At the November Regular Council meeting Madawaska Valley Mayor Mark Willmer presented Leah Kinghorn with the 2024 Senior of the Year Award. Above: Leah Kinghorn accepts award from MV Mayor Willmer. The Mayor read the following announcement:
The Township of Madawaska Valley is pleased to announce that Leah Kinghorn of Barry’s Bay is the Township’s chosen recipient of the Ontario Senior Award for 2024. The award is given annually by the municipality to recognize an outstanding senior who, after age 65, enriches the social, cultural or civic life of their community. And Leah certainly does.
Leah Kinghorn has been the President of the Opeongo Seniors Centre since 2013, having been involved in the Centre shortly after moving to the area from Niagara Falls. Her relocation was accidental. After growing up camping with her family in Golden Lake, in 2000 Leah and her husband decided to purchase a hunt camp in the area. Nothing jumped out at them, but on a whim they decided to view a house and made the decision that day to make the permanent move to Barry’s Bay. As President of Opeongo Seniors through the Covid-19 pandemic, Leah was given the challenge of reducing social isolation of seniors when mandated closures ended. Leah worked hard to bring people back through the doors of the centre, introducing drop-in coffee socials on Wednesdays to bring people together. Today the number of seniors who are members at the Centre have grown beyond what they were in 2019. A mother and grandmother, Leah was also heavily involved in the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 406 from 2008 until it folded in 2023. They marked their final act of community service by donating a Remembrance themed bench to the Township which is installed just outside the main office on Bay Street.
Leah has been a driving force behind bringing seniors together in our community and in particular in reducing social isolation of seniors in a post-Covid world. Congratulations, Leah, and thank you for all your community service.
Kinghorn thanks colleagues at Opeongo Seniors Centre
Upon receipt of the award, characteristically Kinghorn pointed out her colleagues in the public gallery and shared the credit with them, saying,
Bev Burchat, Donna Burchat and Kris Marchand, who backed me up every time I needed help.
She went on to point out,
When I became President in 2013, Gwen Foster said, ‘It’s only for two years. But she neglected to say that at the bottom of that page in the By-laws it says ‘unless nominated from the floor.’ So that’s what happened. Thank you very much.
Above left: Leah Kinghorn acknowledges long-time volunteer Gwynneth Foster watched by daughter Laurie Foster At right: One of many events for Valley seniors organised by Kinghorn at the Opeongo Seniors Centre. (Photos from The Current library)
