PROVIDENCE BAY—“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give,” famed British politician Winston Churchill said.
National Volunter Week begins April 7 and countless organizations on Manitoulin will host celebrations to thank Islanders who give selflessly of their time and knowledge. One of these extraordinary volunteers is Lyle Dewar of Providence Bay.
Mr. Dewar began using his gift of giving at an early age and told The Expositor that a person usually learns what he lives growing up at home and usually lives what he has learned. “I live what I learned from my family,” he said. As he explained, his family was always volunteering, from his mother quilting for people who had a fire to his brothers who were always giving away vegetables from their gardens. “And mom collected for the Heart and Stroke for years and was a director on the fair board,” Mr. Dewar added.
“My dad was also on the Providence Bay Fair board,” Mr. Dewar said, “and on the arena board too. He was on the cemetery board and I was on with him and I continued on and I am still on. We used to dig graves for people who couldn’t afford grave diggers. I still look after plots. Murray McDermid and I did it for years. I’ve been on the board for 50 years.”
Mr. Dewar again followed in his parents’ footsteps by volunteering for the fair as a teenager. “Then,” he said, “I was an associate director for years, then a director for years, then vice-president and president for years. I am now on the Providence Bay fair board as a life member. Still chugging along.”
“I also provide people with palliative care,” Mr. Dewar noted. “My dad did it and I went with him as a small boy. This would also give the caregiver a rest. I sat with Dr. McQuay. Everybody, including my mom, loved Dr. McQuay.”
Mr. Dewar also spent years on the Manitoulin co-operative board which oversaw large stores in Gore Bay and Manitowaning and was a representative for the Island cream producers at the Milk Marketing board meetings in Toronto. He also spent years on the mental health board. The work of Mr. Dewar and others on the Mindemoya Health Centre board was especially of note as there were plans to close Mindemoya’s hospital in the 1980s.
“Farquhar Anglin, who was the reeve at the time, called some of us to save the hospital,” Mr. Dewar said. “There was Ken Tipper, George Skippen and Murray McDermid and we worked for 12 years to keep it open.” The group talked to folks, emphasizing the fact that the Mindemoya site was central and that the hospital was well used and was growing. Mr. Dewar received the Manitoulin Health Centre meritorious award for his 12 years of service. As Janet Lautenschlager wrote in her history of volunteering in Canada, “Public-spirited people undertook initiatives in health care and social services long before involvement by local, provincial or federal governments.”
This outstanding volunteer also served on the Manitoulin Planning Board that provides for and directs the well-ordered growth and development of communities and is on yet another board, the Providence Bay Discovery Centre. He also joined the first fire department that Central Manitoulin had, based out of Providence Bay and stayed for 10 years. “Larry Beech was our instructor,” Mr. Dewar explained, “and one night we had to put out three fires. We had a big tank on a truck.”
Mr. Dewar served as the pastor of the Community of Christ Church In Providence Bay for 14 years and noted that “a lot of what we do has to do with the church promoting helping others when help is needed: outreach.” Another example of this man’s aid for others is that he checks on the houses of people who are away for extended periods of time.
Like many Islanders, Mr. Dewar has a love of music and the playing of instruments. “Mom played the piano and dad the fiddle,” he remarked. “A fellow working with dad taught the fiddle and I learned along with dad and my brother Darrell.” As a member of the musical group The Islanders, Mr. Dewar and the rest of the band play at summer markets, homes for the aged and all manner of celebrations. This volunteer has also had an impact on other musicians. One in particular is Teilhard Frost, the percussionist for Flapjack, a four-piece band dedicated to the performing and preservation of old-time Canadian music. “Lyle Dewar was a big influence on me,” Mr. Frost said. “He used to play sitting on the arm of his couch and I thought that was great.”
Mr. Dewar’s aid to Islanders over the years has been outstanding and he is quick to note that none of this would have been possible without the support of his wife Sharon. “I am able to do a lot of things,” he said, “because I have a wonderful wife. Truly supportive. My wife is my standby and she is an angel who has stood beside me for 49 years.”
