The following is being distributed at the request of His Honour, the Honourable Frank F. Fagan, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador:
Eight people were invested into the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador in a ceremony held today at Government House in St. John’s. The highest honour that can be bestowed in the province, the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador is awarded to those individuals who have made significant contributions and whose efforts have significantly impacted the lives of their fellow residents.
The eight people invested into the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador this year are:
- Terence S. Goodyear
- Dr. Falah B. Maroun
- Robert Mellin
- Wayne Miller
- Kathleen Pratt LeGrow
- Katarina Mirabelle Roxon
- Marie E. Ryan
- Frederick David Smallwood
Biographies of this year’s Order of Newfoundland and Labrador recipients are in the backgrounder below.
Including today’s members, there have been 99 people invested into the Order since 2004.
The nomination deadline for the next group of recipients is March 2, 2018 and details can be found online at:
www.exec.gov.nl.ca/onl/nomination.html
Quotes
“I am delighted to recognize the personal achievements, attributes and commitments to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador by the eight outstanding individuals who were today, invested into the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador. Their efforts represent extraordinary strength, conviction and perseverance and serve as shining examples of citizens making outstanding contributions to our Province and its residents.”
His Honour, Frank F. Fagan
Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador
“This year’s recipients of the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador are all remarkable people whose accomplishments have significantly improved the lives of others. What really strikes me about this group is their volunteer work on behalf of some of the province’s most vulnerable residents. I thank them for their efforts and for ensuring that Newfoundland and Labrador’s reputation as a caring, kind and compassionate province is well-maintained.”
Honourable Dwight Ball
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
– 30 –
Media contacts
David Brown
Government House
709-729-4045, 689-3792
davidbrown@gov.nl.ca
Michelle Cannizzaro
Office of the Premier
709-729-3960
michellecannizzaro@gov.nl.ca
BACKGROUNDER
Biographies of those invested into the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador
Terence S. Goodyear
Terence S. Goodyear was raised in Grand Falls. After completing high school, he attended Kings College in Halifax before completing a degree in Civil Engineering at the Nova Scotia Technical College (now Dalhousie University).
Mr. Goodyear’s first job after graduating was with the Department of Transportation on Prince Edward Island. After three years, he returned to Grand Falls to join his family’s construction company, J. Goodyear & Sons Ltd. Beginning in the 1960s, he was responsible for designing many of the roads constructed to connect rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Goodyear has always held a keen interest in underwater issues and took up scuba diving when the activity was still in its infancy in the province. The unique combination of his engineering background and his diving skills allowed him to provide professional advice on structures such as wharves, dams and water intakes.
Eventually, Mr. Goodyear started his own company, Newfoundland Underwater Diving Engineering, and trained a team of divers to work with him. Under his direction, early processes for underwater inspection, welding and cutting, under ice and at night operations and underwater demolition were developed. Mr. Goodyear ran this company for 20 years until his retirement.
After retiring, he remained active in the engineering field and served as sole commissioner for the environmental assessment hearings for the Outer Ring Road in St. John’s.
Mr. Goodyear has done significant work in advancing and promoting the engineering and construction industries in Newfoundland and Labrador. He served on the board of directors of the Association of Professional Engineers of Newfoundland and Labrador and was president from 1973 to 1974. He was also the founding member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Association and the Atlantic Concrete-Ready Mix Association.
Mr. Goodyear is an active volunteer in his community and province. He was a councillor with the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor from 1985-89 and served as deputy mayor from 1993 to 1997. He spent time on the Exploits River Management Association where he was instrumental in the construction of the Noel Paul Fish Hatchery and the Salmonid Interpretation Centre.
His other board experience includes terms with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, College of the North Atlantic, the Grand Falls and Area Chamber of Commerce, the Carmelite House Interfaith Committee, YMCA and the South and Central Health Foundation (as a founding member).
Mr. Goodyear is a long time Rotarian and a huge supporter of Big Brother and Big Sisters Canada.
Dr. Falah B. Maroun
Originally from Lebanon, Dr. Falah B. Maroun came to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1967 to do a three-week locum and has been in the province ever since.
He graduated from the French Faculty of Medicine in Beirut in 1960 before completing post-graduate training at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Dr. Maroun obtained his Canadian Fellowship in 1965 and his American Board of Neurological Surgery (Foreign Certificate) in 1966.
In 1968, Dr. Maroun became Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery in St. John’s and held that position for almost 40 years. Since 1968, he has been actively involved in clinical practice and teaching at Memorial University’s Faculty of Medicine. He was Professor and Chairman of Surgery from 1989 to 1999 and Clinical Chief of the Surgery Program and Co-clinical Chief of the Peri-operative Program for the Health Care Corporation of St. John’s from 1996 to 1999. Dr. Maroun was the only neurosurgeon in Newfoundland and Labrador for a number of years.
