When presenting Elmira resident Walter Ireson with Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee Medal on Wednesday morning, Kitchener-Conesgtoga MP Harold Albrecht lauded Ireson as a “well loved and respected family man and Kiwanis member,” who is “dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time.
![Elmira resident Walter Ireson received his Diamond Jubilee Medal in a ceremony on Wednesday.[will sloan / the observer]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/news-medal.jpg)
“His number of years of service say he’s well over one hundred,” added Albrecht. “But we think he looks much younger.”
In fact, Walter Ireson is a spry 77, but as his Diamond Jubilee Medal attests, he has logged the charity and volunteer work of a man twice his age.
“Looking back on it, it was the people who I met,” said Ireson. “I met some fantastic people in different organizations who just were there because it gave them pleasure, and I found that it gave me pleasure. I enjoyed working with them and meeting with them, and just helping out. One thing led to another.”
Ireson’s lifetime of volunteering started at age 17, when he lent a helping hand to the Girl Guides in Hamilton, where his future wife was a member. His unexpectedly positive experience of helping prepare the Guides’ summer camp led to 11 years with the organization, followed by 25 years with the Boy Scouts, where all three of his sons were members. He served in various positions, including chairman, parade chairman, and all manner of fundraising and tent pitching.
“Every year: get out, take care of the camp, get it ready, put the tents out, get the kites up and everything else,” said Ireson. “It was a fair amount of work, but it was fun.”
In 1985, he began volunteering with St. John Ambulance in Hamilton, and served at various times as chairman, Southern District chair and vice-president branch liaison. Even after retiring from his day job at the Hamilton police force in 1992, Ireson was still working 20 hours every week with St. John Ambulance, representing the organization throughout southern Ontario and responsible for 63 first-aid training branches.
After his wife retired in 2004, Ireson stepped down from St. John Ambulance, and now concentrates his energies on Kiwanis, where he has been a member for 27 years. He was president of Kiwanis’ Hamilton East branch before becoming lieutenant governor of the Niagara District, and now volunteers at the Elmira’s group’s fundraisers for children in need.
“When you get involved with these organizations, you find a lot of dedicated people. When I moved up here to Elmira and I first went to the Kiwanis Club, it’s a small club, but you’ve never seen such a dynamic club.”
“When I was lieutenant governor, I had 11 clubs I was responsible for. This club outdid them,” he said.
Ireson, a Hamilton native, moved to Elmira in 1999 to marry his wife Joyce (his first wife passed away in 1997). Her husband’s accolade – which comes with a signed letter from the Governor General – has Joyce Ireson beaming.
“I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, because I’ve seen the hundreds of hours that he has donated to various organizations, and he’s only highlighted a few,” said Joyce.
After some prodding, she reminds her husband of his work with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Museum, and his stint on the Ontario Traffic Conference’s council on road trauma.
“I suggested that we and the police force get together to try to do enforcement all across the province at the same time. Basically we tried to find ways to reduce the number of accidents,” he remembered.
“In 2000, eight years after my retirement, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police gave me a plaque for my efforts.”
At this memory, Ireson smiled. “Sometimes when I look back I wonder how the heck I found all the time.”
