Community-minded Wayne Robson loved and served Belwood

Wayne Robson’s work was never done, whether he was on the farm or in the community of Belwood.

Wayne’s wife, Ev Robson said Wayne was community-minded and was always helping someone. All his community efforts were recognized by the Belwood Lions Club, receiving the Melvin Jones Fellowship in 2010. The Melvin Jones Fellowship is one of the highest honours that can be presented to a Lions Club member, which Wayne was for over 30 years.

“Wayne didn’t like to be in the limelight, he liked to be in the background. He never wanted to be the star, but he wanted to be the technical man,” said Ev.

Wayne was born near Kleinburg, Ontario on June 14, 1943. He developed a hard work ethic at a young age from helping his father on their dairy farm, eventually becoming a dairy farmer himself. At 17, Wayne met Ev during a youth church activity. Ev said she liked how Wayne was quiet, kind and interesting. 

"We were both very shy in our younger years, we both came from rural communities," said Ev, noting they dated for four years before getting married in 1964. 

While he was not a fan of games or cards, Ev said Wayne enjoyed talking to people and music.

“He loved to sing, he loved music and he had a variety of musical tastes, from church music to Meatloaf.”

In 1977, Wayne, Ev and their two children, Brian and Kevin Robson, moved from York Region to Belwood to run their own dairy farm. Ev milked the cows in the barn while Wayne, Brian and Kevin looked after the fields.

“I remember when we moved in, there were literally piles of garbage around the place and the first thing he wanted to do was, ‘let’s clean this place up,’” said Brian. “He did a lot of work and just upgraded everything, and made it nicer, the way he wanted too.” 

“It was the work ethic that he taught,” Kevin said about his dad. “We were driving tractors and equipment when we were 12-years-old.” 

If Wayne had a hobby, his family jokes it was church. After moving to Belwood, the family became members of St John’s United Church. In the church, Wayne was a member of the choir with Ev, and participated in many committees.

“He was on the church board, he was a chair of the property committee, he was trustee, right up until the last year of two when he got sick, and he was on the building committee for the church when they built that big addition,” said Ev. “The guys who are on the property committee now, they say, ‘If we needed to know anything, Wayne could tell us. He knew where every screw, nut and bolt was in that church.’”

Church was only one of many groups Wayne got involved in. Ev said Wayne also started the first Boy Scouts pack in Belwood, participated for 25 years in the Terry Fox Ride and became involved with the Lions Club in 1983.

Through the Lions Club, Ev said Wayne did everything from flipping pancakes, to measuring fish at the annual fishing derby, to collecting bottles. In 2018, Wayne was honoured with a life membership at the club.

“He loved community and he loved talking to people, and so Lions was his life, his community life," said Ev. “He was president for one term, and then in 1989, he took on the secretary job and he was secretary for 21 years at the club.”

Wayne was noted as not much of a book reader either, but Ev said he liked to read Maclean’s, consumer magazines and newspapers. When a longstanding at the Fergus/Elora News Express retired, Wayne took over the column and became a Belwood correspondent. He attended various community events and was noted to always be carrying a camera with him.

“I said to him, ‘If you’re going to do that, don’t you dare write one thing about us socially,’” said Ev, “and I don’t want you to write, ‘So-and-so had this for dinner,’ and I was like, ‘Who cares? This is not important,' but I said, ‘If you’re going to do this, write about something that matters, something newsworthy,’ and he did.

“He was there until pretty well it folded. He kept every article he wrote.”

At the age of 55, Wayne retired as a dairy farmer, but quickly picked up a second career. A week after selling the farm, Ev said they got a knock on their door from a representative from Conestogo Agri Systems.

“We used to buy our dairy supplies from his company, and he said, ‘Wayne, are you looking for a job yet?’ and Wayne said, ‘Well, I’m thinking about it. Why?’ and he said, ‘Would you come and work for me in the shop and do repairs to dairy equipment?’ and Wayne said, ‘Yeah, that would be good,’” said Ev.

For 19 years, Wayne repaired and reconditioned dairy farming equipment from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. He also made service calls to other farms. Ev said Wayne loved every minute of that job and his work bench at the company was dubbed "Wayne’s World." Brian adds the owner's family became like a second family to his dad.

“If the kids' bikes were broken, they would bring their bikes in and he would fix it," said Brian. "He was like a surrogate grandfather.”

On March 18, 2022, Wayne passed away at the age of 78 after a 10-year battle with Parkinson's disease. After his death, the Belwood Lions Club dedicated a memorial bench to Wayne in Belwood Park in June.