Derek Moore named Wellington North’s Senior of the Year

WELLINGTON NORTH – Mount Forest resident Derek Moore is Wellington North’s Senior of the Year.

The award is part of the provincial Honours and Awards Program, allowing municipalities to nominate a community member over the age of 65 for official recognition.

Wellington North Mayor Andy Lennox presented the award to Moore on April 15 at the Arthur and Area Community Centre during one of the township’s newcomer and volunteer recognition events.

The mayor said Moore has quietly contributed to bettering the community without fuss.

“His contributions to our municipality and beyond is more than worthy of being recognized,” Lennox stated.

“His compassion, steady leadership and unwavering commitment to service have left a lasting impact locally and across Ontario.”

Moore immigrated to Canada from England in 1974, became a Canadian citizen in 1978, and began volunteering at the Mount Forest Legion branch, inspired by his father’s military service with the Royal Canadian Airforce 419 Bomber Squadron, and later a reconnaissance unit.

“My dad was a Canadian veteran, his brother was a Canadian veteran ... and their father was a Canadian veteran ... in England,” Moore said.

“I’ve got a great uncle who was a First World War Canadian veteran with the 58th Battalion whose name is on the Menin Gate in Belgium.”

Moore worked as a produce manager at a grocery store, a school custodian and later served an extended term as the Legion’s Ontario Command president in between shifts driving a student transport van.

At provincial command, Moore was integral to the Legion’s homeless veterans program, known as “Leave the Streets Behind.”

Moore has since returned to the Mount Forest branch’s executive committee, serving as youth education chairman while also chairing the Legion’s provincial property committee, overseeing 389 buildings, along with vice-chairing the Dominion poppy and remembrance committee.

“I’ve always admired the veterans,” Moore said.

But the Legion isn’t the only place Moore has left his mark.

One of the first things he did when arriving in town was to start a Tuesday night badminton club.

“A good volunteer is somebody who always keeps sticking his hand up,” he said laughing.

“I could probably go anywhere and if somebody said they’re looking for volunteers and I feel I had a little bit of extra time somewhere, I’d probably want to stick my hand up and say, ‘I’ll give you a hand.’”

In the ’80s he helped co-found the Mount Forest Heritage Society.

He recalled painting the walls of the Old Post Office in downtown Mount Forest, which is operated by the society.

“I’ve always been a history buff and I thought it was the opportunity to start something new in town, to use the old building downtown, and myself and a few others got together and we got that going,” he said.

At 72, Moore isn’t slowing and has national ambitions with the Legion.

Legion members from across Canada will convene in August in Winnipeg, where the modern-day Royal Canadian Legion began, to mark the organization’s centennial.

Moore hopes to be voted in there as dominion vice president, a role that would allow him to help bring the Legion into the modern age and advance it into the next century.

“I don’t really have any hobbies ... [the] Legion and what I do is my hobby,” he said.

“If I stopped I don’t know what I’d do. I think I would probably curl up and die.”
Moore said able-bodied seniors play a “vital role” keeping programs running in small communities.

“Just because we’re seniors, doesn’t mean we can’t,” he said.

Other recent Senior of the Year award recipients include Faye Craig in 2021, Kay Ayres in 2022, Bonny McDougall in 2023, Al Leach in 2024 and Brenda Harris in 2025.