Martin Walsh; Priest and Community Activist

Apr 07, 2016

Martin Walsh (1926-2016) lived in Sharbot Lake for two stretches of his life. From 1967 to 1974 he was the priest-in-charge of the Parham-Sharbot Lake mission of the Anglican Church, presiding over the Oso, Zealand, Mountain Grove, Arden and Bobs Lake churches as well. During that time he married Ann MacPherson, a Sharbot Lake girl.

Martin became chaplain at Collins Bay Prison in Kingston in 1974, after which he and Ann moved to Saskatchewan and eventually Revelstoke, BC. After he retired in 1987, the Walshes moved back to Saskatchewan so Ann could pursue the teaching career she had begun when they were living there earlier. In 1993 the couple moved back to Sharbot Lake, where they have lived ever since.

Martin's brother in-law Jim MacPherson delivered the eulogy at his funeral on April 2, flanked by church officials, including the Anglican Bishop of Ontario, Michael Oulton.

Jim talked about Martin's driving (his nickname was 'Crash' for a reason), his love of ladders and renovating, and his opinionated nature.

“Martin loved a good discussion. If an argument broke out, so much the better” said Jim.

Martin and Ann always exhibited the best kind of a marriage. They had common interests as well as separate ones, and when they were together they were always gracious and respectful to each other. In recent times as Ann's role changed to that of caregiver, both Ann and Martin handled their altered relationship with grace.

In the days after Martin's death, some of the people he worked with when he was the Anglican minister in Sharbot Lake have been talking about his role in the development of local institutions that have had a continuing role in the life of what is now Central Frontenac and western Lanark County.

Dr. Peter Bell and Wayne Robinson both talked about the role Martin played in the development of a community spirit and community services when he arrived as minister in 1967.

“He came to the Anglican churches of Parham, Sharbot Lake and Arden and he hit the ground running, identifying inequalities in the communities. He put a group together and went to get St. Lawrence College involved in supporting community development. He lobbied service agencies to develop more presence in the area and pushed for medical and ambulance services to be brought back to the community,” said Wayne Robinson.

Based on Martin's insight that the communities he served as a priest were isolated from each other and facing a rapid decline, as were many other rural communities across the country, he formed a Communications Group, which included two business people, two teachers and himself.

They began printing the North Frontenac News in the basement of the Anglican rectory, and Don Morrow, an undertaker and owner of what would become the North Frontenac Telephone Company, delivered the papers each month to stores in the region. That monthly newsletter is the precursor to the Frontenac News. The first article on the front page of the first edition summed up the thinking of the group and of Martin about the future prospects for the local communities: “It may be up to us”.

In the early 1970s the Sharbot Lake Medical Centre was formed, as was North Frontenac Community Services, both institutions that continue to serve the region to this day.

Dr. Peter Bell wrote, “The thing that has always impressed me about Martin and the Communications Group is the great insight they had about the problem of lack of resources and services in the north half of the county ... The new level of cooperation and sense of community they fostered received attention and support from government and agencies that had previously served the area only from their distant offices. As I recall, after coming to Sharbot Lake in 1971 and joining in with the Communications Group, the discussions were at times emotional and unwieldy with strong language that might have been offensive to a man of the cloth. Martin never appeared to be disturbed by this. His influence was to bring calmness to the frustrations that were evident and to promote cooperation, which has been the key to success.”