Former South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison dies

Jeff Green | Apr 02, 2018

(with files from Craig Bakay and Wilma Kenny)

Gary Davison, who served on the Loughborough Township fire department for 40 years, as a South Frontenac Township Councillor for 3 years and Mayor of South Frontenac for 8 years, has died of cancer.

Davison died on Monday morning (April 2) of cancer. He had been treated for Lymphoma over the last few years, and recovered. A few weeks ago, after returning from a trip to Australia, he became ill and it turned out the Lymphoma had returned, and this time the treatments were not effective.

Aside from his public service, Davison worked as a stone mason, and was a very devoted husband, father and grandfather.

During his tenure as mayor, Gary Davison was responsible, in part, for completing the municipal amalgamation process in South Frontenac. A multiple budget, ‘area rating’ system that was instituted upon municipal amalgamation in 1998 to deal with the stark differences in financial standing and service levels in the four townships (Storrington, Loughborough, Portland, and Bedford) that combined to form South Frontenac. During his tenure as Mayor, ‘area rating’ was phased out and then eliminated, As well, the Sydenham library and ambulance stations were constructed.

He served as Frontenac County Warden in 2009 and 2010.

Gary Davison was born in 1944 (November 15) into a large family. He had 7 brothers and 4 sisters. He had two sons with his first wife Sandra, Chris and Curtis. They married when he was 20 and she was 19 and were together until she died of cancer. Sandra was a founder of the Limestone Learning Foundation and an annual fundraising golf tournament is held in her name each June at Loyalist Golf and Country Club.

Gary later remarried his second wife Sue, who was a great support to him when he was mayor and afterwards. He had seven grandchildren.

He was well known as a hunter, golfer, Montreal Canadians fan and a community booster. A long time member, and eventually the Chief of the Loughborough Fire Department, his first involvement with the township of South Frontenac took place a few days after the township was established in 1998, in the aftermath of the famous ice storm.

“He was one of the first people to come into my office when the ice storm hit. ‘What can I do,’ he asked. Ten days later we let him go back to his life,” recalls former South Frontenac Mayor Phil Leonard, a longtime friend and hunting buddy.

In 2003 when Davison was thinking about running for council, he approached Leonard, who was about to step down as Mayor.

“I thought it was great that he wanted to run. And when he was on council and later as mayor he would come and talk about what was going on. I would tell him what I thought and he’d listen, and then go ahead and do what he thought was the right thing. He was a good public servant and a great friend. Many people will miss him. It’s hard to imagine that he’s gone.”

Wilma Kenny, who covers South Frontenac Council for the News described his political style as Mayor as “fair, firm, thoughtful, and able to be decisive when necessary.”

She also recalled driving to the opening of the Plevna branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Lindary (KFPL) with him a few years ago, when he was county warden and she was the vice-chair of the KFPL board.

“He seemed to know everyone all along the way. He had hunted with many of them. He was full of entertaining stories about the region, and was at home anywhere in Frontenac County.”

Curtis and Chris Davison, Gary’s sons, have hundreds of memories of their dad, all flooding back to them this week. They remember his first election for mayor, which he won by about 200 votes. There were also about 200 people at the Davison family Christmas that year, and one of them said Gary had won the election because of their votes.

Looking around the room, he said “what makes you think everyone here voted for me?”

His sons also mentioned that long before getting into politics, he coached fastball, and hockey, all part of a continuing theme of community service that ran through his life.

“A lot of people remember him as a coach. He was the same as coach as he was in politics, straightforward and committed to making a difference,” said Chris.

They said that community was very important, along with family, and that he had strong feelings about South Frontenac and Frontenac County. As a youngster he lived in the Hartington area, moved to Moscow in Lennox and Addington when his father bought a farm there, moved to the Sydenham area in the early 1960’s. He also had a hunting camp near Plevna for many years.

“He really took the idea of South Frontenac and Frontenac County. He loved to travel the world, but said there was no better place than around here, with so many lakes, such beauty and such a community of people. That’s what got him into public service, and into politics later on, to move the community forward,” said Curtis.

