Mayor Morrison says important to celebrate Life in Caledon

I thought that this week I would celebrate Life in Caledon and some of the things that are important to me.

I had the pleasure of attending our future daughter-in-law's wedding shower last weekend and I am pleased that our son has chosen so well. We also attended a 45th wedding anniversary dinner for a Caledon couple, joined by their family and friends. It was such a pleasure to see such happiness and joy.

Caledon council had the honour of dedicating a stone on our Walk of Fame to Caledon's Senior Statesman, Mr. Alex Raeburn. Alex has a reputation as Caledon's historian. He was instrumental in ensuring that when the Region was formed in 1974 that our community was named Caledon.

Most recently, and you may recall reading about this in the paper, Alex was honoured by the Province for his heritage efforts. In February he received the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement and I had the distinct pleasure of attending those ceremonies with Alex, his son and daughter. Life in Caledon is great because our residents are great.

Also last weekend councillors, Hospice Caledon and the community had the pleasure of turning the sod for the building of the residential Hospice that will be built in Inglewood. What a wonderful job Hospice Caledon has done through their various committees, which include residents from all over the Town of Caledon. We are so fortunate to have caring individuals who are willing to give so much time and effort to make Life better for others in our community. We certainly do celebrate Life in Caledon by giving back.

There were two celebrations of Life that I attended this week although sad because of their passing, and happy because of everything that they have given to our community by their presence. Mary Coburn, one of the finest women I have ever met passed away and her Life was celebrated this week. Mary was a wonderful person with a keen sense of duty and what is right. She was well ahead of her time and I thoroughly enjoyed knowing her and learning from her these past 27 years that I have resided in Caledon. Caledon has truly lost a gem.

We also celebrated the Life of our very first Fire Chief, Bob Hilton. The Fire Department bestowed on Bob all of the honour that was due to a former Chief. When the Town of Caledon became a town under the Region of Peel in 1974, Bob was hired as the very first Fire Chief. It was Bob who put the plan in place that became our Volunteer Fire Department which was developed to serve the residents of Caledon, and what an outstanding job they have done.

Thank you to Bob Hilton, our first Fire Chief, who had a vision of what we should look like and who helped to make it happen. The community thanks you and will miss you.

Caledon has a lot to celebrate.

As we celebrate Life in Caledon and thank those who have made significant contributions both in the past and the present we should be grateful that we live in such a wonderful community.

I would also like to thank all of the residents who have called or sent messages, cards and flowers over the past few weeks to John and we would like to let you know that he is doing fine and celebrates with me this wonderful community that we live in.