Friends of Ruthven Park

JOHN SHOVELLER

In 1997 John was elected to the Board of Directors and served 12 years before his tragic death. John was admired and appreciated for his candid approach, enthusiasm, passion and dedication to Ruthven and the many projects that took place during his tenure. He was so proud of his Indiana restoration endeavours and his friendly unique comments to numerous contractors. He volunteered to do anything that needed to be done to make Ruthven a better place and was a zealot protector of our investments. Ruthven was honoured to be designated by his family as their charity of choice to receive memorial donations in his name.

KRYSTYNA SHOVELLER

Krystyna, since the tragic death of her husband John in 2009, has been a loyal donor to the Indiana Perpetual Cemetery Fund at Ruthven Park. With firsthand knowledge of the commitment of volunteers and the importance of the continual maintenance of this Cemetery, Krystyna has regularly donated to this fund since it’s inception in 2010. She has volunteered at numerous events and continues to visit us.

Ron became a Director in 1996 and continued that role for four years. He then became a Finance Committee member for ten years. His knowledge of agriculture , land management and conservation and finance were of vital importance to the Board. Ron strongly believed in the importance of community, and of quality education and was quick to offer funding for an education program and appropriately named to honour his sister JOY who was an admired elementary school teacher in Haldimand County. Since 2007, the Ron and Nancy Clark Foundation has funded $100,000 annually to sponsor the education program at Ruthven Park. This program allows students to experience an extensive Ontario curriculum based education program on historical, environmental and conservation topics. Ron believed that educating the youth of today is vital and Ruthven Park is indebted to him for providing the opportunity to do so.

In 1993, when the late Marion Hartney and Ruthven Park benefactor set about to establish an Easement with the Ontario Heritage Foundation and the Ruthven Park Foundation Endowment, Malcolm Archibald was her advisor and became a loyal follower of Ruthven. Mr. Archibald was a lawyer with the WeirFoulds law firm since 1955 and was widely respected for excellence in estates and trusts. Malcolm was a Director of the Ruthven Park Foundation since 1998 until he resigned from his position in 2021. His guidance and council to that Foundation was of vital importance to Ruthven Park National Historic Site. Malcolm would visit Ruthven Park occasionally and we are grateful to call him a Ruthven Park friend.

Don Weaver began volunteering at Ruthven Park in 2006 where he, along with two other volunteers, Joe Long and John Shoveller, restored the 1841 Rose of Lima Catholic Cemetery located on the property of Ruthven Park. Don worked alongside other volunteers to begin the difficult task of clearing trees and overgrowth where the cemetery was located. With experience in dowsing, Don discovered a number of monuments in the vicinity. Over the course of 15 months, Don, Joe and John repaired broken monuments and placed them back into position. Over 6 years, Don dedicated his time to the maintenance of the cemetery through scheduled grass cutting. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Ruthven Park National Historic Site, we would like to thank Don for his generous contribution and dedication to the Indiana cemetery project.