Top Lanark County Award to
Gord Patterson

“People in Lanark County have a way of doing things behind your back,” said Gordon Patterson about the fact that no one had told him he was nominated for the 2011 Lanark County Award of Excellence.

He found out about a week and a half ago that he was going to receive the award in recognition of a lifetime of volunteer work with farm groups and a 16-year stint as a municipal politician.

Gord Patterson has lived on the farm his whole life. He bought a farm next to the family farm where he was raised when he was still a young man, and he took over the family farm as well when his parents couldn’t run it any more. His property is located on the Kingston Line, right where Central Frontenac, Tay Valley and Lanark Highlands meet.

“I always say that if I don’t like what they are doing in Lanark County, I will just head over to Central Frontenac to see if they are doing any better,” he said.

He became involved in the Lanark County 4-H club as a child and went on to become a leader for 36 years.

As for his involvement with the Maberly Fair, that started without his knowledge.

“Way back when I was about 28 years old the next-door neighbour came along as I was cutting some trees along the road. He said ‘You may be mad at me because we put you on the Maberly Fair board last night,’ ” he recalls.

He is still on the fair board, as well as the Lanark County Agricultural Advisory Committee and the Lanark County Federation of Agriculture. He was a founding director of the Lanark County Cattlemen’s Association, where he served as president in 1979 and 1980 and was a director of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association for several years as well.

When he talks about the reason he has been so involved in public service, he tells the story of a time when he almost lost the fingers on one hand while working on the farm.

“A new member of the community, someone I had met but did not really know at all, showed up at my place and helped my wife and kids with the chores. I don’t think he had held a shovel in his life, but he kept with it until the syruping was done in the spring. So I figure if a stranger can do that, I can put the time in when I have a chance.”

The man who helped Gord Patterson when he injured his hand was George Braithwaite, who served on council himself for many years and was one of the people who wrote letters in support of Gord’s nomination for the award.

“Gord’s service to his community as a local and county-level politician is arguably his most important legacy,” Braithwaite wrote. “His success in politics attests to his sense of community and reputation as a respected leader who functioned for the general benefit of the wider population … his leadership skills, powers of persuasion and patience became the vital ingredients during the challenging amalgamation experience.”

Gord Patterson was a municipal politician in the years leading up to municipal amalgamation, and was instrumental in giving form to both Lanark Highlands and Tay Valley Townships.

“A lot of people say it ruined the country but we couldn’t carry on as small townships the way we had been,” he says, looking back. “The problems that we have faced since then were because of the downloading, not the amalgamation itself. Fourteen years later we still haven’t gotten out from all those downloaded costs.”

Gord and his wife Beverley continue to run their cow-calf operation and they tap 1,300 trees each spring, with the help of other family members.

While there are a lot of people who enjoy his syrup, he has a special interest in a smaller number, his grandchildren. “The grandchildren like the syrup so I try to make some extra so they will still have some left after I’m gone,” he said.

The awards ceremony took place at a meeting of Lanark County Council on Wednesday, November 23. A number of Gord’s colleagues from the agricultural and political realm, as well as family, were on hand to mark the occasion.

It was enough to swell the head of just about anyone, but ever the resourceful farmer, Gord Patterson has worked out a solution to that problem.

“I certainly had to put on some heavier boots to get me back to earth after all that,” he said.