LITTLE CURRENT—There is nothing that Alexander (Sandy) McGillivray loves better than an interesting old story about Manitoulin Island, unless it’s sharing the output of his beloved fiddle.
Mr. McGillivray is familiar face around the Island’s long term care facilities, where he could often be found in the company of a fellow musicians entertaining the residents and staff alike.
“Well I haven’t gotten out too much since I broke my leg, but I would often play at the Manor, or at TLC, the Lodge in Gore Bay and out at the Wikwemikong Nursing Home,” said Mr. McGillivray. “Gert (Cooper) or Barb (Cranston) and I would head up there to entertain the folks. It was a lot of fun.”
Talents shared go far beyond the musical with Mr. McGillivray, however, as he has long plied his hand on various local committees, including the public library and the museum—he even took on a stint on council for a while. “I am still on the museum committee,” he said. He has long been cited as the Island’s, and particularly Little Current’s, unofficial historian.
When the call went out for folks to assist with the Eritrean refugee families coming to Manitoulin, Mr. McGillivray lent his hand to help make them welcome. He can still be found having dinner in local restaurants with some of those family members who have remained on Manitoulin. “Yes I helped out there a bit,” said Mr. McGillivray.
Mr. McGillivray said that the main thing he saw as a driving factor in volunteerism is “socializing. I think that people who get involved in volunteering really like the socializing aspect of it,” he said. “You get to meet a lot of really nice people, and then there is building up your own sense of being worthwhile.”
When it comes to older volunteers especially, Mr. McGillivray said that it is really important to maintain a purpose in life, and that there are few activities around that helps develop a good sense of self worth and purpose than helping others, whether it is in providing entertainment or in helping organizations do good works.
An accident last year set Mr. McGillivray back on his heels volunteerism-wise, but it most certainly did not keep him down. “I was working on a DVD featuring iconic scenes from around the Island that the library could sell as a fundraiser,” he said. “When I finally got out of St. Joseph’s in Sudbury I started working on volume two.”
With the aid of a friend who drives him about, Mr. McGillivray has been scouring the Island for those scenes to photograph that speak of the beauty and history of the Island.
“I took the Expositor map (a free tourist-targeted map featuring many of the Island’s iconic locations and features) and highlighter and traced out a path,” he said. “We went all around the Island, even all the way out to Meldrum Bay, and took photographs. We took photos of old buildings, dams, new businesses such as the brewery, hospitals, alpacas, bee hives, even kids playing at the beach.”
Mr. McGillivray wrote a massive tome, based on his historical columns featured in The Expositor over the course of 15 years, that includes a wealth of information about ‘The Little Current Story.’ Mr. McGillivray was assisted in that work, also a volunteer effort as the proceeds go to Island museums, by a hardy group of volunteers that took on the roles of typists, editors and researchers.
“I think it is great when you can combine something that you love with helping others,” he said. “Like playing the violin at nursing homes. You get to share the music that you love with other people. That’s the best thing right there.”
Although he has been temporarily slowed down in his volunteer work by his accident, Mr. McGillivray doesn’t see any end date on his efforts but one. “I still do things yet,” he said. “But not really strenuous stuff. A long as I am alive I will keep on doing them.”
