Honoured by his Family.
Born in North Bay April 15, 1935 to Clifford and Hannah (Lancaster) and he was the fourth child of five. He had all his schooling in North Bay and at age 16 he left school as an Honor student. He started working as an apprentice in the coach shop of the Ontario Northland Railway and worked there as a painter for 10years. On July 20,1957 he married Delta Robinson and they had 3 children, David, Dawn and Daren.
In 1962 at age 27 he joined the North Bay Police Force with a badge number of 27. He started as a 3rd class constable, rose to 1st class, then Sergeant and finally as an Inspector in the criminal investigation unit. He excelled in all his police courses and was the first constable in Northern Ontario to win the Ontario Police Award. He was well respected by his fellow policemen. He took the Christopher course to help him speak in public when he was assigned to work in the Courts. He was also asked if he would teach at the Police School in Aylmer, Ontario. He did not do this as his children were in their teens and he felt he should be home with them at that time. Don was appointed to sit on the Board of of the Children’s Aid Society, he became Chair and stayed on the Board for several years. After serving for 30 years Don retired from the police force in 1992. He later took the position of Secretary of the Police Commission where he stayed until 2007. He passed away on June 5, 2007.
Don was a wonderful friend, husband, father and grandfather. He took the family on many vacations from the east coast to the west and many other places in the United States. The family went camping and had wonderful times. Don enjoyed jogging with our dog Tiger. He was very kind and helped the children and friends who asked for help from time to time.
Don started golfing with fellow policemen in the 70’s and this became his passion. He got Delta interested in golf, with many golf trips and always enjoyed themselves.
He spent many hours at his hobby of collecting golf score cards and corresponded with others all over the world.
He is missed very much by all who knew him.