Gary Davison; husband, father, grandfather, coach, fire chief, politician, and charter member of the Sydenham One Stop Liar’s Club, was 73 when he died this week.

There will be a visitation at Trousdale Funeral Home on Friday, from 11am-8pm, and a public service at the Sydenham Legion from 12:30pm on Saturday. Later in the spring, the family is planning to hold a party/celebration of life.

Reporters remember - 

Reporter Craig Bakay covered South Frontenac Council for the Frontenac Gazette during Gary Davison’s entire political career and he remembers the election campaigns of 2006 and 2010. Here is his submission.

What I’ll remember most about Gary Davison is that he won one of the most exciting political races I’ve ever covered, and that includes elections in three provinces as well as federal.

Davison was elected Mayor of South Frontenac in 2006 after serving a term as Loughborough councilor. It was a bit of an upset in that incumbent Bill Lake had a lot of support in Storrington and let’s face it, the incumbent is usually the favourite.

After four years in the chair, Davison admitted off the record that he wasn’t all that sure he wanted to run again. Councilor John Fillion, a maverick if there ever was one, had announced his intention to run for mayor and was rapidly gaining support, especially on zoning and planning issues. Fillion was very popular in his home district of Storrington and even after Davison announced his candidacy, Fillion was clearly the early frontrunner — and by a wide margin depending on who you talked to.

In fact, Davison himself admitted privately it didn’t look good — joking that he was OK whatever the outcome. If he lost, it meant more time for hunting and fishing.

However, one night at the Sydenham Legion, at an all-candidates debate mid-way through the campaign, things changed.

Someone in the audience challenged Fillion’s snowbird holidays and his response didn’t sit well with said audience.

It also seemed to fire Davison up and what had been a lacklustre attempt at re-election suddenly began to gather steam.

A case in point was one Sunday afternoon at Glendower Hall. I was just getting out of my vehicle when a big SUV pulled up and the window rolled down. It was Davison, all dressed up and on his way to a meeting elsewhere.

“What’s with all the cars here?” he said.

“It’s the Bedford Jam,” I said. “Lotta votes in there, Your Worship.”

Even though it would make him late for his next appointment, Davison was soon inside, saying a few words after being acknowledged by the band and shaking every hand in the place.

By the time election night rolled around, Fillion conceded early and went home.

Davison had won a second ‘upset.’

Winning upsets wasn’t lost on Davison either. He was a huge Montreal Canadiens fan, even to the point of having a Habs logo tattooed on his chest.

His basement ‘shrine’ would be the envy of any hockey fan, skewed as it was towards the Canadiens.

Even so, his most prized possession was an autographed picture of Boston Bruins No. 4, Bobby Orr, which Davison liked to point out was a gift from Orr himself.

In the late summer of 2012, South Frontenac hosted the grand opening of the first section of the K&P Trail in Frontenac County, a 7 km stretch from Orser Road to the Harrowsmith Trailhead. The ribbon cutting in Harrowsmith was scheduled for 11am, but before that some cyclists, horseback riders, and runners and walkers gathered at different points along the route. The cyclists and a single horseback rider were to start at Orser Road and meet the others along the route, forming a procession into Harrowsmith to meet the assembled politicians and dignitaries. Seeing an opportunity to get a run in while working, I went to Orser Road, where I took off before the cyclists did. Gary also wanted to get some exercise instead of just doing a photo op (and he hated photo ops anyway) so he showed with one of his grandsons, wearing shorts, both of them on bikes. It turned into a motley, all ages pilgrimage to Harrowsmith, everyone chatting and laughing, the cyclists, including Gary riding in circles around those of us who were on foot. When we all arrived in Harrowsmith for the the photo op came, the other politicians made Gary stand at the end and hold the ribbon since he was pretty sweaty. He was dressed a bit casually for an official township function, and he had a big smile on his face. I think it was the only time he looked happy to be in a photo op, except perhaps at the opening of the Sydenham Ambulance base. - Jeff Green