Testament, in the book of 1 Samuel 16:7 it says: “…God sees not as people see, for they look at the eye, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

I think we are invited to learn again to look at the more important things in life and identify with them. Our life can take a big turn if we look to the heart and not to the eye.

Our bus goes through downtown every day, what are we looking at and what are we learning?

One under par wins Iroquois Men’s Open

Prescott golfer, Bruce Perrin put up a one under par 71 on the Iroquois golf course, Saturday to easily win the 2014 Men’s Open Tournament in a field of 56 competitors.

For the tournament, the players played the back holes 10 through 18 first, and then moved over onto the course’s front nine holes to finish it off.

Perrin played the course’s front nine holes at one under par 36, and was even on the back nine with a 35 for his 71.

Next up was Kevin Duvall who plays out of the Morrisburg Golf Club. Duvall was right on Perrin’s heels with a 75 (38-37) which gave him the low net in A flight with a 64.

Despite the high wind of the day, some solid scores were turned in with nine of the 17 A flight players breaking the 80 barrier.

Iroquois club member, Les Gilmour carded a strong 76 to finish third overall, and then with 77s were Matt O’Neil of Morrisburg, Shawn Lapier of Iroquois and Kevin`Byrd of Prescott.

Lance LePage of Morrisburg shot a 78, and Troy Gilmour of Grafton and Brent Mattice of Iroquois tied with 79s.

Rob Kimmerly, the defending 2013 champion, came in with an 81.

In B flight, it was Jamie Pederson who took charge with a very solid 78. He posted a 40 on the front nine and added a 38 on the back for his winning B flight total.

Next up were Bill Blad of Greely and Bob Mann of Morrisburg with 81s. David Cassell of Prescott, Pete Zeran of Upper Canada and Liam Morrow of Cedar Glen in Williamsburg all posted 82s. Cassell’s 82 gave him the low net score with a 68.

Finishing off the top B flight players were Richard Guthro from Upper Canada with an 83, and Chris Barkley of Iroquois and Jordi MacDonald of Upper Canada tied with 84s.

Upper Canada’s Sam Laurin and Iroquois’ Kent Smith finished the day tied with 82s. With Smith not available for a playoff, Laurin got the nod for the flight’s top spot and Smith had C flight low net with a 66.

Eldon Horner (no club affiliation) and Mike Hlurchuk were next up with 88s and Mike Laurin of Upper Canada was carded an 89.

Lorey Blad of Prescott and Don Poland of Iroquois tied with 90s.