Dr. Maroun has 73 publications to his credit and four in preparation. He has presented 228 papers and posters at national and international meetings. He produced a 25-minute movie on epilepsy titled “It’s a New Life” as well as a book on congenital spinal anomaly, both of which have been used as references for neurosurgeons and other physicians.
In 1968, Dr. Maroun recognized a need for improvement of post-operative care for neurosurgery patients and recognized that nurses were not well trained in this area. In response, he developed a curriculum and taught the first training course in Post-basic Neuro Sciences Nursing at the General Hospital. He continues to be involved in nurse training today.
In 1970, Dr. Maroun introduced and performed the first seizure surgery for epilepsy in Newfoundland and Labrador. During this period, St. John’s was one of the only places in the world that provided this type of surgery.
In 1974, Dr. Maroun was presented with the Knight of the Order of the Cedar of Lebanon for his great contribution to humanitarianism throughout the world and outstanding accomplishments as a Lebanese working in the specialty of neurosurgery in another country.
Dr. Maroun was instrumental in negotiating an agreement for the patients of St. Pierre et Miquelon to be treated in St. John’s rather than having to be sent to France. As a result of his commitment, he was awarded the Medaille de l’ordre de Merite of France (Order of Merit) in 2001.
In 2000 Dr. Maroun and several other neuroscience specialists worked with the Think First program led by Dr. Charles Tator and brought forward a curriculum in the province’s schools to educate students of the dangers of rough play and how to prevent head and neck injuries. The program has since been expanded for coaches and parents of children who play contact sports.
In 2002 Dr. Maroun was awarded the Order of Canada. He has been appointed lifetime Honorary President of the World Association of Lebanese Neurosurgeons and was instrumental in establishing the Lebanese Association of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Robert Mellin
Robert Mellin graduated with distinction from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1973.
He is a registered member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Architects, a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at McGill University.
In recognition of his architectural design and heritage conservation work, Mr. Mellin was elected to membership in the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2002 and he currently serves as a vice-president. He is Past Chair of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. He is also a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Vernacular Architectural Forum.
Mr. Mellin is an accomplished author having written three books on architecture and life in Newfoundland and Labrador. Tilting: House Launching, Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching and Other Tales from a Newfoundland Fishing Village was published in 2003 and was a first place winner of the BMO Winterset Literary Award. He also wrote Newfoundland Modern: Architecture in the Smallwood Years, 1949-1972 and Winter in Tilting: Slide Hauling in a Newfoundland Outport. In addition, Mr. Mellin has written numerous journal articles on various aspects of architecture that are insightful into both the Canadian and international contexts.
Mr. Mellin received a Manning Award and nine Southcott Awards (Newfoundland Historic Trust) for his heritage conservation work in Newfoundland and Labrador. He received the 2006 Paul E. Buchanan Award for excellence in fieldwork and interpretation from the Vernacular Architecture Forum.
He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2014, and Memorial University presented him with an honorary doctorate in 2015. In receiving the Order of Canada, Mr. Mellin was noted for his commitment to preserving the built heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador and his efforts in Tilting to help save the residents’ cultural heritage by preserving their houses, stages, flakes and root cellars.
Walter Wayne Miller
Walter Wayne Miller was born in St. John’s. Shortly after graduating from Queen Elizabeth High School in Foxtrap, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces where he served as a Regular Force member from 1961 until his honourable retirement in 1991. Mr. Miller then transferred to the Primary Reserve Force where he remained until1994.
After completing his military service, Mr. Miller worked as a radio dispatcher with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary until 2007. He then re-established his connection with the Canadian Armed Forces in 2008 by becoming Honorary Colonel of 728 Communications Squadron and Honorary for 37 Signal Regiment.
Mr. Miller has volunteered and dedicated countless hours while serving as a member of an extensive number of associations or as a volunteer leader of a range of projects. He is an active member of the United Nations Peacekeepers Association. Currently, he is working closely with a number of local high school principals toward the implementation of the Junior Peacekeeping Award, which is designed to make Newfoundland and Labrador schoolchildren aware of and bridge the connections to the sacrifices of past and present Canadian Armed Forces members; particularly native Newfoundland and Labrador service men and women.
Mr. Miller sill serves as an associate of the Signaler’s Club of Canada, the Veterans of Canada and on the executive of Branch #50 of the Royal Canadian Legion. He is a registered member of the Memory Project, which is designed to electronically connect veterans and serving soldiers with students across Canada in an effort to share their stories with Canadian youth.
