Day, Allan (Died)

Former councillor Allan Day was a real gentleman by Tim Whitnell Metroland West Media Allan Day is being remembered as an even-tempered consensus builder who was instrumental in the formation of what is now Conservation Halton (CH) and its development of the Kelso and Hilton Falls conservations areas. Day, a longtime Burlington resident, died of natural causes on Dec. 27, 2013 at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, six weeks shy of his 100th birthday. Day was born in Toronto on Feb. 8, 1914 and grew up in the Yorkville area. He moved to Oakville in 1934 and then Burlington in 1976. He spent his last year at the Lakeshore Place retirement residence. Day's wife of 37 years, Dorothy, died suddenly in 1973. "My dad was like a mother and father to us," Diane Leblovic, a former teacher, and Halton public school board trustee and chair in the 1990s, said of the relationship between her dad, herself and her brothers Robert and Ralph. "He was pretty special. He was a real gentleman, an unassuming gen- Conservation Halton (CH) co-founder Allan Day at Kelso Conservation Area. The Burlington resident sat on the first board of the Sixteen Mile Creek Conservation Authority in 1957, and sat on Oakville Town council from 1956-70. | Oakville Beaver file photo tleman," she said. Environmental issues played an important part of Day's long and active life. He spearheaded the establishment of Sixteen Mile Creek Conservation Authority (now CH) in 1957 becoming one of the founding directors and its first secretary. He also was a director of the Twelve Mile Creek Conservation Authority and later served on the first CH board of directors in 1964. Day was instrumental in the thennamed Halton Conservation Authority's acquisition of two of its major properties in the early 1960s -- Kelso and Hilton Falls. He was given CH's Award of Excellence in 1998 and in 1999 received CH's Ralph Sherwood Conservation Award. Day had a passion for the outdoors and often trekked across the escarpment. He walked almost daily around Burlington's downtown for decades up to the last year of his life. Politics also interested Day. He served as a Town councillor in Oakville from 1956-70. He was elected to Halton County Council, the precursor to Halton Region, from 1965-70, filling the roles of reeve, deputy reeve and warden, the latter akin to the Regional chair position. Leblovic said her father was respected for his thoughtful approach and even-keel demeanor. She recalled an anecdote from his time on Oakville's Town council that illustrated his impact and dedication to local politics. "I remember him being dragged out of bed one night to break a tie vote on an important downtown rezoning bylaw. He was home sick with sinus (problems). Two Town councillors came by and got him up and got him there (Town Hall) for the third reading." The re-zoning plan was approved. Longtime Burlington insurance broker David Coons served with Day on Halton County Council in the 1960s. Coons was about half Day's age. "I don't think I knew someone in public office, who was as much a gentleman as Allan Day was... He was soft-spoken and I don't think he had a bad word to say about anybody... He worked toward a consensus. He was well-liked by his constituents in Oakville," said Coons. see Day on p.11.