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THE KINGSTON WHIGS'I'ANIDARD MONDAY, JUNE '7, 1999 5 LOCAL NEWS l Hall of Fame to honour farmer tonight Allen Bruce Caughey ,_ honoured for his dedication to his community l By Lianne Elliott and Christina Varga/The Whig Standard GRICUL'I'URE AND Tun AMHERST Island community have been Allen Bruce Caughey's livelihood, hob- by and passion his entire life. The Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame Association recognizes this dedir cation and will induct the 897year-old dairy farmer into its Hall of Fame on June 17, Inductees are chosen based on their contributions to the advance- ment of agriculture in Ontario. Caughey, who is currently at Kingston General Hospital, will be honoured by an Ontario Mutual Insur- ance Association presentation at KGH tonight. The induction ceremony will take place in Milton, at the Farm Muse- um, on June 13. The association nominated Caughey for the Agricultural Hall of Fame. Glen Johnson, president of the asso- Ciation, said Caughey, through his abil- ities as a speaker, was able to set up a grassroots, rural Canadian system of insurance that is one of the largest, most financially secure in the world. Caughey helped set up the Fire Mu» tuals Guarantee Fund in 1975, Created through the Ontario Mutual Insurance Association, this fund links all the Ontario Farmer's Mutuals, tying their assets together and providing them with financial security Caughey was the founding chairman of the fund committee. PRESIDENTF OR TWO YEARS Caughey also was director of the Amherst Island Farmer's Mutual Fire Insurance Company for 51 years and served on the Ontario Mutual Insur- ance Association board between 1969 and 1977. He acted as the association's president for two years. _ Johnson also said Caughey did much for the evolving community of Amherst Island. "He's one of those people that makes a community work," said Johnson. A man who was born on his grand father's dairy farm. and whose son has carried on the tradi- tion, Caughey de» scribedaiural com- CAUGHEY niuiiity where thei e was one telephone line and in the 405 and 505 he bused children to school in a cov- ered sleigh in winter because the roads weren'tplowed. "My father was very dedicated to education." said the younger Bruce Caughey "In 1978, he was cited by the Honourable Bette Stevenson, who was the Ontario Minister of Education, as having 45 years of education involve- ment." VARIO US SCHOOL BOARDS His father served on various school boards, including the Amherst Island Township School Area Board, the Napanee District Secondary School Board and the Lennox Addington County School Board. He was founding chairman for the latter: His father also helped modernize the telephone system on Amherst Island when he acted as secretary treasurer of the Amherst Island Municipal Tele- phone System between 1950 and 1964. The elder Caughey has been involved with the Masonic Lodge, the Shriners and still serves as Clerk of Session at I St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. 'VOL UN TEER POSITIONS ' "Most of these jobs were volunteer positions ... dollars were not my father's primary concern," the younger Caugh- ey said, explaining his father's main source of living came only from his dairyfarm. "My father is a great orator, a great speaker. He has a mind that remem- bers'details He was a real people per- son. He loved people and establishing friendships." . Caughey is one of only nine living inductees into the Agricultural Hall of Fame.