The Rural Voice, 2000-02, Page 54People
Lucknow farmer killed in accident
A well-known farmer and
businessman was killed in a
farm accident on the family
farm near Lucknow,
December 31.
Ralph Morrison, 41, was
operating a front end loader
when the tractor slipped off
the edge of a four and a half
foot embankment, rolling
over and pinning him beneath
the rear wheel. A police
spokesman said his wife
Sandra had seen her husband at 11:20
a.m., just 10 minutes before his brother
Roger found him pinned under the
machine. Roger used another tractor to
lift the machine off him but Ralph was
pronounced dead at the scene.
Ralph
Morrison
Though the tractor was
equipped with a roll bar, it
had been folded down, OPP
said.
Ralph Morrison along with
Sandra, his twin brother
Roger and Roger's wife
Vicky had built Morrison
Berries into a large pick -
your -own berry and
vegetable operation, farm
market and agri-tourist
attraction located east of
Lucknow on Huron County Road 86
(the farm was featured in our July
1996 issue). As well as berries, the
farm also includes a beef feedlot.
Besides his wife he is survived by a
son Michael and daughter, Emily.0
Following in Dad's footsteps
Susan Ferguson is following in her father's footsteps, yet blazing a trail all
her own.
Ferguson, daughter of well-known Hensall-area beekeeper Bill Ferguson,
became a director of the board of the Ontario Beekeepers Association in
November. At 24, she becomes the youngest ever director of the 100 -year-old
association which represents 4,000 beekeepers across the province. She is also
just the second female director on the board. She joins her father, a former
president of the association, on the 14 -member board. It's the first time two
members of the same family have been on the board.
Though young, Susan brings years of experience in the bee business, having
been raised within the walls of Ferguson Apiaries and working full-time in the
business for the past three years. She has been involved in bee breeding,
marketing of the company's products and producing value-added products such
as body cream, lip balm and shampoo.
She is currently secretary -treasurer of the Huron -Perth Beekeepers
Association.
As a new board member she'll take part in a fact-finding trip to Cuba to see
bee yards in that Caribbean country.0
Meister heads dairy sheep group again
Axel Meister of Rockwood
(featured in an article in last month's
Rural Voice) was re-elected president
of the Ontario Dairy Sheep
Association at the annual meeting held
in Guelph on December 15.
Meister, who with his wife Chris
Buschbeck operates a dairy -sheep
operation, WoolDrift Farm, north of
Rockwood, was a co-founder of the
Dairy Sheep Association and has
served on the board of directors since
1994. He also serves as vice-president
of the Canadian Dairy Sheep
Association.
Carl Baumann of Clifford, who
has been involved in the association
since 1996, was re-elected to the
executive. New members of the board
are Elisabeth Bzikot, Conn and Larry
Kupecz of Burgessville. Bzikot and her
husband Eric, operate "Best Boar and
Baa Farm", raising British Milksheep
and European wild boar. Kupecz and
Judy Harper operate a sheep farm
which is currently being converted to
milking sheep.°
Huron man
heads rural
council
Wayne Caldwell, a senior
planner with the Huron County
Department of Planning and
Development has been named new
chair of the Ontario Rural Council.
A Goderich-area resident,
Caldwell is also an adjunct prof-
essor at the
University of
Guelph.
The Ontario
Rural Council
is a forum
which brings
together those
who share a
commitment to
building strong
rural communities and
organizations. Members identify
issues, then collaborate to develop
innovative solutions and strengthen
rural voices.
Also included in the 1999-2000
management team for the Council
are Ron Bonnett, vice-president of
the Ontario Federation of Agricul-
ture; Carol Rock of Monkton, from
Women and Rural Economic
Development; Pat Smith, Ontario
Public School Boards Association;
Christine Dukelow, Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs; Diana Jedig,
Ontario Association of Community
Development Corporations;
Eugene Lammerding, the
Foundation for Rural Living; Ray
Lacroix, Bell Canada and past
chair, Jack Hagarty. Ex -officio
members include Cindy Lindsay,
executive director of the
Foundation for Rural Living and
Mary Robertson, manager of the
Ontario Rural Council.
"Our expanded management
team will help the council to be
responsive to the interests of our
members," Caldwell said. "As a
council we are able to build
partnerships and do more work that
will benefit rural Ontario."0
Wayne Caldwell