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Dave Doherty was the speaker doing his 'This is My Life'. He started by saying that his 'This is My Life' has been posted for awhile so it is our own fault that we came tonight as we had lots of warning. Dave has been a member of Rotary for about 10 months now and his first connection with Rotary was in 1976 when his sister was a Rotary exchange student to Brazil. Their family hosted 2 exchange students - one from Brazil and one from Sweden. Neil Maine talked to Dave about Rotary when he was about to retire. Dave has been retired since April 2019 and has spent 25 years with the Cambridge Fire Department. Dave's family came to Preston in 1964. His dad worked at the shipyard in Belfast where the Titanic was built but his dad isn't that old (somebody did the math). There may have been a joke about how many Irishmen built the Titanic and who sank it. Being from Preston he went to school at William G. Davis and Preston High School. Other schooling was Ryerson, Seneca college (Business Administration), and Wilfred Laurier (Business). Dave's first job was at Babcock & Wilcox (3 yrs project management), and then he was at the Waterloo Regional Police for 2 years. He filled out an application in the paper for policing and kept doing more interviews. Found out the job was not for him and a couple of his most embarrassing moments were with the police department. On one of his first patrols downtown Waterloo; he walked into a bar full of university students that took his hat and tossed it around like a frisbee. What could he really do as he wasn't going to back to the station to say someone took his hat. After half and hour someone took pity and gave the hat back. There was also a story about a call to an industrial basin for a rabid raccoon, that involved a training officer, and an audience of employees. Then Dave joined the Cambridge Fire Department and worked in the fire prevention division. The fire prevention division involves building inspections, fire investigations, and public education. One of the aspects he enjoyed best was public education. With 2 other people in his department they started the WRAP C program (Waterloo Region Arson Prevention program for Children). The program dealt with children that had fire setting issues. Referrals came from Kidsability, School Boards, Police, and John Howard. They were also instrumental for getting the Children's Safety Village on Maple Grove road started. With the Fire safety education programs at the safety village for grades 2, 4, and 6; the department noticed a huge decline in calls they received. Kids would talk to their parents about fire safety like not leaving pots unattended and candles smoking. Dave has been married to Fran for 34 years. Fran has worked at Sunlife for 28 years and is a financial advisor. They have 3 children who all went to school at G.C.I.. Youngest is a 24 year old son that just bought a house 2 months ago and moved out of their house this week. He graduated from Wilfred Laurier in economics and works in sales at a tech company in Kitchener. Their daughter is 28 and works at 3M as a Marketing manger. She went to post secondary school in North Carolina and did running while there. She is an extremely talented runner, she ran for the National Junior cross country running team and played on the U16 provincial soccer team. (Dave coached soccer for many years). Their oldest is 32 and he was just hired 3 weeks ago at the Grand River Hospital as a Hematology Oncologist. Dave is easing into retirement now but is not used to it yet. It was a very interesting and enjoyable presentation with jokes/stories to spare. Randy thanked Dave and Roger closed the meeting. |
