The flag at Collingwood's Royal Canadian Legion will be flying at half staff this week in honour of a man who made an indelible mark on the community.
Donald Wilcox died on July 12. He was 86.
A longtime newspaper man, Wilcox grew up in Woodbridge, served five years in the Navy and worked a job as a driver with Parry Automotive which brought him to Orillia.
After that, he worked at the Orillia Packet & Times for about 12 years. In 1977, he was brought to Collingwood by then-publisher of the Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin George Czerny to serve as general manager (editor) of the paper.
Overall, Wilcox had a 28-year career in newspapers, including the now-defunct Barrie Examiner, which was closed in November 2017.
His story was so inspirational, Wilcox’s brother named his son – Wilcox’s nephew – after him. The younger Wilcox also pursued a career in journalism – making stops at the Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin, the Barrie Examiner and the Ottawa Sun – and still works in the industry today.
When reached for an interview this week, the younger Don recalled a time when he was about 12 years old and had been out for a drive with his Uncle Don near Orillia, and they came across a crash scene on Highway 11.
“My uncle got out of the car, grabbed his camera and his notebook and off he went,” recalled Don. “He told us to stay in the car. I was sitting there looking out the front window and I was absolutely flabbergasted that my uncle could do this. I saw it in the paper the next day.
“I thought that was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. That was the day I decided I wanted to be a journalist. I’ve had a 42-year career,” he added.
Wilcox had two children with his wife, Dianne, of 56 years – Jason Moser-Wilcox and Lorri-Ann Drury. Dianne died in 2022.
“My dad was an upstanding person. He was always kind. He was always there for us,” Moser-Wilcox said in an interview.
Moser-Wilcox remembers his dad as a newspaperman first while he was growing up, and would be out of the house by 5 a.m. However, he always made sure he was home for dinner.
“He was a dedicated man to his job, community and family,” he said. “I would like my dad to be remembered as a good friend and a devout Christian. He was a kind soul.”
Wilcox and his wife were regular features at Heritage Community Church, and Wilcox had been working to start a checkers tournament out of the church this fall.
“We will carry that on, and have it in Don’s memory,” said Carolynn Wilson, spokesperson for the church along with her sister, Sylvia. “We’re certainly going to miss Don as he was a big part of our church."
As a newspaperman, Wilcox spent a lot of time at the Enterprise-Bulletin office when it was on Simcoe Street, with Czerny serving as publisher and Sue Nicholson (current executive director of the Collingwood BIA) serving as advertising manager during that time.
One of Nicholson’s favourite memories of Wilcox involved a container of coffee.
“I would keep a small container of instant coffee on my desk,” recalled Nicholson. “We used to get into great arguments, and I would throw it at him. Fifteen minutes later, we’d be at the coffee shop. We got along really well. We kept in touch. I saw his kids grow up.”
“He was a grand old gentleman. He was a great editor and storyteller. We’ve lost a great citizen of this community,” she said.
Czerny said Wilcox was dedicated to newspapers, his family, and the community.
“He grew to love Collingwood as his adopted hometown,” said Czerny. “He was also a dedicated community contributor. If there was a cause, he threw energy at it and he’d write about it.
"He was enthusiastic about Collingwood and making it a better place.”
Wilcox spent time throughout his life volunteering with various organizations including the Orillia Ball Hockey League, the Orillia Terriers Hockey Club, the Red Cross, Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts, the Collingwood Leisure Time Club, the Collingwood Museum, the Collingwood Elvis Festival, the Collingwood-Katano Sister City Committee, and he had just received his 20-year service pin from the Collingwood legion on Canada Day for his work curating the legion museum, serving on the board for 15 years and offering public relations advice.
“He was a member, volunteer and active participant right up to this Canada Day. That’s a pretty impressive legacy of service to our branch,” Anthony Griffith, president of the Collingwood Royal Canadian Legion, said in an email. “He will certainly be remembered and missed.”
He was given the Order of Collingwood in 1991, and the Governor General’s Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers in 2018.
Czerny recalled one story Wilcox once shared with CollingwoodToday himself back in 2019 about an incident in the 1970s, when the two men discovered an illegal marijuana grow-op hidden in a cornfield in the former Orillia Township and they dove to hide in a ditch to avoid running into the operators while they were attempting to take photos.
“We weren’t sure what the perpetrators would do to us,” said Czerny. “The way they were busted is a couple of kids picked a couple of marijuana leaves and took them to school. We broke the story. It was the biggest marijuana bust as of that date in Canada.”
One of Wilcox’s significant contributions to the community was creating and curating the Military Museum at the Collingwood legion.
Collingwood Museum supervisor Melissa Shaw called Wilcox a “steadfast advocate” for Collingwood’s heritage, noting Wilcox served on the museum board in the 1990s.
“Don was always ready to lend a hand and played a key role in arranging artifact loans and strengthening ties between the institutions,” Shaw said in an email. “Don will be greatly missed by the heritage community.”
A celebration of life event for Wilcox will be held on Aug. 1 from 1-4 p.m. at the Collingwood legion and is open to the public.