HONORA BAY—There are few more familiar Island faces when it comes to volunteerism than Doug and Marilee Hore. The Honora Bay couple have been active members of their community for several decades and they show little sign of slowing down any time soon.
“I helped start the Little Current Fish and Game Club back in 1966,” recalled Mr. Hore. Although Little Current’s famed fiddling barber has provided his talents for countless fundraisers over the years, the sportsman organization has really generated the passion has sustained him down through the years.
“I always was an outdoorsman,” he said. “A bunch of us got together to start the club so we could have more pull when it came to dealing with the government on different issues that affect fishing and hunting. We actually started meeting in a little building over on La Cloche Island. Nowadays we usually meet in the Little Current Legion.”
Ms. Hore has been kept pretty busy this year with her work as Worthy Matron with the Eastern Star. “This is my third time serving as worthy matron,” she smiled. She also is a very active member of the hospital auxiliary where she serves as treasurer this year (and acted as president, secretary and convenor in her over 20 year association with that group), spent decades with the Little Current Business Improvement Association and served with the Rockville Women’s Institute before it folded (now she serves as a member of the Manitoulin District Women’s Institute)—then there is quilting. “We did a number of Manitoulin quilts, all hand-quilted,” she said. “You had to do 11 stitches to the inch.”
“When I started to work here at the hospital, when the sister in charge was doing the interview she had a paper in her hand for joining the auxiliary.” Ms. Hore has never looked back. She will be marking 54 years with the organization in September.
Mr. Hore was enticed into the Lions Club by the late Doug Tracy. “I joined the Little Current Lions Club back in 1967,” he said. “Doug Tracy got me into that.” Ms. Hore was in the Lioness Club during the same time. Mr. Hore was one of those instrumental in starting the Haweater Coin program and Ms. Hore spent countless hours handing out hot dogs.
For Mr. Hore the impetus for volunteerism was largely driven by his passion for the outdoors, although giving back to the community where he has been a barber for upwards of 55 years played a role as well.
For Ms. Hore, volunteering is pretty much in her genes. “My mother really instilled in us to help out in our community from a very young age,” she said. Her mother helped establish the credit union in Gore Bay. “My grandmother did a lot of volunteer work with the church and an aunt of mine started a soup kitchen in our church over 30 years ago.”
“(Volunteerism) is just something that I thoroughly enjoy doing,” said Ms. Hore, but she said that she has had a lot of help in her work as well. “Thank goodness for Barb Baker (of Little Current),” she said. “She has been helping me with the computer books for the last two years.”
With their efforts tallied together the couple has been helping to build their community for more than a century and it has kept them pretty busy over the years. “You can pretty much take up all the time you have if you want to,” laughed Mr. Hore. “But we enjoy what we do.”