In October 2011, Mr. Miller created the Veterans and Family Community Covenant in Conception Bay South. The covenant, which is the first of its kind in Canada, is a public pledge to recognize, honour and offer support to local veterans as well as now-serving military personnel and their families.
Mr. Miller continues to serve as the chairperson of the Conception Bay South Monument of Honour Committee which has a goal to create a centralized, combined and noteworthy monument that will recognize the sacrifices of veterans of military, police, and firefighting forces as well as United Nations Peacekeepers.
Mr. Miller was a key resource for the St. John’s IceCaps hockey organization by collaborating with them to devise opportunities to incorporate military traditions, capabilities, personnel and equipment into the entertainment and advertisement segments of the team’s home game events.
For his considerable efforts and his work to honour veterans and recognize Newfoundland and Labrador’s military legacy, Mr. Miller was presented with the Citizen of the Year Award by the Town of Conception Bay South in 2010.
Kathleen Pratt LeGrow
Kathleen Pratt LeGrow was raised in St. John’s after being adopted as an infant by Ewart and Yvonne Pratt. She graduated from Dalhousie with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and then completed a Master of Social Work at Memorial University.
Ms. Pratt LeGrow worked in social work for 15 years dealing with marginalized and vulnerable citizens at the Waterford Hospital and Unified Family Court.
After taking on the responsibility of managing the family business, she volunteered in a number of organizations. She joined her local school board and held leadership positions during the years that the denominational school system was restructured in the province. Ultimately, Ms. Pratt LeGrow was elected chair of the Canadian School Boards Association and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2005 in recognition of her accomplishments in educational leadership.
In 2002, Ms. Pratt LeGrow began philanthropic work by funding the establishment of a soup kitchen at George Street United Church with the goal of feeding hundreds of citizens in the downtown core of St. John’s.
In 2006, Ms. Pratt LeGrow initiated a major fundraising campaign called Hot Soup/Cool Jazz to raise money to support homeless youth. Her leadership has seen the event continue to operate successfully and become a significant sponsor for many youth-serving agencies.
Ms. Pratt LeGrow launched and personally endowed the Jimmy Pratt Family Foundation in 2010. The foundation is a charitable research funding organization with a purpose of raising knowledge about resiliency in children. She currently chairs the board and ensures that the foundation continues to focus on child-centred, family-focused projects.
Ms. Pratt LeGrow served on the Board of Directors of the former Healthcare Corporation of St. John’s where she was Chair of the Quality Assurance Committee. In this role, she also provided considerable input on and direction in the emerging field of primary health care.
Since 2009, she has been active with the Provincial Committee of the Canadian Forces Liaison Council and is the Honorary Colonel of 37 Service Battalion. Ms. Pratt LeGrow represents Newfoundland and Labrador on the military’s National Executive Council of Honorary Colonels of the Canadian Army. In 2012, she personally pledged a significant amount of money for the future establishment of a military museum at Memorial University.
In addition to being named to the Order of Canada, Ms. Pratt LeGrow received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Memorial University in 2014, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and was named the Business Person Volunteer of the Year by the St. John’s Board of Trade in 2003.
Katarina Roxon
Natives of Stephenville, Katarina Roxon and her sister Miranda are the first generation of Roxons to be born in Canada after her parents, Leonard and Lisa, both immigrated to the country from India in 1990.
At just 24 years old, she has already made a significant mark in swimming on the national and international stages. Ms. Roxon is a three-time Paralympian having represented Canada in Beijing in 2008 (where at the age of 15, she was the youngest member of the team), London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. In Rio, she won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the Paralympic Games following her dominant showing at the 2015 Para Pan Am Games where she won six medals, one of which was gold.
In 2015, Ms. Roxon also captured bronze at the IPC World Swimming Championships and was golden at the 2014 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships.
Ms. Roxon has served on the Provincial Council for Persons with Disabilities for the past three years. She also serves as an ambassador for Para swimming and for Para sport as a whole by representing the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee and The War Amps of Canada at various speaking engagements across the country. She uses these platforms to address youth and adults on the importance of sport for healthy living and dreaming big.
Demonstrating her commitment to her community and province, Ms. Roxon continues to train in her hometown in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and continues to act as the assistant coach of the Stephenville Aqua Aces Swim Club with an aim of inspiring a new generation of swimmers.
Through public engagement, Ms. Roxon continues to advocate and raise awareness of the opportunities available to persons with disabilities and is training hard for that next great achievement.
In response to her tremendous accomplishments, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador renamed Trans-Canada Highway Route 490 as Katarina Roxon Way in 2016. She is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Ms. Roxon will next represent Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, as a member of the Para Swimming Team.
