RONALD KENNETH WARD
August 23, 1937 ̫ August 13, 2022
Our dad, Ron Ward, passed away on Saturday, August 13, 2022 at Lakefield Extendicare in his 85th year. He lived a wide life of international significance, yet never lost his deep sense of rootedness to his family heritage in Lakefield, Young̯'s Point and Peterborough County and chose to return in his later life to the land of his homesteading ancestors.
Born in Peterborough, he spent a great deal of his childhood on the Bullock family farm in Young̯'s Point where he gained a lifelong appreciation of the embrace of extended rural community. He was a man of faith, an ordained minister in the Baptist Church and through years of living with other cultures and peoples, developed a respect for other spiritual traditions. Encouraged by his wife, Joan Chute, he moved to India in the late sixties, and later, to Kenya where he lived for close to forty years, first teaching secondary school in the Kikuyu highlands, then among the Somali community in Northeast Kenya. During these years, Ron worked tirelessly to develop tuberculosis clinics, sewing projects for women̯'s employment, sponsoring of children to attend school, agricultural initiatives along the Tana River, and consulting camel experts to produce higher yields of milk in support of the livelihoods of nomadic herders.
On return to Canada in the early nineties, he strove to build bridges of understanding between church communities and newly arriving immigrant people in Toronto, while at the same time dedicating much time to peace initiatives in the Horn of Africa. In these years, Ron also founded the Lakefield Literary Festival in honour of his friend, fellow peace activist and renowned Canadian author, Margaret Laurence.
Our Dad was a man of huge imagination; and had an inquiring and open mind who read widely and sought to understand the world he lived in so as to make it a better place in his own small way. Ron is survived by his wife (our mother), Joan Chute; and their children, Tim Ward (Falguni Debnath), Tama Leigh Ward (Loren Balisky), Philip Ward (Giovanni Maria De Vita), and Paul K. Ward (Jennifer Ward). Grandfather of Jesse Ward, Abigail Raine Balisky, Oliver Luke Balisky, Anna Irene Ward De Vita, Atena Melina Ward De Vita, Everest K. Ward, and Cypress C. Ward. Predeceased by his parents, Kenneth and Vivolene (née Bullock) Ward; and his sister, Maureen Cardwell.
As his children, Tim, Tama, Philip and Paul, we invite you to a visitation at THE HENDREN FUNERAL HOMES ̫ LAKEFIELD CHAPEL, 66 Queen Street, Lakefield on Friday, August 19, 2022 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., which will be followed by a Funeral Service at Lakefield Baptist Church at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 20th, with Reception to follow in the church hall.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the World Food Program at: wfp.org, where Ron̯'s son, Philip is secretary to the Executive Board. hendrenfuneralhome.com
705.652.3355