Village of Clyde mayor Wayne Wilcox has been awarded a Diamond Jubilee Medal.
He is one of close to 60,000 Canadians to have received the medal, which commemorates Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne and recognizes those Canadians who have made significant contributions to their communities.
For Wilcox, he never for a second thought he would be nominated for the medal, let alone be awarded one.
“It’s definitely a big surprise,” he said. “They never said who nominated me.”
While he remains in the dark as to what he did to earn the medal, Wilcox said he acknowledges it’s an honour to be one of a select number of Canadians who were deemed worthy of recognition.
“I’m not sure who else out here got one, but there are some fairly deserving people out there,” he said.
Wilcox joins fellow area residents Sister Eileen Boyle, Chester Cunningham and Werner Frose as medal recipients. The medal was not sent to Wilcox directly, he said.
“I went into the Village office on Tuesday (Feb. 5) morning,” he said. “Annette (Schwab, village CAO) was in there and she was quite bubbly and happy and she said ‘this came in the mail for you.’ I’m not sure who was happier about receiving it, myself or Annette.”
What she handed him was an envelope containing a certificate acknowledging him as a medal recipient and the medal itself in a small box.
“I thought all the councillors would receive it, but they didn’t, so I thought that was kind of special,” Wilcox said.
While he is curious who would want to recognize him in this manner, ultimately he’s happy that his work is being acknowledged in such a public way.