Marie E. Ryan
Marie E. Ryan was born, raised and educated in St. John’s. In 1981, she graduated from Memorial University with a Bachelor of Education and subsequently taught in elementary and junior high school in St. John’s and Happy Valley-Goose Bay. While teaching, Ms. Ryan was an active volunteer in extracurricular sports, becoming the first female co-coach of a boys’ soccer team in an elementary school in St. John’s.
In 1987, Ms. Ryan was diagnosed with a rare viral illness that left her with paralysis and unable to walk for 10 years. Her road to recovery was physically, mentally and financially difficult but she returned to the workforce in 1992.
In 1993, she co-produced The Realities of Disability video, which was the national winner of the 1993 Association for Media Technology in Education award of merit.
Also in 1993, Ms. Ryan was elected to St. John’s City Council as a councillor-at-large. In 1997 she was elected deputy mayor for the city; a post she held until her retirement from politics in 2001.
While on city council, Ms. Ryan spearheaded a number of initiatives focused on both social and economic development. She chaired or served on several Mayor’s Advisory Committees including the Committee on Housing; and the Committee on Crime Prevention. Ms. Ryan also co-chaired a multi-stakeholder committee on social and economic development in downtown St. John’s and is currently a commissioner for the City of St. John’s Public Hearings.
For 12 years, Ms. Ryan chaired the St. John’s Community Advisory Committee on Homelessness where she led the work to build the community capacity to provide supportive housing and services and raise awareness of the issue of homelessness and its solutions in the city.
As a volunteer, Ms. Ryan’s work has resulted in improved awareness, action and public policy development regarding the social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities. She has served on numerous boards and committees that are focused on promoting human rights, inclusion and the eradication of poverty. These include Eastern Health, the Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Force Development Board, and the Eastern Regional Economic Development Board.
Ms. Ryan chaired the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities for eight years and co-chaired an Industrial Adjustment Service committee to develop a supportive environment for persons with disabilities seeking employment. She also served as chairperson of the Longside Club which promotes inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities in all activities and within the community.
Under her leadership, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities developed a national action plan for access and inclusion for persons with disabilities which was endorsed by more than 100 national and provincial organizations. Today, Ms. Ryan is a member of a national committee guiding a seven-year trans-disciplinary initiative on the future of work disability policy in Canada.
Ms. Ryan is a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Volunteer Hall of Fame. She currently works as a partner with Gilroy Goss Inc.
Frederick David Smallwood
Born in St. John’s, Frederick David Smallwood graduated from Memorial University with bachelor degrees in Science and Education, and a Master of Education. He then attended the University of London where he received a PhD in Higher Education.
In 1984, Mr. Smallwood founded Academy Canada with campuses in Corner Brook, St. John’s and Grand Falls-Windsor. Academy Canada grew from 54 students in 1984 to more than 1,500 students by the time Mr. Smallwood retired in 2001 and is now the largest private post-secondary college in Eastern Canada.
After retiring from Academy Canada, Mr. Smallwood started David Smallwood and Associates; a consulting firm that has done considerable work for the former Department of Forestry including assisting with the development of the annual forest fairs that are held in Corner Brook and Gander.
Mr. Smallwood’s volunteer activities are substantial. In 1979 he helped create Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador, served as the first Chair of the Board and still serves as a board member today. In his capacity as chair, the Gros Morne Theatre Festival was founded and is now one of the most successful summer theatre festivals in Canada. He was also on the founding board of Gros Morne Summer Music which is based primarily in Gros Morne National Park.
Mr. Smallwood has served on the provincial board of Festival 500, Sharing our Voices and as Vice Chair of the Rotary Music Festival in Corner Brook.
He was chair of the 2009 East Coast Music Awards Festival and Conference in Corner Brook and helped with the construction of the Rotary Arts Centre; composed of a 93-seat theatre, six artist studios, the Tina Dolter Art Gallery for juried exhibitions and the OpenGallery for non-juried displays.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Smallwood received a Queens Jubilee Medal for his involvement in the arts.
Outside of the arts, Mr. Smallwood has made significant contributions that benefit youth, tourism and the not-for-profit sector in the province. He was a founding member of Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Corner Brook, served on the west coast board of the former Children’s Rehab Centre and the Hospital Corporation of St. John’s. He currently serves on the advisory committee for the Community Sector Council of Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2016 he was a member of the design and implementation team for the Special Olympics National Winter Games that were held in Corner Brook.
He is a strong supporter of the Cruise Ship Committee in Corner Brook and has helped in the redevelopment of the city’s downtown core.