This is a letter that accompanied a submission for a Medal of Acheivement in 2006.

Written by Jackie Waller.

Our Dad
 

On behalf of the Waller family, we are thrilled and humbled to have our father, Leslie Raymond Waller (aka L. Ray or just Ray), nominated for the prestigious Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship. We have always known our dad as a family man, taking us to the secluded Shakespeare Pond for Saturday dawn swims and toasted bacon sandwiches afterwards so our mom could sleep in, inspiring – no, requiring – our devotion to Hockey Night in Canada, giving the Central High School newspaper the space, facilities and equipment for our whole staff to work on and produce our paper after hours at his office (all four of us siblings were on staff – editor, art direction, cartoonist and sports editor). He did go to countless meetings, but nipped home for family dinners first. We also saw Dad doing plenty of door-to-door canvassing for contributions to the Cancer Society and Flowers of Hope campaign among others and even accompanied him in his efforts. It wasn’t until we grew up and settled into our own careers and families that we realized he led a number of lives besides that of family man.

Ray Waller arrived in Stratford the winter of 1960-61. He wasted no time getting involved in Public Service. He sat on the Board of the Victorian Order of Nurses beginning in 1960, and chaired for several terms. He chaired a group then called the Stratford Intra Fraternal Secretariat, a union of fraternal organizations such as the Moose, Odd Fellows, Knights of Columbus, Masons, etc. He was also a member of the Stratford Industrial Commission for some years and sat on the City’s Parks Board.

But his largest single achievement in public service had a very inauspicious beginning. In 1963 he ran unsuccessfully for alderman. Rather than retreat, or toss his hat into another ring, he felt passionate about what he could bring to city council and the citizens of Stratford, so he ran again in 1965. That began an uninterrupted run of 36 years of elected positions in public office. Ray ran for and won seats as alderman for four years, then as an elected commissioner for the Public Utility Commission (PUC) from 1969-1999. He was Chairman of the PUC for three separate three-year terms, almost a third of his service there. It became a family tradition for our mother and us to cluster around the radio on election day to listen to the results and cheer for Dad!

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During that same time span, our father influenced the direction, practices, growth and patient care during his 20-year tenure on the Board of Directors for the Stratford General Hospital. He still touches the lives of many of our County’s less fortunate in his position as Chairman of the Area Committee of Ontario Legal Aid for Perth County, a position he has held for 30 years. Since the demise of the PUC in 1999, Ray has been a member of the Board of Directors of Festival Hydro, a position appointed by the current Stratford City Council. In his spare time he also spent 15 years as a Director of the Ontario Golf Association representing this area of Ontario (well, he loves golf!) All of these positions were unpaid.

Oh yes, our father also has a job and a history leading up to it. He was born in Halifax NS, November 12, 1929. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Journalism from St. Mary’s University in Halifax in 1953. He entered Dalhousie Law School in 1956, graduated and was called to the Bar of Nova Scotia in 1959. He moved to Toronto to work in 1959 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1961. He arrived in Stratford with his wife, Margaret, their first child and a second on the way in the winter of 1960-1961. He worked at British Mortgage and Trust until the fall of 1961 when he struck out and opened his private practice. He has maintained his one-man law office right to present day -- that’s 45 years in practice. As well, he has been a Deputy Provincial Court Judge for the last 30 years.

Who is a model citizen? The Oxford Canadian Dictionary says “an exemplary person”. Ray Waller has served the City of Stratford as an elected official for a continuous run of 36 years. To have the citizens of Stratford show their confidence in our father’s abilities by voting him into public office for 36 years is his outstanding achievement. His long service and leadership in health care and legal aid and the Provincial Courts and even the Parks Board, show his dedication to the people and their well being. We think Ray Waller is deserving of the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship, and hope you do as well.

 

Thank You