Edgerton earns June Callwood award for life of volunteering
71-year-old has been volunteering for many causes since he was in high school
A former Royal Canadian Legion Branch 52 president is humbled after receiving an Ontario government award recognizing his lifelong volunteer career spanning some 50 years, a passion he attributes to his family.
David Edgerton, 71, was one of 10 individuals and six volunteer organizations who received the June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism through a virtual ceremony on Wednesday.
He started volunteering back in the 1960s when he was still in high school and it really took off when he started volunteering with the legion in the 1980s, he said.
He was volunteering for about 16 different organizations during that time, he said, including the Lions youth soccer, the bowling league, the Canadian Cancer Society and the 1984 Ontario Bicentennial committee, on top of his work with the legion.
Edgerton, who went on to help spearhead the creation of Peterborough’s Veterans Wall of Honour in 2010, attributes his drive to volunteerism to his parents who were involved in the community throughout his life, especially during his younger years, he said.
“I can always remember my mom when we were in the cubs and the scouts,” Edgerton said. “She was at George Street church as part of the ladies auxiliary and they would be cooking meals for the father/son banquet.”
Through his own volunteering he sparked the same fire that his parents sparked in him in his children to volunteer and get involved in giving back to the community, he said.
“When they were young, my son, when I was doing fundraisers for the Veterans Wall of Honour, he had his head shaved, he went in the Polar Plunge, he helped out with the barbecues. He was 10 years old and my daughter was the same way,” Edgerton said.
“You have to give back. Your word was your word, if you said
you were going to help out or do something, you did it and that’s the way I have been.”
Edgerton’s humbleness has resonated throughout his volunteering life from the amount of work he does to the minimal credit he takes for the hard work he does.
“I am humble about it,” he said. “Because I am usually putting in other people’s names and I always want to be in the background, I don’t really want to be upfront.”
Edgerton recalls chairing the Canada Day parade in 1984 and providing then mayor Bob Barker with a list of the people who were involved in it and the reactions from some of the people.
“I took Bob a list of the names and (he) sent them all a personal letter on mayor letterhead,” he said. “One person had his framed and hung up in his store, because he was so proud to receive a letter from the mayor of the City of Peterborough.”
One of his most memorable times volunteering was with veterans and their families, he said.
“Helping them do historical research or speaking to the different groups about the military from the Peterborough area,” Edgerton said. “Then you have the Wall of Honour: I spent 12 years and I am still working on it, because the committee is looking at adding names that were missed.”
When he discovered who nominated him, he immediately called her.
“It was one of my daughter’s friends, Gail Paton, her and my daughter worked together,” he said. “I immediately phoned her, I said, Gail, thank you very much. I know it is a lot of hard work, but thank you.”
They have been involved with a couple of the fundraising initiatives in the area, he said. They have volunteered for the past six Remembrance Days and other volunteer efforts.
“The pair of them are good volunteers,” he said.
Edgerton has been awarded at least four other commendations for his efforts since the late 1980s, including the legion’s Life Membership (1988), the legion’s Meritorious Service Medal (2003), a Branch Service Medal (2012) and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) for his efforts on the Veterans Wall of Honour.