Deathe, Scala, Tidridge named Paul Harris Fellows
OPINION
By Mac Christie
Flamborough Review
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Three well-known members of the Waterdown community were honoured with the Paul Harris Fellow Awards by the Flamborough A.M. Rotary Club at the Burlington Golf and Country Club Nov. 15.
Taking home the awards were former Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board trustee and Healthy Youth Network founder Penny Deathe, Waterdown Dairy Queen owner Jayne Scala and Waterdown District High School teacher, author and historian Nathan Tidridge.
The Paul Harris Award Fellowship — named after the founder of the Rotary Club — was established in 1957 and “recognizes individuals who go above and beyond to help their community and in whose name a $1,000 donation to the Rotary Foundation has been made,” said Rotarian Ryan Bridge.
Deathe, who received the honour from Gary Keith Holmes, said the award is “truly an honour.”
“I have tremendous respect for the Rotary Club and the work they do,” she said.
In his presentation, Holmes said he met Deathe 10 years ago when he was at a bad place in his life, and planned to kill himself.
“From our first conversation, she told me I would do great things,” he said. “She believed in me.”
Holmes said he had never heard that from an adult before and when Deathe asked him to work with the Hamilton Police Service on developmental assets for the then-Healthy Community-Healthy Youth Flamborough, he thought she had “lost her damn mind.”
“Penny consistently demonstrates our Rotary motto — ‘Service above self,’” he said, noting she worked tirelessly to help deal with issues at the school and in the community.
Meanwhile, Rotarian Margaret Robertson presented the awards to Scala and Tidridge.
She highlighted Scala’s work with Miracle Treat Day — this year raising $15,000 for McMaster Children’s Hospital in honour of her daughter Amelia’s 15 years in remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia — as well as the Purse Project Network.
For her part, Scala thanked the Rotary Club for the award — and for all, they do for the community.
“I’m so honoured,” she said.
Meanwhile, Tidridge — who Robertson said is the recipient of “arm’s length of prestigious awards and accolades” — thanked Rotary for its work in the community.
“I’m humbled by the company I’m in,” he said of Deathe and Scala — as well as past recipients. “Thank you.”
In her presentation, Robertson said it is difficult to write a speech about Tidridge because he has “so much going on” — including writing six books, serving as vice-president for the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada, advising the Prince’s Charities Canada and the Prince’s Trust Canada, serving as the keeper of the Chapel Royal tobacco bags and the board of the Flamborough Heritage Society — among others.
She highlighted Tidridge’s “unwavering commitment to sharing knowledge and supporting learning,” including helping to deepen understanding of the complex relationship between Indigenous communities and the Crown while shining light on the importance of truth and reconciliation.
