Friends remember Dale Thomson by Caleb Nickerson

It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, the notion being that a tight-knit community contributes more to a person’s development than any one individual could.
In some cases, the inverse is true as well.
Sometimes there are certain people that help shape their community through hard work and sheer force of personality.
On Sept. 24, Shawville lost Dale Thomson, who was without a doubt, one such individual.
THE EQUITY reached out to several people that knew Thomson to hear some of their favourite memories and look back on his legacy.
He was a founding member of the Shawville Lion’s Club in 1949 and played a key role in establishing a seniors home in town, starting in 1958 and finally breaking ground in the mid-70s. The sunroom in the Pontiac Reception Centre currently bears his name.

He worked at Fraser’s, the local menswear shop, for 35 years and was an active hockey player and curler. In addition to his work with seniors, he was also instrumental in the founding of Mill Dam Park.
Albert Armstrong knew Thomson for the majority of his life.
“Dale’s mother was a niece of my grandmother,” he explained. “We only lived about two houses away from them when we were kids growing up.”
Thomson and Armstrong’s father were both active in the Liberal party.
“Any time there was a convention, my dad and Dale and a few others went,” Armstrong said, noting that their house would be the location of celebrations if the Grits had a successful election.
“His family and us, we were good friends,” he continued. “He was also master of ceremonies at … my wedding. He was quite a storyteller and a good master of ceremonies because he would tell jokes and keep everyone at ease.”
This gift for gab was one of the traits that many of Thomson’s friend’s recalled fondly.
“[Fraser’s] was a very important part of the community, other than just being a clothing store, people would just show up and hang out,” explained Jerry Barber, who worked with Thomson for many years. “Dale was a very humorous guy, had a lot of stories to tell, jokes. He was a very funny guy. Back in those days, there were a lot of different characters in the town.”
Barber said that one thing Thomson taught him was a deep respect for his elders.
“He would go out of his way to help anybody, but especially seniors,” Barber said. “When you worked there, that was one of the first things he instilled in you, that you respect people.”
This attitude applied to everyone Thomson met, even those of a different political stripe.
“One of his best friends was Brent Horner, an example of a die-hard Conservative and Dale was a die-hard Liberal,” Barber said. “They would have their speeches, but it was always in friendship. He always respected people that had different opinions from him.”
His respectfulness didn’t mean that his political arguments didn’t get heated. Armstrong remembered one particular rivalry with a laugh.
“Dale was Liberal and Tom Bean was Conservative so they made a little bet,” he explained. “That particular bet didn’t go quite right for the Liberals, so Dale had to put Tom in a wheelbarrow and wheel him down Main Street. There were quite a few people that knew about this little side bet and they were lining the street to see it happen.”
“He was quite a character in his own right,” said John Carmichael, a fellow Lion and long-time friend of Thomson’s. “He was a real good storyteller, not sure everything he told you was true or not, but it was interesting.”
Carmichael witnessed Thomson’s community spirit during their time together with the Lions.
“He was always a hard worker in the club, you know, working for the community and different things, but his main project was the old age home,” he said. “I guess it took 20 years to get that really finalized.”
A much younger Thomson graced the cover of the Oct. 25, 1978 issue of THE EQUITY when the “Home on the Hill” as it was then known, celebrated its opening after 20 years of work. He served as the president of the foundation’s board of directors for 50 years.
“He was always on the outlook to see if he could do something for the community and improve the life others around here,” Carmichael continued, adding that he used to rent a house from Thomson for many years. “He was always involved with the Christmas parade, Canada Day parade, different stuff like that. You could put him down for a really good worker and that was it.”
“He helped us with the idea for the Villa James Shaw,” added Armstrong. “He helped get the idea going. He was instrumental. He came to the first meetings and gave his opinions on what we should be doing, what the building should be. He was always involved. He appreciated the people and the municipality and he wanted to see the municipality moving forward.”
When asked what they remember most about him, all three said it would be his cheerful, chatty nature and his deep love for his community.
“It didn’t matter where he went, there was always a story,” Barber said. “The way he told it, it was always extremely funny. I heard some of those stories hundreds of times.”
“I never really saw him in bad humour and there was always a smile on his face,” said Carmichael. “He’d put a smile on your face too with a story or a tale or something. Just a good friend and a very interesting person to talk to.”
“[He was] totally fun, and serious about wanting to get things done,” concluded Armstrong. “He was interested in life in the municipality, he wanted to see it move ahead.”