Jeff Green | Jun 24, 2015


The sounds of the Arden Glee Club at the Oso Hall on a week day in late June can only mean one thing: it is the day of the Seniors of the Year presentation. This was the 17th edition of the ceremony, and the Glee Club has performed in at least the last 10.

This year, as has also happened in the past, one of their members was among the honourees.

The first person recognized was Reverend Jean Brown from Henderson. Jean is well known locally for a number of reasons. She is an ordained United Church minister who originally came to the area to serve as minister in Arden, Mountain Grove and Henderson between 1992 and 1999. Later she served congregations elsewhere in Eastern Ontario from her home base in Henderson, where she met Alan Gurnsey. The couple married in 1999.

More recently she has been filling in where needed at local churches and is currently serving at Sharbot Lake, Maberly and Parham United Churches.

As Frontenac News readers are aware, Jean keeps the community informed as our Henderson reporter and always contributes a seasonal recipe or two from Manitoulin Island, where she was born and still visits each summer. She may be best known however, for her love of the colour pink, which has adorned her clothes, vehicles and even her home. Her license plate reads “PINKJEAN”.

As Mayor Frances Smith said in presenting the award, “Jean is a real 'hoot'”.

Bill Powers, the Glee Club member among this year's recipients, moved to Mountain Grove 10 years ago with his wife Sylvia. They both joined the Glee Club, which is a major commitment, and Bill joined the fire department, where he brings the kind of background in emergency services that is hard to come by. In his previous life in Ottawa, where he taught high school, Powers joined a volunteer organization called International Rescue. They have developed expertise in dealing with global scale natural disasters that has led to them being called in first when a disaster strikes anywhere around the world. Through International Rescue, Powers provided assistance in Galveston, Texas after Hurricane Mitch, and in Gulfport, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. He was called to Indonesia after the tsunami, and most recently to Haiti after the devastating earthquake. By that time he was 70.

As Councillor Victor Heese said in presenting the award, “There is no retirement for Bill Powers.”

In presenting the award to Ron Hollywood, Councilor Bill MacDonald deferred to his neighbour Skip Moyse.

“Ron is as old as dirt,” Moyse said to start, but then grew more complimentary as he went along. He described how Hollywood is a tireless volunteer for the Lions Club, the Railway Heritage Society, and the Silver Lake Pow Wow, which granted him their highest honour, the Eagle Feather, two years ago.

“Ron is the quiet guy you always see setting up or tearing down at just about any community event,” said Skip Moyse, who added that perhaps Ron's most enduring volunteer work is done informally. He has been known to cut, split and deliver wood to neighbours who need it, or help fix a roof, or shovel a driveway.

“I cannot think of a more unassuming person who has done so much for so many,” Moyse concluded.

Finally, it was the turn of Hinchinbrooke Councilor Brent Cameron to present the award to a couple he has known all his life, Joan and Roy Shepherd. Again, as readers will know, the Shepherds were the founders and driving forces behind the monthly Piccadilly Jam sessions, which over the years have become known as the “Bedford Jam” at the Glendower Hall.

“These weekend sessions not only showcase local talent and provide an opportunity to share and collaborate, but they offer audience members with a cultural gift. They provide us with performances in a genre that connects us with our rural traditions and heritage,” said Cameron.

The Shepherds have successfully transitioned a new couple, the Card's, to the helm of the Bedfod Jam, ensuring its continued success.

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